FaveCrafts

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Easy Knitting Tutorial for Beginners

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Get out those needles and yarn!  It’s time to get knit picky!

A few weeks ago, we asked our Facebook fans, “What crafting skill would you like to learn?”…and a wide majority said knitting.  For the past two weeks, we’ve run a mini knitting lesson in our newsletter to help guide new knitters as they learn to pearl and stitch for the first time.

Then I wondered if some of our blog readers might enjoy a little knitting tutorial as well…so I’ve decided to post the whole thing here, complete with materials you will need, awesome tutorials and guides, and even a few beginner projects that are easy and fun to make!  With these simple lessons and suggestions, you’ll have knitting down in no time!

Beginner’s Knitting Tutorial

Must Have Materials:

  • Knitting Needles – These come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and materials.  If you’re brand new to knitting, stick with the bigger sized needles (US 10-17).  These will help you better see what is going on and will allow for easier usage of the yarn.
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  • Yarn – Go into any craft store and you’ll  see aisles and aisles of yarn.  For your basic knitting projects, stick with yarn that’s strong and durable.  Red Heart Yarn, Lily Sugar n’ Cream, and Caron all have great yarn for beginning knitting projects.
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  • Gauge – The gauge is used to measure the size of your work.  It helps you convert stitches into inches for easy measuring and often includes information on converting US sized needles to a metric measurement, if needed.
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  • Stitch Markers – Stitch markers help you keep your place when you’re working on a knitting project.  You can use them to mark the right or wrong side of the work, as well as marking a location where you need to come back to later on.
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Easy Tutorials and Guides for Beginning Knitters:

Easy Beginner Knitting Projects:

 

 We want to know:  What other crafting techniques do you want to learn?  Leave a comment below and maybe we’ll feature it in an upcoming mini lesson!

National Craft Month Round Up

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And National Craft Month has sadly come to a close! We want to thank everyone for joining us all month long in making some amazing craft projects, hosting a twitter party, starting a new blog about yarn and another one about craft business, and re-launching our radio show! It’s been such an exciting month for us and we were so glad to have you along for the ride!

As you know, we had a brand new tutorial every day of National Craft Month as our way to celebrate with a giveaway for one lucky commenter. Well, all the prizes have been giveaway to the winners and we wanted to thank all of our sponsors for helping us pull this off! We had prizes from all of these amazing companies:

Plaid
Spellbinders
Graphic 45
Quick Quotes
Hambly
PurpleCow
K&Co.
Polyform
Krylon
Prima
Bead&Button
Bernat
Dimensions Needlecrafts
Caron Yarns
Consumer Crafts
Provo Craft
Lion Brand Yarn
I Love to Create!

To make sure that you didn’t miss any of the craft tutorials we put up over the course of the month, we collected them all on this page for you! That should make it easy enough to browse through and check out the ones you missed right?

National Craft Month Kick Off


Happy Go Lucky Wreath
Daisy Star Nine Patch Quilt
April Showers Scarf

Paper Crafts

Pinwheel Wreath
Enjoy Your Day Card
Eye on the Clock Scrapbook Layout
Wood Veneer Embellished Card
Cardstock Gift Box
Happy Times Card
Little Treasure Card

Jewelry and Fashion Tutorials

Anthropologie Limitless Strands Necklace
Clay Ripple Bangle
Party Glitter Pumps
Trinket Bracelet
Tila Temptation Bracelet
Crochet Floral Necklace
Chic Shamrock Hair Clip

Knit and Crochet Tutorials

Budding into Spring
Mermaid Tears Purse
Bluebird Pillow
Cotton Sun Hat
Past Perfect Mitered Granny Throw
Couching Yarns on an Art Quilt Tutorial
Baby Twister Blanket

Home Decor Tutorials

Cuddle Bunny
Chalkboard Party Cart
Lovely Leaves Etched Glass Vase
Arabesque Home Accents
Crochet Cupcakes
Mini Butterfly Crayon Canvases

Magic Loop Knitting Method

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Have you heard of the magic loop knitting method before?  If you haven’t used it yet, you’re missing out!  The magic loop knitting method allows a knitter to knit in a small circumference using circular knitting needles instead of picking up several pair of double pointed needles.  Double pointed needles are great in their own right, but I find this method much more portable.  Also if you’re new to knitting and have just learned how to knit in a round, this is a great way to explore new types of projects without picking up the more challenging double pointed needles.  

Because this method allows knitters to make a tube-like piece of knit fabric in just about any size, it’s a great way to knit socks, hats, sweaters and more.

In order for this method to work, you will need to use a fairly long circular knitting needle (32 inches or longer) so that you have enough room to work without pulling on the yarn.  Once you find a circular needle long enough, make sure its cable is thin and flexible.  This will make your work much easier.  

Once you master this advanced knitting technique, you will love knitting socks and hats all the more!  If you use this method for hat knitting, you won’t even need to use double pointed needles to create the crown – how easy is that! 

Okay enough talking, here is a great video tutorial from AllFreeKnitting.com that shows how it’s done.  

 

 

Have you ever used this method for sock or hat knitting?  Which do you prefer, knitting with double pointed needles, or using the magic loop method?

Beginner Knitting: How to Hold Yarn Doubled

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Have you ever come across a knitting pattern that tells you to “hold the yarn doubled” or “use doubled throughout”?  Many patterns make this request, but what does it mean?  I remember coming across this for the first time and thinking huh?  Thankfully, while it might sound fancy, it’s actually not that difficult, especially when you have the right free knitting tutorials at your disposal.

Holding yarn doubled or holding doubled throughout simply means to knit with two strands of yarn as though they were one strand.  Depending on the pattern, you might be required to do this with one skein or two.  If the pattern only calls for one skein, simply knit with a piece of the yarn from the middle of the skein, and a piece of the yarn from the end of the skein.  As you cast on with both strands, hold each strand together as they were one piece of yarn.

If your pattern calls for two skeins of yarn while knitting double throughout, then use a strand from each skein at the same time. Again, you will treat both strands as if they were a single strand while knitting.

Here are a few stitches I knit using this method:

 

Once I cast on a few stitches with two strands of yarn, I knit them normally as if each double strand was one piece.  Insert your right needle into the first stitch on the left.  Because you knit with two strands, this stitch will look like two loops in one.  Wrap the two strands from the skein around the needle and pull the yarn through the loop as you normally would for a knit stitch.

 

 

 

Here is what a few rows of knitting with two strands looks like – isn’t it nice and bulky?

Have you made any projects using this method? 

 

Beginner Knitting: How to Get Smooth Edges

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When you first learn how to knit, one of the toughest things to master is the proper yarn tension.  Do you find that the edges of your knitting are often too loose or don’t lay right?  As you become more advanced, you’ll find the edges (aka selvedges) become neat on their own.  Until then, there’s a little trick you can use.  Have you ever tried slipping the first stitch of every row of your knitting?  Slipping stitches, otherwise known as S1 or S2 depending on how many stitches a pattern wants you to slip, means that when it comes time for you to knit a new row, slip the first stitch off of the left needle and onto the right needle without knitting or purling it.  Then proceed to knit the rest of the row as the pattern instructs.

Even advanced knitters use this method from time-to-time.  Not only does it create a nice, even edge, but it also makes your knitting easier to seam together because with slipped edges, the loops are clearly visible.  Slipping the first stitch of every row also makes it easy to pick up stitches and continue knitting if the pattern calls for it.  This method works particularly well when knitting projects in the stockinette stitch, but can be applied to other stitches as well.

Here’s a quick how-to photo guide showing how to slip a stitch.  It really is this easy!

Have you ever used this knitting trick before?  What were your experiences?

 

National Craft Month: How to Loom Knit

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As experts and enthusiasts of all things crafty, FaveCrafts decided to host a special National Craft Month blog series for all of our lovely readers. Check back for a new blog post every day featuring our favorite projects, new craft videos, how-to’s from the FaveCrafts editors, and a GIGANTIC, ENORMOUS, AMAZING craft giveaway at the end of the month. That’s right–we’re giving away the biggest prize ever, a gift basket chock full of crafting goodies from our craft closet. There’s something for everyone in this gift basket.

Leave a comment below, and on any blog post labeled “National Craft Month” in the headline, and your comment will count as an entry into the giveaway. You are free to comment as often as once per blog post (for a total of 31 chances to win!). At the end of the month, we’ll pool all of the comments together and pick one lucky winner.

For today’s post, we’re going to learn all there is to know about loom knitting!  Don’t be scared, loom knitting is actually incredibly simple once you master the basics.  The even better news?  It puts less pressure on your hands than traditional knitting!  So if you suffer from arthritis or carpal tunnel, loom knitting is a great way to keep crafting without the pain.   Thanks to a new video series on our sister site, AllFreeKnitting, loom knitting has never looked easier!

Here is just about everything you’ll need to know to get started.

  1. Research different types of knitting looms. Before you begin your loom knitting adventure, you want to make sure to research which type of knitting loom you want to use.  Depending on if you choose a round knitting loom or a straight knitting loom you can make a variety of different projects.  To get started, watch this great video: How to Loom Knit: Types of Knitting Looms.
  2. Understand your yarn. Once you know what kind of knitting loom you want to use, you’ll need to know what kind of yarn is most appropriate for the project that you’re aiming to make.  In How to Loom Knit: Yarn Basics, you’ll learn everything you need to know about disparate yarns and their various properties.
  3. Learn the Knit Stitch. Knowing how to loom knit the knit stitch is essential for most projects.  How to Loom Knit: The Knit Stitch will show you how to make knit stitches step by step.
  4. Learn the Purl Stitch. As most knitters know, knit and purl stitches will become two of your best friends.  The same goes for loom knitting.  Learn how to make your own purl stitches with this video tutorial, How to Loom Knit: The Purl Stitch.
  5. Learn how to knit the Garter Stitch.  Now that you know how to knit and purl, you can create the garter stitch be alternating between the two.  Learn how in this awesome tutorial, How to Loom Knit: The Garter Stitch.


What technique or hobby have you always wanted to learn?

How to: Make Your Own Knitting Needles

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If you’re still pondering over what to get your friends for the holidays, why not give them something a little more out of the ordinary – give them the gift of knitting!   A basket full of homemade knitting needles, a ball of yarn and a simple scarf pattern is the perfect getting-started kit.  Plus it will give you a reason to visit more – you can teach them how to knit.

If you don’t know how to make your own needles, don’t be intimidated.  It’s really easy.  Here’s what you’ll need.

Materials

  • Old pencil sharpener
  • Mineral oil
  • Your favorite vintage buttons
  • Sand paper
  • 1/4 inch dowel
  • Old cloth and rag

Instructions

  1. Because larger needles are great tools for beginners, you’ll want to make these needles fairly big (size 9 or 10 preferably).  If you’re making these for kids, shorter might be the better way to go.
  2. To make your needles, take the 1/4 inch dowel and cut off two, 12-inch pieces.  Sharpen the ends of your needles with an old pencil sharpener.  Leave one flat end on each one of the needles.
  3. Once you have one end on each of the needles sharpened,  take some sandpaper and sand then down.  The sharpened tips will each need to be sanded down until they’re slightly rounded and not too sharp.
  4. Apply a thin coat of mineral oil over your needles.  Remove any excess oil with an old cloth or rag.
  5. Take your vintage buttons and attach them to each one of the flat ends using craft glue.  Leave them to dry for a few hours.

And that’s all there is to it!  Pretty easy, huh?  If you’re not sure which pattern to give your friend along with your yarn and needles.  Visit our sister site, AllFreeKnitting for some easy and cute patterns.  Why not give this Cabled Cowl Scarf a try?

Crochet

Jewelry

Knitting

Paper

Sewing

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