Newbie Here!

Hello Knitting Friends!
I am so excited and relieved to have found this site.

My name is Christine, 30 years old, Los Angeles native, and knitting newbie.
I grew up in a creative environment, a bridal shop to be exact, and it was pretty much illegal to not be crafty in one way or another.

Knitting was always a curiosity that I had, but I never even tried to pick up the equipment and give it a shot. This was until about a month ago when I dislocated and fractured my elbow, limiting me from my planned trips, working out, and pretty much everything I had taken for granted before having my arm in a cast & splint. Weeks into my injury/recovery journey, I decided I would teach myself a new trick, just something cool that I could add to my armoire of somewhat useful/very likely useless knowledge. I landed on knitting.

Knitting was my choice. With one fully functioning arm, and one in recovery, I went to Michael’s for my beginner’s kit. This has been my favorite impulsive decision yet! I taught myself to start with needles, but my cast gets in the way of the long needles, so I have resorted to loom knitting for now. I did learn to use a loom as a child, but I never felt that I was doing the craft of knitting ANY justice. Now that I must take time off work and have to keep my body in a stable physical position, I figured that this was all great timing. Especially since now I do not have to worry about not having enough money for the holidays due to not working, I can at least give my loved ones a gift of sacrifice! LOL.

Anyways, I am very happy to have found this lovely group of yarn lovers. I am hoping to learn from so many of you crafty, skilled individuals!

XOXO,
Christine :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Welcome Christine! I’m more of a crocheter but I’ve dabbled in knitting. This is a wonderful community and there are some talented and knowledgeable people here. Take advantage of their knowledge and don’t hesitate to ask questions. You’ll be kicking yourself if you don’t. Casting on is tough and takes some getting used to. When I started knitting I probably worked on that for 4 hours alone trying to figure it out. Once you have it down the whole process gets easier. Best of luck with your recovery and again welcome!

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Hello
Are you making loom hats? Scarves? Your family and friends will be amazed you made something with your arm in a cast!
I also ad a little loom as a child but never made anything recognisable or useful.

Circular needles could be more comfortable although perhaps you don’t want to invest in more equipment just yet. The cable joining the 2 needles means the straight needle part is not so long (fitting in a hand rather than extending the length of forearm) but you can still work patterns flat, back and forth knitting, no need to join in the round.

I hope you will share some pics of your projects, we do like to see what people are making.

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Welcome to the wonderful world of knitting! This is such a helpful forum–no question is too simple or too esoteric that someone won’t have a helpful suggestion.

I second the use of circular needles, I think they’d be much easier to handle with a cast. Although there’s a woman in my knitting group who had a stroke at a very young age (she’s not 40 yet…), and she knits one-handed with straight needles, bracing one in her lap. So there are ways!

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Thanks, Snowball!
Yes, this seems like I found just the right place for me. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Casting on the straight needles was giving me minor angst! But I think it had a lot more to do with the cast than the actual casting. I did succeed in the end, but felt a little upset with my cast in the way, this was when I decided to buy looms. :slightly_smiling_face:

I appreciate your kind words!

@Creations At the moment, I feel like Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the knitting instructions may or may not have gotten mixed up with the blueprints of the ranch house. LOL!

On a serious note, I am currently trying to get comfortable with :dizzy:scarves :dizzy:. I am trying to work on keeping the same tightness (?) throughout the entire project, but I think I might be trying to move way too fast. AND I may need to look-up all the right lingo :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

My goal is to be able to complete some little hat & scarves sets for the holidays. I invested in some tinker toy-like loom pieces that self-attach to make any shape. Though, your suggestion of circular needles has me intrigued, I am looking through Amazon reviews… do you have a specific brand you may recommend?

I APPRECIATE YOU!

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@ColoCro Wow!! Okay, I have zero excuses! She is amazing, I am sure of it.

I do want to find some good circular needles, the videos I have seen online just make the process seem so smooth. Do you have any preferred manufacturers for your supplies? I feel like I may be out of the loop on what the good brands are. :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

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:joy: pattern instructions can certainly seem daunting. We are here to help though, his forum super helpful and friendly.

Circular needles- people like different brands and you will likely get a bunch of different recommendations and favourites. I took up knitting a few years ago with a particular project in mind (a sweater for my son), I learned the basics as a kid but had not knitted in some 30+ years and had no kit.
I got budget sets from amazon, one set of straights and one set of fixed circulars in loads of needle sizes (i think the length was maybe 60 or 80cm). You can’t do absolutely everything with them but they were a great starter kit for me and lasted really well. Having the different sizes means you can more likely make something in the right gauge to fit. I also bought a budget set of crochet hooks, having one is helpful when knitting if you drop a stitch. My needles came with a little box of extras which turned out to be super helpful, markers, removable markers, tape measure, tapestry needle, needle tips, all just handy stuff although they look cheap and not at all fancy, they work.
My preference is for wood or bamboo needles.
I do have some branded needs now and like the lykke and knit pro interchangable circulars.

There is an amazing video of a one armed knitter… skill!!

She’s an inspiration to our whole group, for sure. She knits a lot, reads a lot, cooks for her hubs and teen-aged son, does it all with one arm. I don’t know how.

I like wooden needles better than metal–it feels easier to control the yarn. If you can find an inexpensive set, that’s probably best until you figure out what you want. There are “fixed” circulars, where the cord is permanently attached to the needles, and “interchangeables”, where you have different-sized needles and different lengths of cords, and make up whatever you need for a given pattern.

As for the lingo–useful terms here: https://nimble-needles.com/tutorials/knitting-terms-and-techniques-glossary/

And more slang terms here: https://www.thelittlewoolcompany.com/yarn-specifications-and-gauges-clone/

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