What am I doing?! Everything's wrong, I'm not good enough, blah blah blah blah blah
Hi and welcome to Knit With Hannah. I'm Hannah. I'm here with knitting natter to help you learn to
knit the easy way and I'm here today with a mug of tea. Get your knitting ready, get a mug of tea,
put the kettle on, ha ha! I'm here to talk about how I would knit if I was starting in 2022, or even in
2023. If i was starting to knit today whenever it is you're watching this in the 21st century,
things are different. I learned to knit in 1979, 1980, around that time. Things are a
bit different. Let's just say they're a bit different. They're quite a lot different, heh!
So, things have changed and to think about how I would do this now I've actually been looking
at how I do other things now, how I learn other things now and it's actually really interesting.
So the first thing is that when I actually started, when I did my very first thing,
I was knitting with my mum and she did everything to get me started. That was really helpful,
but, as a 40-something I don't think I would go to someone else right now.
She was a primary school teacher so she knew how to teach but she wasn't that advanced in
knitting. She knew very little and when I made mistakes she struggled to help me so it was yes
I know how to knit but it is the very basics. She could do the knit stitch and the purl stitch and
take me so far, but when I was making mistakes and I needed her to help me it was "well let's unravel
it and start again." It wasn't a lot of help to get me going and to get me sorted so I could keep
knitting. That's one thing I do differently: I would learn from video. That's the very first thing I
would do is to say "I know i learn visually really well and you need to figure this out for yourself
as well." Do you learn visually? Do you learn well from video? I've always learned well
from video so that I could imagine myself doing exactly the same things that I see people doing
on video. This is how i learn other things so this is how i would want to learn knitting.
Probably I would binge watch. I would just watch a lot on video on YouTube probably, so I could just
kind of gather my thoughts and figure out where to start, whose teaching style I connect with,
which kind of knitting I would like to do and then I would come to some kind of decision on
how I can focus. That's the next thing. I would find a focus.
I would say if I'm looking at so many other things and so many different options constantly
i really don't know where I am, so my biggest thing when I'm learning is to use a course.
All sorts of things I've learned in the last five, ten years I've said "yes I can
keep dabbling about on YouTube", but if I want to learn something very specific I join a course or
I join a membership and I find that focus. That's really helped me. When i was learning about yoga
in 2012 that's what helped me - finding someone with a membership and lots of video courses within that
where I could just go through them one at a time, learn all of those basics one at a time,
and actually become quite proficient at yoga myself but understand my body better and learn
about the benefits of yoga better. This is why I've made videos available in lots of mini courses not
all in one big thing and I can just let you go through them one at a time and find your way and
where you want your path to lead. This is what I'd do - I'd find someone similar to me and say I would
use those knitting courses and go through them one at a time. Number three is how would I keep myself
accountable? How would I keep going? I would ask a friend. I would say "please learn with me", and this
might be my sister because she and I do this kind of thing, or it might be a friend that I've got
online, it might be a friend that I have in real life. We would learn together or I'd say "let's just
meet up because I know you're learning something or you're doing something. Can we learn together?
You keep, I'll keep you accountable for whatever you're doing and you keep me accountable for
whatever it is that I'm doing," and then we just stay interested and we keep asking each other
how it's going. Some kind of accountability can be so, so helpful when you're learning something new.
As it comes to doing it online, it's letting me know in the comments of the YouTube videos: I've
started, I'm knitting this and this is the kind of thing that we've done in the comments especially
over the last year. I've got to know some of you so well and I keep "yes yes yes you're going!. Aaah
you've almost finish that jumper! Oh you've got one more sleeve to do!" and actually I just love the fact that
we can do this very simply in the YouTube comments: "I'm doing so well, I've only got so far but I'm
now I'm doing this and I'm so glad you released this video because I'm now doing, learning that
alongside that," and some of those people who are watching YouTube are also doing the courses, so
it shows that you don't have to have a friend right by your side or someone in the same house
as you doing exactly the same thing. You can have accountability in many many different
ways. Just figure out how it would work for you. OK the fourth tip is that I would definitely
pick up minimal equipment. This is what i've done in the past with things. I did a watercolor class
just because I fancied getting back into painting. I did painting at college and just really felt
like "oh let's just do it because I feel like it," and i went into the course that I picked because
I'm like that, and there was a materials list to say right this is what you need it will really
help you if you've got all of this ready before you start going through the lessons,
and that's what actually is available in all of my courses. There's a material list at the beginning
of each course. So, I went in, got everything I needed and a lot of it was in the house already,
but there was some stuff I needed new, but it was a minimal collection of items that I needed. The fact
that you don't have to go sporadically buying all sorts of things in case you need it can be really,
really helpful. That's what I found when I did the watercolour class. I just had all of that equipment
in a single drawer in the living room, so while i was doing my watercolors that would come out.
When I'd finished it, everything had dried, I'd put it all back in again and you can do exactly
the same thing with your knitting. Find a bag or a drawer or some kind of box to put everything in,
and then you get it out when you're knitting and it means it doesn't take over your life
but it can be really something that you cherish and just you love having around you.
My tip number five is to remember that I'm the kind of learner who just loves wondering why
and picking up all sorts of information from all sorts of places. As a learner, as a child, I would
get library books about knitting, about crafting, about wool, about crochet just because I fancied
reading about it, but all of those little tidbits of information about knitting coming from all
different places, from my mum's magazines even, I would pick those up and cherish them and really
take them in and be really, really impressed by them and love learning in that way, and it did
become such a big benefit to me, and yes we have two courses which are the background information
about knitting. 'Intuitive Knitting' and 'The Masterful Knitter' will really help you understand
all the background knowledge of knitting: all about the yarn, all about the needles, how you read
patterns and why you need patterns as well, and all the different language that you use as knitters.
I would sit there and read abbreviations lists because I was just curious,
because that's who I am, but yeah as a child that's what I would do; I would sit
there and read it all. You may be the kind of person who just wants to read it all as well
but you maybe also be the person who just wants to sit there while you're knitting and
binge watch YouTube playlists about knitting and you could certainly do that here, or like I said
you could get the course which goes even deeper into the kind of things I discuss here and that
could be a really interesting way of learning. It's certainly what i would do. I just ask why, how,
when? I love learning about the history of things that I'm curious about too so that's a really big
tip and that's something that I would definitely do if I was learning now. I'd do it in a modern way
and this is the tip that makes me wonder whether I would actually follow knitters that much on
Instagram. FOMO, comparisonitis. That's a big thing that it certainly used to affect me as a child and
you know I'm getting over it, I'm a recovering FOMO-aholic and comparisonitis (pause) sufferer,
but it's just something that's, I know it's part of most girl's lives. It's just something that
happens with, especially with a hormone cycle as teenagers. It's like "everything's wrong! I'm not
good enough blah blah blah blah blah." It's certainly something to think about if you find yourself
going "oh crikey they're much better knitter than I am that means that I'd better give up."
If you know that you're that kind of person then avoid it, or if you're learning to knit follow
someone who's weaving. If you're learning to knit follow someone who died yarn. If you're learning
to knit follow someone who crochets, just because it's a slightly different path that they're on
and you won't feel so much comparison. You'll say "actually I'm really enjoying this." I follow people
on Instagram who were knitting in a completely different way to me who I would follow because
I never want to be that kind of knitter and it really, really helps me. If I was learning to knit
now that's what I'd do. I might avoid social media and I just might talk to it for different reasons.
I'd follow my local coffee shop, which cathedrals have got Christmas lights on this year.
I don't know, just strange things like that! The last tip is something I remember as a child. I'd
feel dreadfully guilty if I didn't knit for a couple of months: "oh that means I'm not getting
better. Oh I'm so sorry. I've left it and I haven't been knitting." It doesn't matter. You're allowed
to take breaks, and yes, I'd say keep going with knitting because I do remember that if I left it
for so long, I'd actually forget how to knit and have to start again, so it wouldn't feel
i'm starting again from scratch because within 10 minutes the muscle memory would come back and I'd
go "oh yes this is easy again," but, yeah, pick it up occasionally and if you want to have a week off
because you're going away on holiday or something and you don't really want to take it with you
then do that, but come back to it and enjoy it and recognise the benefits that you get from knitting.
Knit a few times a week. Doesn't have to be such a strict regime about knitting that you're
scared of letting it go. Knitting has so many benefits. Knitting has so many benefits they are
uncountable. I do actually talk about them in 'The Masterful Knitter' if you want to
go and have a look at that, like for the second tip and of course for the fifth tip,
it was find a course, dive into the lessons that just sit behind the knitting, wondering the why and
the history and all that sort of thing. There's a whole workshop on the benefits of knitting
in that course so if you want to go and look at that and you're just curious about wondering how
on earth? There are so many reasons that people knit, then I dive into each of them and we have a
really good look and realise: yeah. The benefits of knitting really say I just want to keep on. I want
to keep on knitting. I'm never going to stop. This is how i would learn to knit if I was learning
in 2022. I hope you've enjoyed these seven tips. I will see you again soon. I've linked below one
of the videos that I think will really, really help you as a beginner knitter. Thank you for
being here today. Do subscribe if you're brand new to the channel. YouTube will let you know
whenever there's a new video. I'm here every tuesday, every week. Bye for now. Happy knitting.