My goal as a needleworker is to learn and master these four crafts: crocheting, knitting, sewing and quilting. I already have a handle on crocheting although I want to excel in making my own patterns. I am already learning how to sew and in the process of starting my first quilt. While I am waiting to get all of my quilting supplies I figured this would be a great time to have a go at knitting...again.

I shared this photo sometime back when I first gave it a try. After my stitches kept falling off I gave up and put it away...like forever. I literally never went back to it and put it on the bottom of my to do list. I’m sure using those huge needles for my first attempt wasn’t a good idea because it was discouraging. Later on I decided to purchase a smaller set of needles to try again.

I am always terrified that I would get so far in my work and the stitches will drop. I have not a clue how to pick up a dropped stitch. I haven’t watched any videos on it yet because I’m afraid I’d be more confused altogether. I think the best thing for me to do is learn one stitch at a time and figure out the mechanics of this craft.

The other thing that causes me to keep putting knitting off is the fact that I have two toddlers. I’m afraid to be in the middle of a stitch and have to jump up and drop my work. 🤭 It’s easy for me to pick up where I left off when crocheting. Even if some of the stitches get loose I can easily redo them. With knitting that’s not the case for me at least not yet.

It was such a beautiful sunny day last Tuesday. I decided to sit outside and knit while the kids played with their friends. Here is my cast on of 20. I wanted enough stitches to practice with but not too many to overwhelm me.

I’m practicing the knit stitch over and over again until I get comfortable with it. This is how far I got while outdoors. It was pretty smooth going and I didn’t run into any problems or dropped stitches.

I continued doing the knit stitch that night before going to bed and also a little last night. I am proud of myself that I have kept going and didn’t quit when I start loosing stitches. I know my knitting friends can see the mistakes and the gaps in my work. It’s pretty easy to see where you made mistakes with knitting. I wanted to keep going so I just picked up a loop from somewhere and continued. 😁

When I scrunched my work together I saw a vision of a skirt. I thought to myself this could be a real life skirt someday. I began to get more excited about learning this.

Now, back to what I was saying about learning the mechanics. With crocheting I studied and figured out how some stitches come to be and why they work the way they do. It helped me to read and understand patterns better and made it easier to correct my mistakes. I want to do the same with knitting. How are these stitches intertwining together, what makes them stay in place? I started looking closer at what I was doing...

This was in the middle of me completing a row of knit stitches...and I have no clue the answer to those questions. 😄 It will probably take me some time to figure it all out.

After I was done trying to solve the mysteries of knitting I realized I needed to lock in my work. When I’m crocheting I just simply tie a loose knot in my working yarn so the stitches won’t come apart. I didn’t see a way to do that on the knitting needles. I looked up what others do and I saw that you could purchase these needle stoppers...

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Well since I don’t have any of those fancies I decided two small thick rubber bands would do...

Okay some questions for my fellow knitters...

1) Did you purchase stoppers when you first started out?

2) What was your approach when learning how to knit? Did you do a stitch at a time or jump in and did more?

3) How long did it take you to become familiar and comfortable with the basic knitting stitches?

4) Are there any other supplies I should invest in now while I’m starting out?

5) Have you solved the mysteries of knitting! 🤪😂

This is the longest I’ve ever knitted a piece without giving up so I am pretty proud of myself. I know with more practice I will have less mistakes and be able to pick up dropped stitches eventually. I figure if I at least pick up these needles twice to three times a week I won’t lose my momentum.

After I feel comfortable enough with the knit stitch I will move on to learning the purl stitch and possibly making a scarf for my first project. I’ll keep you posted as I move along :)

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