You can learn to knit in a single day. All you need is a little concentration, two knitting needles and a length of yarn.
Cotton is often suggested as the easiest to handle while learning, though any smooth yarn will do. Many people find the craft an excellent hobby, and some turn it into a rewarding occupation or a home-based business.
What to start with
Needles around 5mm (US 8). Large enough to see what your hands are doing, small enough to feel like knitting.
Bamboo or wood rather than metal. Wood grips the yarn slightly, and that friction means fewer stitches sliding off while you are still learning to control the work.
Smooth, light-coloured yarn in a medium weight.
Light and smooth so you can see the stitches. This is the most practical piece of advice on this page: dark, fuzzy or variegated yarns hide the stitch structure, and being unable to see what you have done is the main reason beginners conclude they cannot do it.
What to learn, in order
Four things, and they make almost everything else.
Casting on. Making the first row of stitches. Keep it loose – a tight cast-on edge will not stretch, and it is the commonest reason a first hat will not go on.
The knit stitch. The basic movement. Repeated on every row it gives garter stitch, which is a perfectly good fabric.
The purl stitch. The same movement mirrored. Alternate rows of knit and purl and you have stocking stitch.
Binding off. Finishing the last row so it does not unravel. Also keep this loose.
That is a day’s learning, and it is genuinely enough to make things.
What to make first
Something flat where fit does not matter – a dishcloth or a simple scarf.
A dishcloth finishes in an evening, and the first completed object matters more than it sounds. It is what makes you want to start a second.
Do not begin with a hat. Hats need correct gauge and are worked in the round, and one that fits nobody is discouraging.
What to expect
Your tension will be uneven and your edges ragged. Everyone’s are.
It settles within a couple of projects, faster than you expect, and no amount of unpicking speeds it up. Finish the thing however it looks – the second will be visibly better.
If you get stuck
Almost every knitting problem has a video showing exactly that movement, and watching hands do it is far more effective than reading about it.
A local group or a shop class is better still. Ten minutes with someone who can see what your hands are doing solves things that an hour of reading will not.
