After years of being intimidated, I finally took the plunge to learn the art of knitting and it all started one rainy afternoon in May of 2017. While my great grandmother taught me all the crochet basics, I picked up knitting on my own by watching Youtube videos. Later on I tried to decipher abbreviations and diagrams through second hand knitting books that I got from a Book Sale store. The first pair of aluminum straight knitting needles I used belongs to my sister who first tried knitting after giving birth to her third child. Eventually, she got hooked with baking and wanted nothing to do with the needles so she let me practice with them instead.
Below I am sharing the links for easy to follow videos that helped me learn the basics of knitting.
- Starting the project Casting on
- Knit Stitch
- Purl Stitch
- Finishing the project Binding off
As a beginner, I tried my hands on easy projects first which are mostly items that can be made without having to follow a pattern. You will see on my photos below I was able to make a simple headband with a bow and cup cozy free hand. The cute coin purse by the way is a pattern I saw on Red Heart’s website.
Basically, all I had to do was cast on my desired number of stitches then make rows of repeated knit or purl stitches, finish off once I achieved the length that I need then sew the edges together. I diligently followed the instructions on each video – allowing myself to pause if I need to and really took time to slowly get a hang of coordinating my grip for the yarn, my tension and the needles. My hands were cramping the first few rows trying to get my stitches as even as possible.
When I became comfortable working with straight knitting needles and felt that I am ready to take my knitting journey to the next level, I bought my very own bamboo straight needles and a pair of circular needles from Gantsilyo Guru store.
These circular needles as shown on my photo above are two short knitting needles with pointed ends that are joined with a flexible cable and commonly used to knit in the round for sweaters, hats and socks without any seams. The idea of being able to knit socks and cozy apparel for my family always excites me but during my first few days of using circulars I was literally battling with them. I needed to frog my work several times because I can’t even figure out how to properly work in the round without twisting the stitches. But when I was about to give up, photos of beautiful knitted projects made with circular needles kept popping up on my Instagram feed which somehow inspired me to keep going.
So it goes without saying that I have enjoyed my newfound interest in knitting despite the difficulties. And after I’ve published a post about the very first Crocheted Gryffindor-inspired Scarf (free pattern HERE) I’ve made for my son last year and received a request from a dear friend to make one for her daughter Nikki as well, I immediately said yes. First, it’s a request that is too wonderful to turn down and second it gave me the perfect opportunity to make a knitted version of the scarf and practice everything that I have learned.
After getting all the essential materials, I started making the scarf last April following the step-by-step video tutorial by Studio Knit HERE. I used two skeins (approximately 500 meters) of my favorite Gantsilyo Milk Cotton Light yarn for the whole piece. With my 4.0mm circular knitting needles and very little time for me to work on a project each day, it took me four months to finish the scarf but this can be knit up quite fast on larger needles and bulkier yarn. My finished scarf measures 5”x 53″ (fringe included). You can add stitches to make yours wider and more sets of rounds to increase the length.
Since I used a different brand of yarn, I made a few adjustments from the original pattern. Starting with my maroon yarn, I casts on 56 stitches using my circular needle. I’ve completed 390 rounds which is 30 rounds for each color set (7 sets using yarn color Maroon and 6 sets using yarn color Burnt Sienna). The beginning and final set of rounds were made using yarn color maroon. When I’ve reached my desired length, I closed the opening of both ends by sewing them using whip stitch method, then added the fringes as finishing touch.
I was so happy when I finally completed my first knitted scarf, I’ve taken a few photos before I sent it off to its new owner! I think it’s a perfect match for my Crocheted Snowy Baby Owl (free pattern HERE). It’s a great set that can be used for a Harry Potter inspired halloween costume, baby shower party or even as a newborn photoprop!
