Ready, set, knit!

From cosy jumpers to handmade socks, knitting is a wonderful pasttime that can give you hours of pleasure and plenty to show for all your hard work. Want to know how to get started? Look no further!

What you'll need

The beauty of knitting is that you don't need loads of tools: you can pick it up any time or even take it with you when you're out and about! Of course, you can make things easier on yourself by getting a bag to store your work in, and a pair of scissors to cut off loose threads.

•  Needles: The best type of needles to start with are straight ones. They come in different diameters and lengths, which will affect the size of the stitch and how many stitches fit on one needle. Most beginners prefer wooden or bamboo needles, as they're less slippery than metal ones.

•  Yarn: As you might expect, there are all sorts of different yarns and the one you use will depend on the project. Choose a weight (ie. thickness) that's appropriate: think 2-ply for a light shawl and 12-ply for a thick jumper. 

•  Crochet hook: Dropped stitches happen all the time in knitting, especially when you're a beginner, so have a crochet hook on hand to pick them back up.

•  Yarn needle: Once you've finished with your project, you'll need a needle to sew up all the loose ends.

What to knit

To begin with, just experiment! Scarves are always a good place to start because they're relatively simple. Decide how wide you want your scarf to be in inches, then multiply that by the number of stitches per inch (you can figure this out by knitting a small sample). After that simple maths you can just keep stitching until your scarf is as long as you like!

As you get better at knitting you can start to introduce more than one colour and more elaborate stitches, and try your hand at more complicated items like jumpers and booties. There are loads of great free resources online and useful books to teach you all the stitches you want to know!

The basic technique

First you'll need to know how to start off your knitting project - this is called 'casting on'. Make a basic slipknot and thread one needle through it, then pull it tight. Next, loop the yarn around the needle as shown in the diagram and you will have cast on your first stitch! Keep looping the yarn in that way for the number of stitches you need. 

Now it's time to bring in your second needle. The needle you have just cast on will go in your left hand. Push the second needle (the right needle) into the first loop on the left needle, so the right needle goes behind the left one. Wrap the string of yarn around the right needle, counter-clockwise so it sits between both needles.

Pull the right needle gently back through the loop and bring it up so it's now on top of the left needle. You have made a new loop, so pull the old one off the right needle. That's one stitch! Now just repeat until all the stitches have moved from one needle to the other, then go all the way back again. That's it - you're knitting!

Bonus tips

Here are some extra bits of advice to help you on your knitting adventures!

•  Note that most yarn comes with washing instructions. Keep them so you'll know how to clean your creations once you've finished them.

•  Knitting patterns usually feature all kinds of abbreviations. Find out what they all mean here.

•  Can't keep track of how many stitches you've done? Slip something on the needle as a marker - it could be a small keyring or an old piece of jewellery.

•  Want to have a go at a different kind of knitting? Get hold of a knitting dolly to make lovely things like knitted coasters and dolls!

If you can't wait to get started with your new favourite hobby, pop over to DotComGiftShop's craft section for more goodies!