The plan throughout last week was to learn how to “cast on” and learn the basic knit stitch to develop my knitting skills further. This called for a trip to the store to gather all of the supplies I would need. As I am just starting, I kept the shopping to a minimum as I only needed to figure out how to get the yarn on my knitting needles and learn a basic stitch this week. My purchases included a ball of yarn, knitting needles, and a pack of yarn needles. I mostly followed one specific video this week, which walked me through the steps of creating a slip knot, casting on, and how to do the basic knit stitch.

I thought that this specific video was really helpful as the directions were clear, and it was nice and up close. For a visual learner, being able to see clearly how things work is extremely valuable. However, the “casting on” portion of this video had me confused, so I consulted TikTok once again and found a video that showed the steps and explained it simply. Overall, both resources were vital, helpful, and ultimately successful in teaching me the basics of knitting.

The photo gallery below shows the 3 major learning successes I had this week, however, I’ll technically count it as 2 successes as I already know how to tie a slip knot through years of 4-H and tying up show cattle.

Step 1 was as simple as it sounds. Tie a quick slip knot and tighten it onto the knitting needle. That part was quite easy and an immediate confidence boost for this underconfident knitter. Step 2, included casting on stitches or adding stitches to the needle. This part I found the most difficult and confusing. Finding a helpful source online was vital to this step. Step 3, was learning the basic knit stitch which I simply picked up after watching the videos and trying it out a few times. This stitch is very repetitive so once you have it down, you are good to go. Thread the needle through the front of the stitch to the back, wrap your yarn around that same needle counter-clockwise, bring the needle towards yourself and slide that stitch onto it. Repeat. Overall, many wars were fought with the yarn and knitting needles, but many victories were also had.

My 4 biggest takeaways this week were:

1. I am going to get frustrated.
2. My knitting is not going to look pretty.
3. Keep the stitches tight, but not too tight that you can’t thread your needle through to create another stitch.
4. I am not yet able to multitask and knit.

Next week, the plan is to use that same video to continue learning these same skills, but also to “yarn over” and hopefully create a dishcloth as my first project.