Summer before last my sister in law picked up a knitting book at the library, Debbie Bliss I believe, and we spent about a month learning to knit from it. I don’t know any knitters so I learn to troubleshoot just by practice and now that I found this site the videos and other knitters help. I have gone to my local yarn store and asked a question or two while shopping, they are usually nice enough to help you out. I still have millions of questions though, thank goodness for this site!:knitting:
I learned to knit last week. I have wanted to learn for years but no one seemed to be able to teach me because they all knit right handed, I do everything left handed. Most things I can do with either hand including writing but knitting is not one of them. I did an Internet search for left handed knitting and found this site. So far I have learned to cast of, knit, purl, and cast off in the Continental method and I love it. I can FINALLY knit. I have a long way to go before I can be called proficient but its a start. I have crochet for years and it hurts my hands. Knitting does not hurt my hands in the least. It will be so nice to be able to make things.
Crocee
I learned about 2 weeks ago. Seriously. I saw this scarf at the store, and I was like “I bet I could do that.” So, with a little research, I found this site and I’ve learned everything I know from the video’s here! I already made my own scarf and it turned out amazing if I do say so myself!:woohoo:
About three years ago I suddenly decided out of the blue that I wanted to learn to knit. Both my nan and my mom knit but neither had the time to teach me so I sat with a book in my room for hours trying to figure it out before I started university. It never quite happened and then I got to University and found this amazing market stall with loads of needles and wool and I just had to have some. So I tried again but I didn’t have the book with me cos I’d left it at home so I googled for how to knit and stumbled upon this site. I cast on, knit and purled my first stitches with the help of the videos here then went out and bought stitch n bitch which has been great for when I need to look up something and can’t get on the internet.
Mostly I’ve learned by doing it. I tackled dropping a stitch when I came to it and then with practice you learn different ways to fix it and what works for you. I used to just rip it back and get in a mess putting stitches back on the needles but now I always have my trusty crochet hook handy. I also pick up a lot of tips by reading the forums and articles in different magazines.
Great idea! I forgot to mention that when I first started knitting I bought some bright, colorful, inexpensive yarn to practice on. I knitted for a couple of weeks with that yarn before I started my first project, which was a scarf.
With a practice piece I was not emotionally invested in a ‘project’, so it was very easy to frog and start over if I made a mistake. This is also how I practiced fixing mistakes (drop a stitch on purpose and then fix it!). I still use that same yarn today to practice a new technique before I work on my ‘real’ project.
By watching Knitty Gritty with Vickie Howell, buying dvd’s (love KH’s) and asking for help from my knitty friends here. Also, collecting a variety of knitting books and magazines. I have also had the chance to visit a knitting shop and watching.
Hmm… I cut a hole in a sock and unraveled it… And picked at the hole already in my sweater… and unraveled a good portion of it… and analyzed socks… andthen found a set of knitting needles that my aunt had cast on for my mom ages ago (before I was born. Mom never learned) and looked at that till I was postive I remembered it, took it off, took off with the needles, and I’ve been knitting ever since. That was 7, almost 8 years ago. 
I learned to knit at Sears Roebuck in the 1970’s. We made sampler afghans of knitted squares crocheted together. I still have it. Then we made sweaters.
I’ve also been to LYS for help, took a class at Michaels when I was struggling with socks, got a DVD, checked out knittinghelp.com and also have gotten help on the GardenWeb Knitting Forum. So it has been bits and pieces for me.
Most error correction has come from knittinghelp.com I believe, and by figuring it out myself. I make lots of mistakes and never hesitate to tear out because I want to be happy with the finished product.
[SIZE=4][COLOR=blue]I learn to knit by watching a video from the library and then taking a class I have only been knitting a couple of years. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE=4][COLOR=blue]I love it!!! I have not learn the tricks yet I am still learning I just learn how to cable knit.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
I just started college and moved 6 hours from home. I’m really shy and it’s not easy for me to make friends since I’m not the partying type, so I got it in my head I’d learn to knit. I got some books and some magazines (Interweave Knits and Vogue Knitting) from the public library and I’ve finished a scarf. Now I’m starting an afghan and soome dishcloths from a borrowed book from a girl from church. This site has helped with learning so much with the videos and such.
My mom taught me to knit (who is an expert knitter!) when I was probably around 7 or 8. I remember making sweaters for my Pound Puppies !
My mom still gets calls at 11pm and emails of scanned patterns with cries for help!
I also use this site a lot and just bought Vogue’s Knitting book (a great resource). The video’s are amazing and you won’t find anything as good anywhere else.
Just keep practicing…you will make many mistakes. That’s how you learn!
Good luck and keep knitting!
Julie
I am a newcomer and already I love to go through the threads and replies. I have been knitting since high school days, I have been retired for almost two years now, so that is a long time. I was taught by an older lady who worked with my mother. She taught me and my 5 siblings to knit baby booties.
I have tried the conti method but I just can’t work fast enough.
I teach two knitting classes once a week. The first thing I have them to do is cast on until the needle is full of stitches, take them off and keep casting on until they think they can go home and start casting on without any help. When they are comfortable with that then we move on to doing the garter stitch.
I have a gentleman knitter who is left handed. He is a minister and wants to knit a prayer shawl. He had to quit for a while. He was so tense when knitting the doctor said his shoulder was suffering from it. Would you believe I taught myself to knit left handed so I could work with him. You still think right hand but I knitted a petal dishcloth completely left hand.
Sorry for the long winded reply.
Next one won’t be so long.
Helen, Central Indiana:knitting:
I started knitting about 14 years ago. I found a project in the closet my mother had started 12 years before and never finished. I cannablized the yarn, got her to show me how to cast on, then taught myself the rest by looking at books.
:knitting:
I watched my mother do it. She’s more of a crocheter than a knitter, and she taught me how to crochet as a kid, but knitting looked like a lot of fun. She tried to teach me, but I couldn’t follow along. She knows how to do things, but isn’t very good at explaining. So I got myself a learn to knit in one day book. I was able to get a swatch done, but I hated the English method and found absolutely no joy in knitting–in fact it made me down right grumpy and sore. So I stuck to crochet. Then, I watched my mother again and I noticed that she held her yarn completely differently than the book I learned from. She told me she did it the wrong way.
That is when I started searching the library and online to find out how I can knit “the wrong way” and discovered the term “continental knitting” which led me right to this site. I learned to knit right along with the videos and now (only two years later) I even prefer knitting to crochet most of the time.
Cool topic! I love to read people’s stories. 
About 3 years ago, when I was newly married and not working, I needed a hobby. My mom crochetes, so i decided to try knitting. I got the book, [I]Knitting and Crocheting for Idiots[/I] from the library, some RH yarn and bamboo needles from Joann’s, and gave it a whirl. What I didn’t pick up from the book I learned from watching the videos here on KH over and over. I try to challenge myself in some way with every pattern I make, always learning something new from each project.
I’m now happily addicted to knitting.
[COLOR="#300090"]My mom crochets, my grandma crocheted, almost all my aunts crochet, but one aunt knits. I was between 8 and 12 yo and I asked my mom to show me how to crochet. Did the scarf and hat thing with a double ended crochet hook with two colors. Then I did a pillow cover in a ripple afghan pattern to match the ripple afghan that my mom crocheted for me.
At some point I remembered that my aunt (and God mother) had knitted me some terrible, itchy sweaters (hey, at that age I didn’t value the warmth of wool or the hand knit cable sweater) for each of the last two Christmases. So I asked my mom if she could teach me to knit. Her shoulders drooped, she put down her crochet with a heavy sigh and went searching for (probably) the only pair of needles she had and a suitable (expendable) skein of yarn. Upon her return, she confessed that she didn’t knit well and never liked knitting, but she taught me how to knit and purl. I think it was continental style, because that was most similar to the crochet hand positions and functions.
I knitted a swatch in a tight K2, P2 rib pattern and then left it on the needles because I didn’t know how to bind off and didn’t want to ask (or maybe I had no idea for what the swatch could be used.)
I then did some thread crochet doilies that impressed my mom. She just handed me the pattern book and I picked out something and started up, pausing to ask a question now and then when I didn’t understand the next (secret code) stitch instructions. They turned out nice and lacy and my mom kept them.
Some time later…
I’m in my early 40s and my wife tells me I need a hobby. I’m yelling (at the children) too much for small things, really. Hey, I remember I used to crochet!
Me: “Honey, do you want some new dish clothes to match your (newly repainted) kitchen? I think I saw some yarn in the closet!”
DW (slight hint of “wide eyed” shock in her voice): “What do you mean?”
Me: I was just thinking, you said I needed a hobby.
(later)
Me (during next trip to Wal-mart): Hey, these thread crochet balls would match your kitchen. (I buy two of each color).
(short time later, back at home)
Me: I finished the dish cloth, I don’t think I got enough crochet thread to make the matching placemats and napkin rings (six settings!).
DW: (Takes dish cloth) Thank you. (She carefully folds the dish cloth and places it in a safe and prominent place on her dresser.)
Me: (thinking, "that’s not the place for a dish cloth. She’s treating it like a precious, lace handkerchief. sigh. 
Maybe I can knit her something, but I don’t quite remember how to knit. Finds KH and the demo videos.)
Other FOs have been or are in my signature here.
–Jack :guyknitting:[/COLOR]
I actually learned from my then 11-year-old daughter a couple of years ago! One of her friends from school had shown her how to knit and given her some yarn and needles. She had trouble remembering how, though, and was knitting every stitch twisted. I did the same, then realized something just didn’t look right. We eventually looked up online how to knit correctly and ta-dah! Now I have baskets and baskets of yarn…
I’m aging myself but just before 1950’s I learned to knit w/ two pencils and a ball of yarn from an old base ball. I was very very young and my mother had given me a book about Santa Clause and a little lost doll and how the girl who found the doll, had learned to knit clothes for the doll. So, I did too. I have been knitting ever since. (I also learned to crochet from my mother). Knitting is the most relaxing and zen-like experience I have had.
As much as I knit, none of my 6 children have wanted to learn. But 2 of my dozen or so grandchildren have learned from me.
Now I knit, crochet, and spin my own wool into yarn. I am self taught with it all. This site has many videos and tutorials which are wonderful, especially to the beginner. And, all the hints and tips from other knitters is wonderful. I enjoy it all.
Xanax:happydance:
I learned to knit right here on knittinghelp.com :). The videos are incredibly helpful. I have recommended this site to so many people.
I also retaught myself to crochet a few years ago. But never was able to get the hang of knitting until I found all of you
Thanks to everyone
Hey Xanax, I go down to S.A. a lot (2 sisters, 2 nieces and 3 grandkids down there). Last trip I found a LYS that seemed like it would be fun to hang out in…when I stopped by there were 2 ladies in the back spinning. Anyway, if you’re in Boerne, it’s Rosewood Yarns on South Main. http://www.rosewoodyarns.com/. I just got their newsletter and it looks like they have lots of events/get-togethers.