I listen to a lot of podcasts, and when I do, I find myself just wasting time with my hands.
I think maybe knitting might be a good way to do something with my hands.
To that end: how do I start? I don’t want to make a massive investment in case I don’t stick with the hobby, but what would be a good robust investment that would allow me to continue should I choose to?
Just like with all hobbies, I know there’s a world of detail, but I just want to get started.
One thing: is it possible to knit machine washable wear? That’s something about wool clothing that has always made me cautious: the fact that you can’t wash them. Blankets, sweaters, scarfs…is there a starter yarn that can be washed?
Or is washing related to how you knit as opposed to the yarn?
Clearly I have no idea what I’m doing besides I want to try this and I know how to spell knit (most of the time).
I’m a beginner so take this with a massive grain of salt.
Look for beginner guides on YouTube. They tell you what needles and yarn to buy, and what stitches to learn first.
I was advised to skip the oversized needles that many videos recommend for the first project.
Learn how to knit in the continental style from the beginning. Watch a few videos on the topic because people hold the tension differently. I tried a few techniques before I found one that felt natural instead of messing me up constantly.
When learning your first stitches, it’s better to be too loose than too tight.
You’ll be practicing just how to knit and purl for a while, so you just need a pair of straight needles and a ball of yarn, that’s like 10-20$ at most, possibly less.
In my country it’s significantly harder to buy natural wool, so I’m guessing you’ll have an easy time finding synthetic or superwash wool yarn.
+1 on learning continental from the start. I have 20 years of muscle memory that I can’t seem to undo to learn it easily.
As a huge hater of video when I could just see a perfectly good text article with pictures or GIFs, knitting is one area where I often find I need to see a video. Seconded.