People often assume learning to knit will be near impossible, they tell themselves all sorts of stories in their heads about how they are not capable, not smart enough, not creative or crafty enough to learn how to knit. Having taught people from all over the world at ages from 5 - 65+years old,  I can assure you all that internal messaging is absolute rubbish.

Hello and welcome fellow knitters of all levels, to my knitting on a budget top tips blog post. We are all here because we love to knit, or want to learn to knit but the current price increases of...everything (!) may be impacting your knitting choices.

Learning to knit is an exciting and rewarding journey, but, in the early stages, it can also feel like wrestling with a tangled ball of yarn and chopsticks all at the same time. Fear not, everyone has this experience at first and most importantly, this initial feeling does not last long.

In fact my beginner knitting lessons have people feeling considerably more confident with what they are doing (aka knitting) within 45 minutes! But until you have found you have found your knitting rhythm and flow I have some tried and true knitting 101 fundamentals to help you survive and eventually thrive as a beginner knitter.

I started knitting at the age of 22, it was meant to be a fun way to pass the time while waiting to be called onto set - I was a TV and Theatre actress in the UK. However as soon as I started learning to knit, I was hooked. I literally could not stop. My first scarf was ridiculously long, un-wearably long because I couldn't stop...I also didn't yet know how to cast off until a friendly crew member on a BBC drama took pity on me and showed me.

Becoming a knitter puts you in very good company...and I don't mean mine! Firstly you will be able to easily find fellow knitters all over the world to knit with at Knit Nights in local yarn stores (pandemic restrictions dependent). This is something I would do often as my work as an actress took me travelling to places like Lithuania, Romania and New York. It proved to be a lovely way to meet new people and learn about a city from the people who actually live there by turning up to knit beside them and share stories, both knitting and life experiences. Plus think of the local yarn you can learn about!

Like all hobbies/pursuits and activities Knitting comes with it's own language. Not as complicated as Klingon but as a Beginner Knitter it can easily feel intimidating. You will find these slang terms being used in online knitting spaces like forums, comment threads or even Instagram posts, you may also overhear them being used in your local yarn store. Learn to Knit Online is built entirely on the intention to break down any intimidation or mystique around knitting so let's talk knitting jargon.

I think it's been about 2 years since knitting came into my life. To give you a little insight about where I was at that time in my life, and how knitting was such a huge benefit for me, I'll first give you a little backstory to my situation.

A row of knitting is when all stitches on your knitting needle have been worked. Many of my students refer to them as a line of knitting. If you have 20 stitches on your needle and you knit or purl them all so they are now transferred from your left hand needle to your right hand needle - that is a row completed. Hooray!

Later this week I will be launching a new knitting class on the website, 'An Introduction to Circular Knitting.' 3 different ways to knit 'in the round' for all your circular knitting needs and ambitions.