Our Maschenfein community has grown considerably over the years and many of you are real experts. Some knit from time to time and there are also always knitting newbies joining us, who then of course usually come back after the first project and stay - eh sure! Often we receive questions for advanced knitters, but often also many questions about knitting for beginners. And quite sometimes I no longer see the forest for the trees.

From knitting novice to expert

After many thousands of kilometers of knitted yarn, I know exactly what I'm doing and some questions like to open my eyes and make me realize that many things are not directly clear. That I do a lot without thinking about it. Like, for example, the stretching of the knits, which I wrote about the other day. While reading the many, many questions on the subject, I remembered how many years ago I spent nights googling around for the terms "tensioning" and "blocking" and it was a closed book for me.

Knitting the first cardigan

My friend Martina, who has accompanied Maschenfein on a freelance basis since the beginning, was able to resist the knitting needles for many years. Then, last fall, it was all about her. The cover model of our Hygge book became her first project. To knit a cardigan directly as a beginner is really brave. At some point she was standing in front of my door with the piece, I pulled in a rescue yarn and ribbed a quarter of the cardigan because it had become much too long. Meanwhile it's finished and Martina is still knitting. One of the bravest beginners in the Maschenfein community! That's when an idea came to me.... Today Martina tells more about knitting for beginners: Enjoy reading!

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"Say, would you have the time and inclination to do a "Knitting for Beginners" column? With nice pictures, questions and answers for a beginner knitter."

When Marisa asked me this question a few weeks ago, I honestly didn't hesitate for a second. What an honor! I get to write something (my own blog times are years, oh what do I say light years ago) and then also about a topic that was completely utopian for me just half a year ago! Utopian because I really had no idea about knitting and also always said that I will NEVER never learn.

In the past you learned to knit and crochet in school

When I was supposed to knit or crochet something in school, I always somehow managed to get my grandma to finish those projects for me in such a way that I didn't walk out of that game with a straight 6. You get me!
My kids are much more talented, they have been going to a Waldorf school for years and my son always brings home projects that leave me in absolute amazement (and slight envy).

And Marisa? Ever since I've known her, I've envied her for her gift of being able to conjure up beautiful pieces of clothing from these tangled balls of wool. Again and again I thought about how I could bribe her to create such a piece for me.
And then our creative collaboration began when I was asked to create the corporate design for her new label Maschenfein. And I sensed the favor of the hour, because for a long time we thought about how she could pay me for it, because logically, like all start-ups, she had little capital available. I was immediately in favor of being paid in knitwear. This deal unfortunately didn't work out, because when is a mother and store founder supposed to knit for her friend as well? So I did not get the pieces I longed for.

The story took its course and it came as it had to come...

Marisa's first book came out: knitting shawls... I was still relaxed then, I had enough shawls. Then came the second book... The third...! I still admired and envied Marisa... But then came "hygge" and with that book came this oversize jacket - Feikje, in MY color. I was so desperate. I went back and forth on whether I could bribe anyone to knit me this jacket.

In my distress, I asked another knitting crazy from my environment if she would trust me to knit this jacket. The answer came promptly and turned out optimal for me: If I needed help, I could always ask her, because she also had the good piece on the needles right now. The first advice was also that this would be an ideal "beginner's piece" because you knit with large needles.

What can I say: I ordered the same day the wool. And since I did not own any needles, etc. until that moment, I also bought a small basic kit.

What do I actually need to start knitting?

• The wool for the knitting project,
• the matching needles,
• a pair of scissors,
• darning needles (preferably a little heavier with a large hole so that the wool also fits through),
• Stitch markers (not for all projects, but for some),
  measuring tape,
• Notebook for all notes around the project Tip

I would always choose a project with a large needle size at the beginning. This guarantees a relatively fast progress and thus also a quick success. Then came the package lovingly packaged wool, the needles just beautiful and my first thought: you must be insane! You'll never make it!!!

And then I read the pattern, well, let's just say I tried to read them. Left interlocked... RM ... increase from cross yarn ... MM ... cast off Icelandic. ... Work WM, purl to 1 st before end, RM ... RM, purl to MM, MM abh, purl to 2 sts before MM, M1R, 2 sts right, MM abh, 2 sts right, M1L, repeat 4 more times from * to * ...... Please what do they want from me? I wasn't quite sure whether it wouldn't be smarter to leave the whole project and give someone else these sinfully expensive, but so beautiful woolen balls?

So how should I proceed? Without further ado, I imagined I was learning a new language, because I'm quite good at that. So I wrote over all abbreviations the correct designations understandable for me. As a translation, so to speak. Then everything looked much more understandable and also read in such a way that I at least slowly got an idea of what I should do.

But how do I get started right?
Stitch test? What is it and why do I need it?

The main problem with knitting is that everyone knits differently. Some knit tightly, others loosely, and the third somewhere in the middle. In other words, three people end up with three different knits. It's crazy, but that's what the gauge is for. You can see exactly how you are knitting.
Beginners usually knit a little tighter than others. I worked it all up four times until I finally got where I wanted to go and what can I say, in the end the jacket turned out bigger than I had imagined because along the way I learned not to knit so tight. But I'll tell you about that later.

Could I give you some encouragement to venture into knitting?
Then I would be very happy if we soon read again here, because then I tell you about how to rewrite the pattern for dummies. I'll tell something about the right needle. I will tell you what to do when you are stuck and tell you: PATIENCE is the key to success.

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About me: I'm Martina, 48 years old, creative director, freelancer, mother of two wonderful children and marathon runner.
My motto in life: There is no such thing as a free lunch.
I'm looking forward to all your questions and comments and hope that I can make you as knitting crazy with my column as I have become.