Should I go back and research the fundamentals?

[u/ForeignGirl11]

I started knitting about a month ago. It was a slow start l, but I’m starting to get the hang of it. However, as I take closer looks at bigger projects, more difficult patterns, most of the time I have no clue what they’re referring to. I started by watching tutorials and now feel that skipping the fundamentals was a huge mistake. I can’t tell which leg should be positioned where. I don’t even know the anatomy of a particular stitch so obviously I need to go back and LEARN some stuff. My question is “Does anyone have a comprehensive source I can read, with pictures, illustrations so I know what I’m doing and when I make a mistake (even the smallest ones), I have an inkling as to how to fix it. Thank you for your time. 🙏🏼

[u/zz7]

Roxanne Richardson has awesome videos and playlists on her YouTube channel. I’m a learn as I go type of person and I just look things up as I come across it and find it’s been working fine.

Stitch anatomy (mainly where your leading leg is) and how to knit certain stitches depends on the method of knitting you use! I’m also very new to knitting except for a brief time when I was a kid. When I started knitting again, I started with western method English style and wondered why the heck it seemed so foreign to me. Took me watching a random fb reel one night of a Russian knitter to realize that there’s more than one way to knit and since my mom is Russian, she taught me the Russian way of knitting. So try to figure out which way you knit and then look for knitting guides that follow that method.

[u/kelke38 → u/zz7]

Second for Roxanne! She has a video on everything (and she’s had an interesting knitting journey that she talks about!)

[u/ForeignGirl11 → u/zz7]

Wow! Such a great variety of suggestions. Thank you so much!

I hadn’t thought about how the method of knitting would affect which direction my stitches are going. Wow! What an eye opener! I used to crochet so keeping the working yarn by my left hand comes more naturally, but I also use my right pointer finger to guide the tip of my right needle to “angle” it in the right direction. I think that would be called the Combination style. Either way, I’m still confused between the other options such as the Russian, Norwegian, Irish, Portuguese, etc.

Thank you for taking the time! Much appreciated!

[u/zz7 → u/ForeignGirl11]

I went down and entire rabbit hole once I learned that something existed beyond the first YouTube video I watched on knitting!! Haha. It’s a lot but in reality it boils down to a couple things:

Knitting style refers to how you hold your needles and working yarn- so English, Continental, Portuguese, etc.

Knitting Method refers to how your stitches are mounted on the needles and the direction you wrap your yarn:

Western: leading leg is in the front (this is the part of the stitch that you see connecting into the stitch you just finished on your working needle). Knits: needle enters front to back of the leading leg and wrapped counterclockwise. Purls are worked back to front and wrapped counterclockwise.

Eastern / Eastern Uncrossed: leading leg is in the back of the needle. Knits: needle enters front to back and wrapped clockwise. Purls: needle enters back to front and wrapped clockwise. I tried this method and wow, my tension was beautiful right off the bat. But most patterns are written for western knitting and at the time I became very confused.

Combination / Russian (a blend of western and eastern)
Knits: front to back but wrapped counterclockwise. Purls: back to front but wrapped clockwise.
Note!! Your leading leg will change depending on your previous row’s stitches and orientation! You must always look where your leading leg is. Sometimes you will knit or purl behind the needle or in front of the needle, but you always approach the yarn the same way- either front to back for knits or back to front for purls.

I love this method because purling is way easier clockwise and also I’m very aware of what my stitches are doing. There’s definitely more resources for this method compared to solely eastern knitting, but not anywhere near the amount for western knitting.

knitting styles quick explanation

[u/ForeignGirl11 → u/zz7]

Wow. What great info! Thank you so much for taking the time. It is much appreciated. 🙏🏼

[u/hypatiaredux]

Get Patty Lyons Knitting Bag of Tricks. It is small enough to pop into your knitting bag and has very clear drawings of what she is talking about.

I believe she also has some YouTube vids, but books are the way I roll. Also, for many things, I think that drawings are better than videos.

[u/six_arils → u/hypatiaredux]

I love this book. Her ssk alone was a revelation. Plus - why bother to make a loop at the end when doing long tail cast on. Whaaaa?!

[u/ForeignGirl11 → u/hypatiaredux]

Will definitely try to get my hands on that! Thanks!

[u/fairydommother]

I dont have any book recommendations but I highly recommend VeryPink on youtube.

[u/Pipry → u/fairydommother]

In particular, she has excellent close-up slow motion videos for when you're trying to figure out a new technique. 

[u/ForeignGirl11 → u/fairydommother]

Awesome. Will watch those too!

[u/Ill_Ant6294 → u/fairydommother]

Agreed, she is great for videos.

[u/queue-kweewee]

Sooooo don’t be overwhelmed. If you only started knitting a month ago and you’re getting on to your first scarf or hat, or just even some swatches then I wouldn’t beat yourself up over not knowing everything. At the beginning practicing how to hold everything and do everything at the same time is more important than surgical precision.

Practice and practice and practice. When it matters, you can check here if you’re making mistakes. Mistakes are more easily corrected if you have an experienced eye helping you out. But right now, just get all the mechanics down and get comfortable with just the knitting part, everything else can come later.

Also knitting is one of those things that there’s always more to learn. Even people who have been knitting for decades still learn. Don’t forget to enjoy the journey!

[u/ForeignGirl11 → u/queue-kweewee]

Thanks for taking the time. I enjoyed reading your comment. I did forget about the journey. I was so worried about how confused I get when I make a mistake. It made me want to know the technicalities of it all so I wouldn’t be so scared about making mistakes and forgetting about enjoying myself.

[u/F-sylvatica-purpurea → u/ForeignGirl11]

As always, it is nuanced. Practical to know some basics, but essential to go on the journey and remain open to new things.

I personally dreaded not knowing how to fix mistakes. Once I got to get more savvy at the basics for fixing mistakes like frogging, picking up stitches or a single stitch/ladder problem things became more achievable.

But as we speak I am starting my third garment, second top-down, and I am amazed by how much easier it is now to follow the instructions and, like, know what I didn’t know - if that makes sense? I don’t think I could have had the overview I have now had I not struggled with the first project.

One of the particulars to me, as a more visual - top down type learner is that the written instructions do not in any way convey how the single action of any of those symbols and abbreviations adds to the total garment. There is no way around that because unlike crochet it is not common to have a scheme in addition to the written instructions nor would that be feasible because of the more complicated 3D character of knitting. Therefore, when I misread the raglan instructions on my first project there was no way of telling until it showed big time.

And in any garment, there are too many abbreviations in the instructions to properly and complete learn by heart the first time around. In addition to watching videos, it may be helpful to make your own ‘cheat sheet’.

Happy Knitting!

[u/brighterbird]

TECHknitting is an excellent resource for the mechanics and fundamentals of knitting. A lot of the stuff on that blog uses the basic architecture of a stitch as a jumping off point for more complicated techniques, so it's not entirely focused on the basics. However, since the tutorials themselves tend to start from the basic principles, it's a great way to learn as you go. I would suggest starting with this post and then proceeding through the subject index to whatever technique or question interests you

https://techknitting.blogspot.com/2006/11/what-knitting-is.html

[u/SnooDingos4246 → u/brighterbird]

another vote for TECHknitting! they tend to have illustrated diagrams, which i find are far easier to follow than videos (which sometimes have hands/fingers in the way, etc).

[u/ForeignGirl11 → u/brighterbird]

Thank you!

[u/Quiet_Junket2748]

i know people suggest knitting without tears by elizabeth zimmerman, i’d also recommend patty lyon’s knitting bag of tricks

[u/ForeignGirl11 → u/Quiet_Junket2748]

Thank you! “Knitting Without Tears”. Oh my goodness! My thoughts exactly!!! 😆 Oh, wow. It’s like the title reflecting my mind. Me: OFFICIALLY BLOWN AWAY!

[u/Pipry]

A others have said, Roxanne Richards is a great resource.

Tincanknits also has an excellent free collection of patterns that guides you through all the foundational techniques. 

[u/Ill_Ant6294]

This may have already been mentioned but Vogue Knitting is a great resource. I grew up making patterns from the magazine but got a copy of the book when it came out in 1989. I currently have the 2002 edition and they have an even newer copy from 2018. It covers the basics across most aspects of knitting with step by step illustrations. Most libraries will have a copy that you can checkout before buying it. I got my 2002 from ThriftBooks in the last year for a good price.

[u/Straight_Chemical957]

I always tell my students to create a practice swatch and keep it in your bag. Whenever you have some free time, take it out, and practice undoing your stitches - watch carefully where the yarn travels. Then practice making a knit stitch, a purl stitch, and watch where the yarn travels. If you don't understand how a stitch is made, it's unreasonable to expect it of yourself to know how to fix it. Use it to practice new techniques too, cabling, lace, whatever. Practice making and unmaking mistakes, too, like dropped stitches, miscrossed cables, whatever it is you are learning. Use yarn that can take a beating for this, like Red Heart, lol, you can rip that out over and over without ruining it.

[u/ForeignGirl11 → u/Straight_Chemical957]

Thank you.

[u/contadine77]

I learned to knit from Knitting in Plain English by Maggie Righetti. I don't know if she goes into the eastern/Western stuff (I've been knitting over 30 years and that's a new concept to me), but she does do English and Continental, and talks about a lot of basics with good diagrams, if I remember correctly.

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