Are you slower than a herd of turtles wading through peanut butter when it comes to knitting?
“Don’t worry, we all are when beginner knitters or haven’t picked up our craft in a while.
Here are five ways to have you zipping right along with your knitting needles.
1. Practice
Just knit.
Pick out one or two stitches and do them over and over again until you feel confident doing them. Then, do those stitches some more.
The more you practice the same stitch, the faster knitter you will become.
2. Knit everyday
Pick up your needles and knit everyday.
Even if you don’t have much time to knit, being consistent will increase your knitting speed. Just a row or two everyday will make a difference.
3. Listen to music
You knit faster when you find your knitting rhythm. Listening to music while knitting will help you naturally find that rhythm.
Listening to music while knitting also relaxes your mind so that your knitting tension becomes more consistent.
4. Constraint
Don’t be so eager to learn all knitting stitches and techniques at once.
Stick with patterns that have only one or two stitches until you become practiced with them before adding on something new.
For example: The easiest and most used stitch is the knit stitch.
Knitting every row is called garter stitch. Look for garter stitch patterns and practice.
Yes, garter stitch is simple, but will really add some speed to your knitting. There are some cute garter stitch patterns for hats, scarves, blankets, etc. Once of the most used blankets in my house is one I knitted with jumbo needles using only garter stitch.
Here is a hat pattern that is all knit stitches. It has a turned up brim and is knit on Size 11 needles using Super Chunky (6) yarn.
Or, if you are good with the knit stitch and need to speed up purling, look for patterns that call for stockinette stitch.
Stockineete stitch is knit one row, purl the next.
Lots of purling practice for you!
The Connelly Springs knitting pattern is mostly knit rows, but has just a few purl rows. Good one to begin practicing purling!
5. Choose patterns wisely
While working on your knitting speed, look for patterns that are quick & easy.
You can move on to more difficult techniques once you get your speed on!
Both Redwood and Northwood are great patterns for practicing knit and purl stitches. They both make beautiful dishcloths or washcloths.
One last bonus tip
Don’t compare yourself to other knitters.
Somebody will always be faster.
Focus on embracing your craft and enjoying the knitting journey.
