When someone wants to learn how to knit I am always happy
to show them the ropes. Once I even used two pencils to demonstrate because we
didn’t have needles at hand. Pencils work.
So many people grow frustrated and give up because the
act of twisting yarn around two pokey sticks in a uniform fashion doesn’t come
naturally. Or they are afraid to start because they bought a boucle or
expensive wool yarn that doesn’t hold up well to continuous frogging.
I always recommend to new knitters to buy a cheap skein
of yarn, a smooth yarn that will hold up to abuse, and practice, practice,
practice. Make swatches. Knit and tear it out. All knitting is is knits or
purls. Nothing else really. A cable is just knit or purl stitches out of order.
Knitting two together is still just a knit stitch. You just happen to insert
needle into two stitches instead of just one. So knit and purl until it feels
comfortable and your rows and stitches are nice and uniform.
Once you feel comfortable working knits and purls with the cheap, smooth yarn, bring out that specialty, expensive yarn and your first project will go so much easier.
Even for more advanced knitters, it's always a good idea to do swatches with new patterns or new techniques. I often swatch with new patterns so that I get a feel for what's happening. Of course you should swatch for gauge but it's also helpful to swatch for learning the pattern.
Quilters will pick up a pencil and paper and draw the design they want to quilt onto the quilt before actually going to the machine because physical action creates a memory. It's the same with knitting. I recommend the cheap yarn for playing because then it's little investment and you're more likely to be free about experiment when there's less investment.
So pick up your needles, whether straight, cabled, or double pointed and experiment, practice, and lose all fear!
