How to Learn to Knit

A 20-step instruction manual

The oldest knitted artifacts date from the 11th century. Nowadays knitting is no longer a necessity but a hobby that some people think is reserved for octogenarian women. At twenty two years young, four years after moving to San Francisco, I decided to plunge into my old soul and take up the slow art of interlacing loops of yarn with two needles. Here you will find an easy to follow twenty step guide to become a knitting machine. 

Total time: Forever, you might become addicted
Ingredients: Patience, perseverance, and a lot of yarn
Yield: Tight knots of yarn that look like failed bird’s nests, blankets, hats, sweaters, etc…

1. Call your mother

Since you don’t have a grandmother, call the next best candidate to introduce you to the “domestic craft” of knitting: your mom. Ask her if she would teach you how to knit. She will tell you she hasn’t knit in years and is probably terrible at it. Insist until she agrees. 

2. Fly home for the holidays

Your mom will be very excited! She rarely buys you anything but this time she will get you your first needles and “practice yarn” (polyester or acrylic). Don’t expect wool since “you will ruin most of your first attempts.”  

3. Prepare for the first lesson

Prepare two cups of hot chocolate. Sit down next to your mom on the couch that overlooks the yard. The trees are not flowering. In the horizon you see two snow capped volcanoes.

5. Cast on stitches

Your mom puts on her nearsighted glasses and scoots close to you. Putting her arms in front of your chest, as if they were yours, she will teach you how to cast stitches on the needle. You will be able to replicate this step and feel encouraged.  Occasionally your giant poodle will come by and demand attention by delicately placing her furry paw on your lap. 

6. Try to knit

Your mom will instruct you to mimic her movements as she slowly knits the first row. You pay close attention but when you try, you either hold the needles and yarn too tightly making it impossible to make any movements or too loosely resulting in the knots slipping. 

7. Feel frustrated

You will become frustrated but your mom is patient and starts again. In order to get a better view you bring up your feet onto the couch, squatting right next to your mom, like a perched bird, to get a closer look at her hand movements.

8. Trust your mom

The sun is setting and the hot chocolate mugs are empty. You haven’t managed to knit and are getting cranky, so your mom decides to move on to purl, the reverse knot. 

9. Fail

You drop stitches, pick up yarn from the wrong places and somehow manage to tangle the string of yarn. Your work looks like the web of a drunk spider. You realize this is way harder than you thought and think better of those old ladies. 

10. Think of quitting 

Disillusioned, you tell your mom you don’t want to learn anymore. Your mom, still holding on to her work, lowers her head and looks over at you from above her glasses. “Don’t be impatient, it takes practice.”

11. Share your disappointment
You spend the last night of your trip to Mexico at your friend’s house. You tell her about your disappointment with the yarn and needles. 

12. Accept one more lesson

To your surprise, she pulls a halfway knit hat from her night stand and offers to teach you. 

13. Observe your friend

You jump into bed right next to her. She shows you very slowly the simple dance of the hands to create one knot. Her technique is different from your mom’s but with the same result.

14. Mirror your friend’s movements

You mirror her movements. You complete a knit row, a purl row, a knit row. You wish your mom was here to see it! 

15. Expand your skills

Back in San Francisco your boyfriend gifts you yarn and a pattern for a blanket. He believes in your arachnid powers more than you do. The pattern includes multiple cable braids across the blanket. 

16. Train

* Play Eye of the Tiger in the background *

Circle your wrists, stretch and fold your fingers, roll your shoulders back and away from your ears. 

Purl 2. Knit 16. Pass 6 to the cable needle. knit 6. Knit the 6 stitches from the cable needle. Knit 12. Purl 2. Turn your work. Knit the knits and purl the purls. 

Knit at home. Knit at the computer lab at school. Knit on the bus home. Knit at the dining table. Knit on your housemate’s bed. Knit at your boyfriend’s house. 

Finish the blanket! 

17. Impress your grandma in law

Visit your grandmother-in-law and show her your projects. She is very impressed and teaches you how to start knitting without casting stitches on the needle. This is beyond your skill and you repeatedly fail but you gain a closer relationship with her. 

18. Graduate from practice yarn

The years pass and you keep knitting for yourself. Knitting relaxes you and clears your mind. You send photos of your projects to your mom and she sends you photos of her projects back. Slowly you replace synthetic yarns for cotton, wool and baby alpaca. 

19. Knit to survive lockdown

You are locked down for a year during a pandemic. Your husband plays his guitar while you knit the days away. Focusing on the yarn loops keeps your mind from panic. You knit for yourself. You knit for your pregnant friend’s incoming baby.You knit for your former coworker turned friend.  You miss your mom, she is knitting too. You wish you could sit and knit next to her looking out at the sleeping volcanoes. 

20. Prepare for the reencounter 

Buy six balls of silky-smooth forest green merino wool. Carefully take out your long bamboo wooden needles. Prepare a hot beverage and fluff the pillows of the couch. Sit cross legged and knit a sweater for your mom.