Newbie wanting to learn to knit

[KatWrangler]

Where can I learn to knit online? I don't have any "me" time to go to a class. I will have to learn at home with kids running around. Or after they go down the the night.

What do I need to get started? I have some things left over from my Grandma. Also, my MIL might have some things I could use or my husbands elderly Grandma.

This is something I have been wanting to learn for a long time.

[MeepyCat]

To learn, you need yarn and some needles. That's it. It helps if the yarn and the needles are sort of compatible sizes (say, worsted weight yarn and size eight needles).

There are some good videos at knittinghelp.com.

[nerdymom]

Or youtube. First you need to know how to 'cast on' then the knit stitch, then purl. then increasing and decreasing. If you search "knit cast on" it'll pull up a lot of videos. I just looked around until I saw one that made sense to me. I like the videos from the knit witch.

[prescottchels]

Yes, definitely find a good video.
I teach kids at a waldorf charter school how to knit and we say this verse, while we show them the movements, which also helps the adults there learn too
In through the front door
Run around the back
Peak through the window
Off jumps Jack

To cast on we use the same verse except the last line is: On jumps Jack

Good Luck!
Chelsie

[cristeen]

I taught myself in an afternoon spent on knittinghelp.com's video library... that was 2 years ago. Now I go back there any time I run across a direction in a pattern I don't understand.

[magrat]

I've just started teaching myself to knit. My MIL helped me knit a scarf a couple years ago, but I pretty much started from scratch. I practiced all evening last night and I still totally suck I'm not asking for perfection, but it's a lot more rewarding to at least make something simple than to just practice and keep pulling it all apart to try again. I don't remember it being this difficult to learn crochet.

[KatWrangler]

Great! I am going to find time, somehow to do this.

[MissLotus]

Go for it! I just recently taught myself to knit and it was from YouTube videos and knitting books from the library. The best knitting videos on YouTube, for me, hands down, were the "Expert Village" ones. (How to cast on, How to do the knit stitch, How to cast off, etc.) They were brief, to the point, and they didn't make it more complicated than it has to be, and I felt the lady had a nice, mellow manner.

To start, I just had needles and yarn. And I seriously didn't know a thing, not even that the yarn gets transferred from one needle to the other after every row! And I didn't know that everything stems from the two basic stitches: the knit stitch and the purl stitch. Slowly the light dawned and it's still dawning. I have made three scarves and a very imperfect hat and I can't stop looking at yarn!

[homemommie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9hv4...eature=related

That is my favorite learning to knit video. It's easy enough that it's worked for my 12 yr old and myself.

[prancie]

There are some beginner books out there with some neat projects. I started with that, but most of my hard-core learning has ended up being on youtube or googling terms. You need to know the bare bones basics, then do an easy project, then go wherever your yarn takes you!

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

I wanted to add that it helps if the yarn you are using is light in color. Sometimes it's harder to see the loops on dark colored yarn.

[Caittune]

You absolutely can! I've just started knitting and have learned exclusively from online and a few questions here and there on forums or from my MIL.

[K-Mom3]

I used knittinghelp.com and also found a lot of good stuff at the library--both pattern books and instruction books. It is really nice if you have someone willing to lend to you from their collection of needles...then you don't have to buy so much.