One thing I absolutely love is teaching new knitters. I think it's so fun to see someone go from knitting their very first holey swatch to finishing their first garment. So here are my tips for beginners:

🧶Knit something you think is fun even if it looks difficult! Nothing kills motivation more than knitting something as boring as a scarf or a cloth (although scarves are very nice to wear and cloth is useful!). Knitting scarves is good for learning to knit and purl, but after you have mastered knitting and purling you are ready for something more advanced. There are many different branches within knitting. I will admit that I am a bit of an oddball in this area. I have tried knitting solid colors and textured stitches, etc., but I don't think it is very fun... Find your thing, whether it is socks, mittens, textured knits or patterns 🥰

One thing I was really intimidated by as a beginner is how many up-shifts look. You take a quick look, and there are many difficult terms and abbreviations that a new knitter doesn't understand. I have to admit that if I want to knit a garment and the up-shift doesn't make any sense, I put it down right away (even now after many years of knitting).

🧶 Knitting tension : I can't stress enough how important this is. The correct way to check the knitting tension is to knit a swatch, rinse it and measure how many stitches you get in 10 cm AFTER the swatch is dry. The reason for this is that many yarns change after washing. I know that knitting a swatch is incredibly tedious and I have to admit that I rarely do it myself. So if you really don't want to: start by knitting the sleeves and measure there. If the knitting tension is wrong on the sleeves, it's stupid, but not a crisis. Then you can correct the needle size you use for the body and yoke.

The knitting tension also changes as you become a better knitter. New knitters often sit a little tense and tighten the thread on the fly. It's not just your head that has to learn all the movements and techniques, but your muscles take some time to recognize the movements before you finally do it automatically.

🧶 Mistakes in knitting: When you're a new knitter, you make a lot of mistakes. Everything from losing stitches to knitting the pattern wrong. The first proper garment you knit will have a lot of mistakes, but then you learn from your mistakes. Many mistakes can be corrected and you don't necessarily have to redo the whole sweater if you see that you've made a mistake or 5. Some mistakes can be lived with and others can't. If I make a mistake and feel in my body that I should address it or start asking others "do you see this" then I know within myself that I have to address it! 🤭

I even spent a long time becoming a good knitter because I did not have anyone to train me. My mother and sister have been knitting a lot for years, but by the time I learned to knit I moved around a lot and did not have access to help. I have therefore become very good at correcting mistakes in elastic.

🧶 Sitting position: Have support behind your elbows when you knit and relax your body. I myself have been through rounds where it felt like I had gone paralyzed in both arms, and I thought I would never be able to knit again. My neck muscles were so stiff that my arms didn't get enough blood. I knit between 4 and 8 hours every day and my knitting position is absolutely crucial to preventing inflammation. Now I'm in a special situation because I live off the knitting, but once you get inflammation it's hard to get rid of it.

🧶

Hope this was helpful! Good luck with your knitting – and remember that you can always ask us for tips, advice and guidance about my patterns. Then send us an email to post@linkaneumann.com – we will respond as quickly as we can.