Knitting: How Do I Make Beautiful Garments?

I’d been pondering for a while what to write about as my first knitting/craft blog. I’ve got many ideas, but ultimately before I share any tips, ideas and recommendations, I thought I should probably tell you how I got started first. This is my knitting and craft origin story.

Learning How To Knit: Attempt 1

None of my family does any knitting or crochet, so my first experience was through a lunchtime class when I was in Primary School. I remember learning the basic knit stitch there and then excitedly telling my mother and grandmother. My first knitting was a holey monstrosity that ultimately ended up as nothing. Fortunately, my after-school carer knew how to knit and she was kind enough to lend me some knitting needles and yarn. I don’t quite remember how long this went on, but I do remember that my knitting adventures came to an abrupt halt not long after.

I Quit

Every year, my brother and I would fly from Melbourne to Sydney to see our father and stepmother. Our mother would always take us through the security checkpoint and wave us off excitedly (we always flew as unaccompanied minors). This time, I was super excited to take my knitting, on my borrowed needles, with me also. As we went through the security checkpoint, however, they had an issue with my bag. The security officer took a look inside and happily declared that the knitting needles were not allowed. My mother and I tried to find an alternative, such as posting the needles back home, but the officer was adamant that they had to be confiscated!

They weren’t my needles. I was a child with no money. I was absolutely devastated by this. Looking back now, it really wasn’t such a big deal. Just buy new needles right! But I was still a young child at that time and this event was very upsetting. My parents in Sydney were fantastic and they did in fact buy me new knitting needles. Nevertheless, after returning to Melbourne, I put down my new shiny knitting needles and hid all my yarn in the darkest depths of my closet. They wouldn’t see the light of day until five years later.

Rediscovering Knitting

One day when I was 14, I was doing a deep clean of my closet. I found that bag of yarn and knitting needles. I realized that I either had to use it or get rid of it. As a child, and to a smaller degree even now, I had a habit of keeping things for much longer than I should. I always worried that I’d need it after I got rid of it. So rather than throwing out a whole bag of materials, I decided I’d try knitting again.

This time around, I had the internet to help me. And I was absolutely amazed to discover that not only was there the knit stitch. There was also an incredible stitch known as the purl. The path into the world of knitting opened up before me, beckoning me in.

Teaching Myself How To Knit

My situation was the same as before, I had no one to properly teach me. Even though I had access to the internet, it was limited to when I was at home. However, as a student, I spent most of my time at school. I was a big fan of the library, so rather than borrowing new YA novels to read, I instead searched for knitting books. I found a whole selection and took my time choosing several. After some time of using the library books, I invested in my own knitting books. I bought The Knitting Book: Yarns, Techniques, Stitches, Patterns by Frederica Patmore and Vikki Haffenden.

When I had some trouble understanding how to do a certain kind of stitch, I’d often use Youtube videos to help. I found that the channel VeryPink Knits had amazing tutorials that were really clear and easy to follow. Using both books and videos as my resources, I taught myself how to knit.

My First Knitting Projects

Typical for a first-time knitter, one of the very first projects I made was a scarf. I used a pattern from the book I’d bought and made this ribbed scarf. I had so much fun making it! However, my resulting scarf didn’t look the same as the one in the book. Whereas the one in the book had nice straight edges, mine went in and out like a small scalloped edge. It still looked pretty cool and I was very happy with it. Another project I did was a beanie, or at least it was supposed to be one. It ended up looking more like a hat. I gifted this one to my mother, though I’ve never seen her wear it (I don’t blame her either, it was pretty bad). The one thing all these projects had in common was that my tension was all over the place.

Leveling Up

With the internet, I wasn’t limited to only patterns that I could find in books. I was able to search for any pattern I wanted. Through these searches, I discovered a social network website known as Ravelry Not only could I search for patterns all in one place, but they had these really cool groups you could join and chat with other knitters in the forums. I found my knitting community here and I received so much encouragement from everyone there. Most of my projects photos and details are on my Ravelry profile, which you can see here. Initially, my knitting was very slow and for a few years I thought that I’d never increase my knitting speed. But about 5 years later I surprised myself when I knitted my first shawl and somehow finished it in only 1 week!

My Best Projects

Over time, my projects became much better and my knitting technique improved. Every time I tried to make something new, like socks or a sweater, I’d be excited and nervous. Sometimes they were wonderful, and other times the resulting garment didn’t turn out quite how I imagined. But every single project you make, you always learn something new and your knitting improves. It’s a phrase that some people may find annoying, but I find that practice makes perfect really is the best way to describe craft. Beginners can often get disheartened when they try to make something for the first time, and it ends up looking completely different. The key is to keep going, keep knitting, and keep crafting. Don’t give up. You too can make whatever it is you desire!

Here are some of my best creations:

I’ll be sharing more craft blogs in the future, as well as more about my life in Japan. You can check out my Japan posts here. I’ll be sharing more about things such as my tips for knitting and using hand-dyed yarns next! Which would you like to read about first? Let me know down in the comments. Any other ideas are welcome too!