Knitting by 8th grade Mass Media Student Brett M

 

    So you might have been scrolling through the newest articles on the Byram Rampage and came across this one. You might have asked yourself, “Why would I need to learn how to knit?” Well, while knitting is no longer necessary, due to the industrialization of pretty much everything, is seemingly going extinct. A little after you get into it, you’ll notice that knitting is actually pretty easy, and you can take it as slow as you want. Plus, knitting can be a really soothing hobby, or it could just be an excuse to binge watch the next season of that Kdrama you started last night. This is also a great way to design custom accessories, you can make whatever you want!

How do I start?

    Well the first thing to do is get supplies. You can likely find supplies at any local crafts store, and even some walmarts have a section for crafts. Bamboo needles are great for beginners because of their grip and medium width yarn is usually the best when starting out. Just make sure the needles are as long as you want your project’s width. So for scarves they wont need to be long at all. Now to begin learning different stitches a book might be handy, but there are also helpful online resources such as videos or articles. Really, all you need is a way to learn the cast on, cast off, and knit stitch to start making any basic design piece.

It's Relaxing

    That’s right, after you memorize the basic stitch you can easily get sucked into it because it’s so mindless. There is only 4 steps to the stitch, and they’re all pretty simple. Since it’s so mindless, you can also do anything else that doesn’t require your arms at all times. You could read a book or watch TV. You could even spend that time on Duolingo, learning a language. After a long day of work, knitting can just be a productive way to be lazy.

Be Creative!

By just learning just one more stitch, the purl, you can create infinite designs just alternating from the knit and the purl. Plus, you could get yourself a round, which will allow you to make hats and socks or anything of the sort. Additionally, a bridge will allow you to make twisting patterns like you see on many knitted pieces of clothing. While there are already lots of designs to follow from others, you can do whatever you want with the freedom of knitting.

Conclusion

In reality, kitting will take at most a day to start and finish a project if you have the supplies and put lots of attention into it. But it doesn’t have to be a project that feels like work. Instead, it can be a small thing every day that you can use to pass the time that everyone is finding they have too much of.