Giving It Another Try

What am I giving another try?

 
 
Knitting.
 

I’ve picked up the sticks a couple of times in the past, but could never quite get the hang of it. I didn’t know anyone who could help me with hands on experience and learning from a book was not happening for me.

So, I kept giving up.

I finally decided to give it one more try. There were a couple of reasons.

1. I want to learn to knit wool socks for the family to keep our feet warm during winter. I think some things are better knitted (like socks) and some are better crocheted (like slippers), so I want to really give learning a try and make some super cute socks in the process.
2. People ask all the time for knitting versions of my patterns. Can’t really do that if I don’t understand knitting.

So I got out my needles that I had bought so long ago, but I still didn’t have anyone close to teach me. So, I went to Craftsy.

I work with Craftsy on a pretty regular basis (plus I’m an affiliate, so clicking on Craftsy links give me a small bit of change to keep the blog running) and wanted to give one of their knitting classes a try. See if I could finally understand all the stuff I couldn’t before.

I tried out Knit Lab with Stefanie Japel.

Knit Lab: Projects, Patterns & Techniques

Though there are a couple of beginner knitting classes, this one seemed like the most basic that would walk me through all the stuff I needed to learn.

This class was just what I needed.

This class first walks you through casting on, the knit stitch and the purl stitch. It shows up-close perspectives, which is what I really needed and I finally got the hang of it.

 
After the basics, she then has you work on the scarf you see above. You learn increasing and decreasing, plus some basic lace. I loved that it was all wrapped up in a project that you can actually use after you finish it.

But that’s not all.
 

 
After the scarf, you still have lesson after lesson of increasing, decreasing and some popular stitch patterns (seed stitch and basketweave). It was perfect for a person like me who really needs to see each step.

Another awesome thing about the class (and all classes on Craftsy) is that you can leave questions while watching and the instructor will answer them. So to the right of the screen there are all the questions all the students that have taken the class have asked with their replies. So mostly all the questions I had were already asked, but it was awesome to see ones I hadn’t thought of. So that gave me extra knowledge that I might not known I needed.

A couple other cool features of the class is you can take notes while watching and they will show up on a timeline of where you took them during the class (so you can find your place very easily). And there is a 30 second repeat button. You press the button and the video will loop for 30 seconds over and over till you turn it off. So you can watch the same stitch being made over and over until you get without having to constantly rewind it.

I can’t say enough great things about this Craftsy class. It has really enabled me to actually knit now.

I also took another class right after I finished this one.

Being a crocheter, continental style knitting (where you hold your yarn tail in your left hand instead of your right) just comes naturally. However, trying to purl the way Stephanie was doing it in my previous video, was not working well for me. I tried holding my yarn as I do for crochet and that was really difficult to purl with as well. So I found this class:

Knit Faster With Continental Knitting

This class was perfect. It showed me a fantastic way to work my purl stitches that clicked right away.

I was just hoping to find a better way to purl, but she also worked through a lot of ways to work faster while knitting all kinds of stitches.  She also explained how to get my stitches as even as possible. These topics weren’t covered in the other class I took, so that was even more bang for my buck.
 

What’s Next?

 
I’ve restarted my Knitcrate subscription (I put on pause while moving), but this time I opted for the “knitter newbies” pack. It is supposed to help me learn and give me projects, yarn and needles each month to learn new things. My first package is arriving today, so you’ll be seeing a post on it in a day or two.
 

Plus, I’m signing up for my next Craftsy class.

Knit Lab: In the Round

 
This class is my next step in learning to knit socks. All my current knitting is flat. So the same instructor I started with will now teach me to work in the round. There are a bunch of cute projects to make in the class too (some are shown in the photo).

Then after that, it will be time.

My First Socks

 
I will make my first socks. I’m trying to not rush my learning, but I was so excited about the thought of my first socks that I had to get these:

Some clear rain boots to show off my work. I couldn’t just keep them under wraps in boring old regular boots now could I?

Any Advice?

Are you a combo crafter? Do you knit and crochet? Which one did you learn first and do you have any tips or tricks to help my knitting along? Let me know in the comments below and I’ll keep you updated on my progress.