A beginning knitting series is something I’ve been thinking about doing on Hands Occupied for awhile, and I decided it’s time to take the plunge! As I’ve mentioned in past posts, I learned to knit as a child from my grandma. Those first couple lessons were not only special, but kind of crucial since online video didn’t exist until I was in late high school. Though my initial lessons were with Grandma, we lived in different towns, so I was left to pursue more lessons from various library books with instructions and illustrations that could be completely baffling for an 8-year-old. Due to a combination of stitch encyclopedia-induced childhood trauma and my complete lack of skill as an illustrator, I decided the lessons in this new series will be done in a series of videos rather than drawings or photos. For me, videos a really effective way to understand knitting, whether it’s your first-ever time knitting or you’re trying to learn a new technique after years of knitting.
Knewbies/The Mechanics
The series is going to be called Knewbies. (Basically “knewbies” is faster to google than “knitting 101.” And as I know a fair amount of you are as addicted to Instagram as I am, #knewbies is shorter than #omghandsoccupiedlearningtoknit. Long hashtags are bananas.) Along with the video lessons, I’m going to feature patterns designed for absolute beginners that aren’t useless and/or hideous. I’ll write up blog posts whenever new videos and patterns are ready so those who subscribe to updates via email or a feed reader don’t have to deal with subscribing to yet another separate thing.
Both last spring and fall I did a knit along series, which was super fun, but based on feedback I’ve gotten so far in the reader survey and in comments on the knit alongs, a lot of you would like to see more beginner tutorials. So instead of a spring KAL at Hands Occupied, there will be Knewbies. Don’t worry, though! There will be a fall KAL again starting in September/October. Stay tuned. :)
Oh! One more don’t-worry thing – I’ll still be posting non-Knewbies content while I share Knewbies content. This blog won’t become exclusively for new knitters – we’re just going to bring more knitters on board the happy Hands Occupied train!
FYI: This new badge is in the sidebar and will link to all Knewbies tutorials as they’re added to the site.
Any questions?
I know I’m already getting info from you with the reader survey this week, but if you’ve got any questions about Knewbies or requests for tutorials or patterns you’d like to see from this series, let me know in the comments!
Yay! I love how knitting looks, but have never been able to get my tension right, so I always give up quickly!
So far as questions go – I’ve got yarn to work with, but no needles (I gave them away after my silly “I’ll never learn!” moment a few years back) – what size do you suggest for following along in this series?
I’ve got a whole post about this headed your way tomorrow morning! ;)
Hello! I recently found your blog and I am so glad I did! I am excited about the Knewbie series you are starting and am joining in! I crochet tons, and knit little! My knitting is self-taught and I am so very slow at it. Please do not ask how slow, let’s just say I knitted a scarf and it should be able to wrap around the world, as long as it took me to knit it :) So, I have my needles at the ready and I’ll be waiting for each lesson. Question: where did you get your t-shirt about not going without your yarn? Really like it and would love one. I take my yarn everywhere, also take a book with me.
I hope you have a wonderful week!
Hugs,
Deb
p.s. I see you live in Chicago. I live in Goshen, IN.