this weekend past i took the tentative steps towards a full-blown knitting kit at fabrications at broadway market.

so now i have a great big ball of 100% acrylic yarn sitting on my desk. it’s only saving grace is that it was so cheap (£1.50) for so much (500g), and so it shall be used for all my test stitches and my beginner learning lessons like how to increase/decrease, how to make a buttonhole, how to create weird patterns etc.

knitting’s been pretty easy so far. the hardest part was casting on and getting my needles and fingers in the right position. once i realised that it was merely a really complicated system of looping and knotting, everything became so much clearer and the mystique of the knit dissipated. but it really is quite fun, and watching a lousy piece of string become an actual piece of fabric, woah that’s crazy dude.

i’ve already made a mobile phone cover/sock whilst learning to perfect a garter (knit) stitch, and last night i made a finger-glove/finger-puppet whilst learning to purl and then making a stockinette stitch. so now that i have learnt to both knit and purl, i can go out and buy nice woollen yarn in beautiful colours and start creating a scarf. yay!

and i have to say, learning kniting from a book is dead easy. but maybe it’s the book that i use that makes it so simple. if you ever want to learn to knit, i highly recommend Stitch ‘n Bitch. it’s amazing what a bit of common sense and a lot of sass can do.