What Can A Beginner Knit?

Written by Jordan Lemley

Ok everyone, let’s take this journey together. I am not a knitter, and I have never in my life knitted anything, I have only ever cast on to my knitting needles in an effort to knit. I have far too many children to be able to focus on learning how to knit, but I suppose now is as good a time as any.

Knitting has always felt much more complicated to me than crochet, and I’m terrified that once I get started, if I walk away and someone touches those needles I will be screaming into a pillow shortly afterwards. My first attempts at knitting were met with much frustration, and I have to admit, I put those needles down and picked my crochet hook up again faster than I hide my new yarn deliveries from my husband.

A pair of hands are working on a white table, a pair of knitting needles in their hands as they work up some sparkly blue worsted weight silk yarn.

As someone who crochets I often forget that not everyone knows how to do it, so when I am teaching another person to crochet I often have to stop and remind myself that this person literally has no idea what they’re doing and I need to be patient and helpful. I can only imagine this is the same for knitting. There are a lot of articles out there offering simple beginner knit patterns, but when I read them I find it a bit overwhelming, I mean what the heck is a purl stitch anyway?

Before we get started its first important to understand knitting terms, there are a lot of new terms to take in, and they are not the same as crochet terms. This is the struggle when taking on any new fiber art, but it is essential, fortunately most patterns will include a stitch reference. However, if you’re still stuck we have a great little blog with knitting vocabulary you can check out!

A gorgeous and intricate knit stitch pattern, made out of purple and green lace weight silk yarn is laid out on a wooden table.

Now we need to learn how to cast on, which can be tricky, so be patient with yourself. Starting with a slip knot, you slide it on the needle, simultaneously wrapping a loop around your thumb with the working yarn. Now you need to take your needle under the yarn and insert it through the loop on your thumb. Once you have the loop on your needle you can pull the yarn tight. Continue this until you reach your required number of stitches casted on. Once you figure this out there is no telling what kinds of neat creations you can make. You can check out our YouTube channel to find some great tutorials on casting on! I started with this tutorial and it was super helpful!

Now that we have our terms down (sort of), and we’ve casted on our knitting needles, we can start looking into some tutorials. The DGY Stitch Learning Center once again comes in to save the day!

There are tons of amazing tutorials to learn knitting stitches, and you can even select your skill level!

What can a beginner knit? Well, with much perseverance a beginner can knit anything! One you’ve mastered the basics there is no telling what you can do, you just need to keep practicing and remain persistent until you’ve mastered the craft. So, go forth fiber magicians and create until your heart's content!!!