Knitting with needles
You knit your first finished thing in the very first module, and the last one is a hat worked out to your own measurements. Every technique is broken into steps with the stitch count and checks against a swatch: at any moment you can see where you are and what went wrong.
What you will be able to do
8 modules, one project
01 Needles, yarn and the first stitches3 lessons · 1 h 58 minOpen
What to buy and how to start. By the end of the module you have a finished object — a garter-stitch pot holder, and that is not an exercise but a real thing for the kitchen.
02 The purl stitch and the three main patterns3 lessons · 1 h 49 min
The second of the two stitches of knitting. Knit and purl add up to stocking stitch, garter stitch and ribbing — almost all knitted fabric rests on them.
03 Written patterns: knitting from text2 lessons · 1 h 16 min
The key tool of the course. A pattern is written as a line of abbreviations and a repeat — once you can read it, you can knit from any pattern, not only ours.
04 Mistakes and how to fix them3 lessons · 1 h 39 min
A mistake in knitting shows up in the count: recount the stitches in the row and you know where to look. We learn to pick up dropped stitches and unravel rows without panic.
05 Tension and calculation2 lessons · 1 h 12 min
Why two people get different things from the same pattern. A ten-by-ten centimetre swatch, the yarn label and the simple arithmetic of recalculating.
06 Increases, decreases and shape3 lessons · 1 h 48 min
So far the fabric has been straight. Increases and decreases turn a rectangle into a garment: a slope, a wedge, a crown. We look at which way each decrease leans.
07 Finishing2 lessons · 1 h 03 min
Finished fabric is not yet a finished thing. The mattress stitch that is invisible from the right side, the ends woven in, washing and drying done properly.
08 Project: a hat to your own calculation3 lessons · 2 h 12 min
The end of the course. We measure the head, count stitches from your own tension, knit the ribbing and the body, decrease the crown and sew it up. The result is a hat in the size you need, not «however it turns out».
What you get
Wool blend or acrylic of 100–120 m per 50 g, light and plain: on dark or variegated yarn the stitches are invisible, and you have to count them. Five balls are enough for all the swatches and the hat. Roughly €10–14.
Straight needles 4 mm, 35 cm long, preferably bamboo or wood — stitches do not slide off them, which matters for the first rows. About €4.
The hook picks up runaway stitches; the blunt-tipped needle sews the pieces together and weaves in the ends. About €4 for both.
A tape measure, scissors and 6–8 stitch markers — paper clips will do. The whole kit for the course comes to about €20–25 in any yarn shop or online.
The whole first module is open
Watch the lessons of the first module and the first task. If the format does not suit you, you have lost nothing.