And any other tips? Like what's the best size needles, best kind of yarn, etc, to learn on?

I thin k one of the best wys to learn a new skill is to use a book intended for children, IF it is well-written. I like the project and most of the advice in Kids Knitting by Melanie Falick, but you might still want to consult a different book (or an experienced knitter) about how to hold the yarn in your hands. She says to pick it up and wrap it around and then drop it again for each stitch, which might seem easier when you first begin, but I think it's better to start out actually holding the yarn the whole time, because if you get in the habit of dropping it, it will be very hard to change later. Wether you learn to knit English style or Continental, it will be easier in the long run if you hold the yarn correctly from the beginning. Other than that, I really think this book is fantastic.

I always recommend that book to beginner,s it's got good illustrations :) Also, there's a great website with video of how to do the knit, purl, cat on,a nd cast off. It's http://www.fiberartshop.com/knclbg.htm. teh online videos are very good and easy to undertand, I think

For yarn, I'd start with 100% wool, worsted weight, on size 7 or 8 needles. Whatever you do , DO NOT start with cotton yarn. It's not resilient enougha dn has no stretch, so you will wind up with cramped hands and dropped stitches.

I learned to knit with only links from the internet, the one Theresa provided and this one: http://stitchguide.com/stitches/knitting/index.html A year after I am still happily knitting away! :) I think I watched the little videos 20 times each before really getting what I was suppose to do and still when there are some stitches I'm not used to do, I gladly refer to the internet! :)

Good luck! Ask questions if you aren't sure about what you are doing, sometimes different ways to explain help you to get that a-HA moment! They all gets clear and knitting becomes an addiction! Ask my lonely unused serger. LOL!

That is one thing I did wrong, I was using cotton yarn to try and learn on, and it was very tight. If that makes sense. I found it hard to maneuver. I'll have to get some wool yarn. Dang, I almost bought some from a local woman this past weekend at the harvest festival, but didn't b/c it was $12 a skein :( But I guess it's probably what I'm going to have to pay to get it, huh? Maybe I'll try ebay.

First it was cows, then chickens, soon we'll have to get SHEEP! Or alpacas, lol. Have you ever priced alpacas? Holy moly, they are $7000-8000! Yowza!

First it was cows, then chickens, soon we'll have to get SHEEP! Or alpacas, lol. Have you ever priced alpacas? Holy moly, they are $7000-8000! Yowza!

Dh just spent most of a weekend hanging out with alpaca owners and asking questons. When we got home, he started reading local ordinances to see if there might be a loophole allowing us to have alpacas in town. Fortuntely, he knows we don't have enough room for them, but now he's talking about moving eventually to a house with a bigger yard so we can. Yikes! I guess it was my fault for dragging him along to a Spin-In. I'll just have to try to redirect his attention toward the circular sock machines or electric spinners, since he spent a lot of time admiring those, too.

I like Lamb's Pride Worsted wool yarn (I think it may have some mohair in it as well). It's a nice stretchy yarn in a weight that is good for beginners -- comes in tons of colors, is readily available at almost every yarn shop, and is pretty reasonably priced (around $6 for a 190 yd. skein). Your local yarn shop is also a great resource when you get stuck -- I always see people in the shops I visit in their asking questions and the owners are very helpful.

Ah yogamomma, you're assuming I live near a yarn shop! LOL. Closest thing is Joann's and all they have is wool-ease, which is only a small percentage of wool. I did find some really neat stuff on ebay though. Beautiful handpainted yarns!

Thea, aren't alpacas SO CUTE though??? We have a local alpaca farm and I keep meaning to take Lydia. They do have a shop actually, I've never been to it, maybe they have yarn!

Check out www.patternworks.com (http://www.patternworks.com)

they have an awesome selection of mail order yarns (including the Lambs Pride) in a wide range of colors. I have ordered from them MANY times! That doesn't solve your problem of getting help if you get stuck while learning, but at least you can get access to all those yarns called for in the knitting books!

Renee,

You could ACK! how shall I say this nicely...... start knitting using....... oh dear......... maybe I shouldn't say.....
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100% ACRYLIC yarn! There I said it. ROFLOL! I am actually working with acrylic right now making Zoe some fancy froo froo mittens that she just LOVES! Cotton just has no give to it, that's why it's hard to learn using it, wool is better but I can't buy it often. Most of my projects are with acrylic, not the best but hey, my kids are so happy to get a little loving knitted project, they could care less what it's made out of! ;)

LOL Jo. I'm not opposed to using acrylic, ;) but I want to learn to knit hats and mittens for Lydia, and I remember the ones my mom made when I was little from acrylic were not very warm.

Oh! And I just ordered Knitting Without Tears from Overstock.com! Yay!!

Alpacas sure are cute! While he was talking to the alpaca people, Chris bought Louisa the cutest little alpaca hat. It's made of cotton, not alpaca, so it won't be a good hat to wear outside in the winter, but it's a perfect fall hat. It has sweet little ears so she looks like a little alpaca.
Brown Sheep (the maker of Lamb's Pride) makes a lot of nice quality, affordable natural fiber yarns. I don't actually buy much yarn, since I spin, but one of my favorite mail-order suppliers for yarn (as well as spinning stuff) is Woodland Woolworks. I don't think they have a website yet, but if you email them at info@woolworks.com , they will send you a rather large catalog. You can ask for the knitting/crochet one or the spinning/weaving one or both. They have great sales sometimes, too. Also, definitely try the alpaca shop. If they have yarn, it won't be cheap, but working with alpaca is a treat.

Thea, you spin! How neat. That is secretly one of the reasons I want to learn to knit, lol, because I want to learn to spin. ;)

Y aknow I carryyarn, right? ;)

And beware the spinnigna ddiction. I hear it's worse than knitting, LOL! Cause you've not only got oodles of yarn hanging around, but loads of fleece, too :) Spinnign si the one fiber art I've been able to resist (although my resolve weakens every time I go to a fiber festival and see spinners doing their work)

Now, alpacas :) I swear, when we move out and get more land, we'll have two alpacas as the family pets. They make wonderful pets, don't need a ton of space (1/2 an acre is sufficient for two animals) and are gentle and great with kids (can you tell I'm practicing my speech for convincing DH, LOL?)

I just thought of another excellent book for beginning knitters: A First Book of Knitting for Children , by Bonnie Gosse and Jill Allerton. It shows all the basics, including how to unknit if you make a mistake. It has lots of nice little animal patterns and verses to help you remember the steps. You can get it from A Child's Dream Come True (www.achildsdream.com) .

Thea, I was going to order that one from silver penny but it was out of stock. I just checked and it's back instock! Maybe I will use my webcertificate for it. :) I would love to do some little animals for Lydia for Christmas since I've gotten rid of her junky plastic farm set!

Renee~

Where do you live?

If all you have is JoAnns by you, I'm willing to get you some of that super nice Lamb's Pride from my yarn vendor. If I buy in bulk (I think 10 skeins?) I can get a discount on the price. (is this what's called a co-op?)

If you (or anyone else) is up for this lmk and I can email her and ask how many we'd have to buy and the turn-around time etc etc

Her specialty is finding yarns, patterns, etc, I love her! (yes, I talk about her all the time, I know I know, but you would too if you shopped there! What other knitting shop do you know that you can email?? And the owner really replies to you the same day?)

Also Ren, I have tons of little animal patterns, if you have a specific one I'd loan it to you. Pm me mama!

jessica

I don't know if I'm too late coming into this thread, but JoAnn's usually carries one 100% wool yarn, natural colored, you could dye it yourself. It's the same brand as wool-ease but it's called Fisherman's Wool. You can see it here (http://www.lionbrand.com/cgi-bin/lionbrand/index.fcgi?page=http://www.lionbrand.com/yarns/woolease.htm)

I was looking at it today and it was 8.99, but you could always use a coupon. ;)

Hi,
My wife, who teaches knitting knitting a la Waldorf, suggests a book for children. A crewmate told me he just found a book like knitting made easy. I had to get a 100 yr old CSM to figure out how knitting works.
Mose beginning books will tell you what materials and needles to use.
hope this helps
chriso

My wife, who teaches knitting knitting a la Waldorf, suggests a book for children.
Didn't you read all the posts in this thread, Chris? I already recommended 2 books for chldren. I'm so glad you're into yarn now, too!

Thanks for all the tips, Mamas!

I've bookmarked the knitting sites and the site with the books.

I've ordered Theresa's "learn to knit" and "wool ball" kits and am excited to get started.

I'll be hanging around here with you guys, so be prepared for lots of questions! :p

Originally posted by blazfglori
Thanks for all the tips, Mamas!

I've bookmarked the knitting sites and the site with the books.

I've ordered Theresa's "learn to knit" and "wool ball" kits and am excited to get started.

I'll be hanging around here with you guys, so be prepared for lots of questions! :p


Except for buying the wool ball kit, I wanted to say the exact same thing as Lori!

(And Hi Lori--I swear I'm not just following you around ;) )

I did want to ask if anyone had experience with Wildewools, a seller on ebay? Are these good prices (i want some mohair)?

http://www.stores.ebay.com/wildeyarns

Thanks!

OT...


Hiya Rose! :waving:

Since we're the newbies here, we can be "learn to knit buddies"!:D

I am learning on my own with books, but have a neighbor who has offered to help me if I need it.

I just checked out Sally Melville's book The Knit Stitch, part of her series, "The Knitting Experience." I have to say it's a great book with lots of excellent photographs showing step by step processes. She covers different methods of casting on, how to fix problems, etc but it's spaced through the book so as not to bog you down with too much at once. I'm really enjoying it and plan to buy it. Her next book is on Purling.

The projects are excellent and I'm geared up to try a sweater.

Laura
Newly returned OLD member of Amity's

Welcome back-laura-

I just learned to knit-and I am doing really well..except when I make a mistake-I don't know how to unknit and fix it. I can easily tell when I've knit a wrong stitch, however. My wonderful friend who taught me. lives two hours away. Waah!

Thea-I'll check out the kids book you recommended that shows you how to unknit..

and maybe the nice ladies at the wool shops here can help me?

I can see how kniting would be very addicting. I love it!
Linda

I have some of that Fisherman's Wool from Lion and played around with dyeing it, lots of fun with the kids!

I would start with cheapy acrilyc yarns and 8-9 needles.

I just found those turbo needles and they ROCK!

I too am trying to convice dh we need some alpaca's. I heard they are great for packing (dh hunts and hikes), but he said he'd die of embarrasment if anyone saw him leading two llamas. lol

I so want alpacas .. first off cause they are Darn CUTE and sweet as can be! Then because of their fur.

However if you do not have the room for alpacas and still want an animal to get fibers from .. there are angora rabbits... not only do they take less room but they are also cheaper then apacas per animal.. and they breed like ... well rabbits *lol*


I so want Angora rabbits and Alpacas...


I didn't know they had electric spinners!?! So you dont have to pull and twist the fibers yourself? My grandmother has a spinning wheel .. although she doesn't use it anymore she used to when she was a kid though.



*whispers to yall * But also if you are wanting alpacas another way to talk your hubby into it could be to total up the cost of yarn for one year.. or even for a few years and then the cost of an alpaca... not to mention you could probubly sell some of the fibers.

Ohh forgot .. expecially if you get a female and can find a stud or can order in sperm... you cound end up with a Herd in a few years with good luck.

Another site w/ good pics & instructions for the basics you (maybe just me) have to constantly look up (inc/dec, assembly, different castons & bindoffs, etc). Link directs you to the kitchener page cause that's what I needed today :D

http://www.wonderful-things.com/newknit10a.htm

I am a novice knitter (hats,socks,sweaters and a psp felted cozy nothing fancy) But an advanced spinner. I learned to knit with stitch and ***** (the book lol) It's in plain english and I dig the anedotes.... I personally prefer wool for the give, warmth and durability. My kids can't kill wool mittens! I also prefer bamboo needles for less slippage (of the stitches) and the warmth of them in my hand. It really depends on what you like. HTH, Angelique