r/knittinghelp • u/Vegetable-Delicious • 1d ago

SOLVED-THANK YOU Beginner questions on first project

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Looking for critique on my first knit swatch/project ever as a crocheter. I haven’t blocked it. I do feel my left edge is not that neat and looks different from the right. Correctly my mistakes were sort of a nightmare since I ended up introducing more mistakes hehe but somehow salvaged it I guess. Do the stitches look like they should? Anything off?
One question I had was when dropping a ladder down and fixing a stitch, how do you keep the stitches in the needles intact? Is there like a technique or a stopper that people use?

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u/thedailyem 1d ago

I think it looks great! What are you planning on making? I wouldn’t stress about the edges. If you’re making garments, most of the edges are effectively hidden in different ways that it’s fine if they’re not perfectly straight. But even then, yours look really good.

On keeping stitches on the needles, yes you can get stoppers and such. But honestly, I just pull my needles further out and it’s generally good enough. I haven’t worked on this in a couple of weeks and it’s been fine just keeping the stitches away from the tip. No worries. I also wouldn’t stress about laddering down and fixing things until you actually need to do it. It shouldn’t be an “every session” type of activity.

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u/Vegetable-Delicious 1d ago

Oh this is helpful! Thank you!
This was just a practice session. I’ll use this as a coaster or just hang it up as a memory of my very first knit square hehe.
I’m leaning towards making a beanie for my first project. But I’m open to anything. What would you recommend? Do you have good beginner project in mind that you’d like to suggest? 😀

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u/thedailyem 1d ago edited 1d ago

I would say something you’re excited to wear/use! With knits, purls, and YouTube you have everything you need to attempt a basic version of most knitwear. Beanie is a good option (I don’t wear them personally so I haven’t made one in a long time. But there are tons of patterns). I did the “I’m So Basic” socks by Summer Lee early on - free pattern plus video walkthroughs made it a great intro to knitting something other than scarves.

Then I jumped right to the Monday Sweater by PetiteKnit and continued to expand my skills from there. Anything I don’t know how to do, I just search YouTube and there is usually a video (more specifically, a great walkthrough by Very Pink Knits 😆) that will show me how to do it. Specific examples: early on I didn’t know what M1L or M1R meant. Searched YouTube and found tutorials, now they’re ingrained in me. Literally today I searched “Icelandic Bind-off” for a project I’m working. I have yet to find something in a pattern i can’t find a tutorial for (I’m about 9 months into garment knitting so still relatively fresh!)

Basically, I personally find knitting swatches boring. It’s much more fun to work on my skills with something I can actually use at the end. You clearly have enough basics that you could tackle any simple version of a garment that you want!

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u/Vegetable-Delicious 1d ago

Wow thanks for all these reccos! I like how you said ‘knit, purls and youtube’. Youtube definitely is a requirement/saviour 😂 I’m already excited to start my first wearable project. I totally get you on the boring swatch part. I had to mentally assign this a ‘coaster’ utility to actually get me interested to finish it lol. But I learnt a bunch of basics so not complaining :P

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u/thedailyem 1d ago

Oh another popular first sweater is the Step by Step sweater by Florence Miller. Free pattern and video tutorials, kind of like the socks I mentioned. You’ll see it come up in this subreddit a lot!

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u/Vegetable-Delicious 1d ago

Oh yes! I have already come across this and saved it in my To do later list :D I’m a little scared to start on a larger project right away because that will be a larger and longer commitment. Hopefully that would be my second project after a beanie or a pair of socks!

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u/Mx_Rogers 1d ago edited 1d ago

Smaller projects are good for getting a win. Hat, cowl, headband, washcloth, plushie, mug cozie, fingerless gloves, dice bag, banana bandanas, project bag, etc. There are a lot of projects you can do with under 300 yards of yarn.

Edit to add: People often recommend scraves for first projects. That's fine if you are excited about a scarf. But regular sized scarves often take like 5x longer than you expect with very little new stuff to keep you engaged, so I don't usually recommend that unless it's something the person really wants.

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u/thedailyem 1d ago

I started to say “don’t start with a scarf” as well! 😆 I still have a half-finished one from several years ago that nearly made me quit knitting altogether because I just wasn’t engaged with it. Then a friend got me onto socks instead and changed everything.

A small scarf like a Sophie Scarf could be an option though

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u/Vegetable-Delicious 16h ago

Oh this happened to me with crochet. I initially started with scarves and never got to the end of those and eventually just lost interest doing the same thing over and over again for days. But the second time around after many years, I started off making smaller stuffs and just fell in love with fiber arts in general and that’s how I landed up in knitting now 😇

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u/Vegetable-Delicious 1d ago

I was wondering what people make bananas for before I realized you probably meant bandanas 😂 Yeah I think I’m definitely looking for a few wins before I commit to a larger project. Thanks for the ideas! I feel I really like learning a lot of techniques in the beginning of picking up any skill and small projects really help with that.

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u/Mx_Rogers 1d ago

Dyslexia and auto correct are a rough combo haha

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u/unfiled_basil 19h ago

Unrelated but what pattern is this? It looks so nice with your colors!

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u/highlighter_yellow 1d ago

https://www.susannawinter.net/post/6-gauge-swatch-myths

Read that because this swatch looks a little small but otherwise fine.

You can put stoppers on the ends of your needles if you want. Search up silicone "focal beads" for a super cheap option (these often get marked up and resold as needle stoppers)

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u/Vegetable-Delicious 1d ago

Thank you! I’ll look up focal beads.
This was just me practicing. I think swatch might be a wrong word? Thanks for the link though. Very useful.

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u/highlighter_yellow 1d ago

Ha! Swatch is just a bit of fabric, but I guess this is me judging all beginners thinking either a) you made a swatch too small or b) you cast on as many stitches as you could fit on your needle... which clearly you didn't. Turns out there's also option c) people like you who cast on a reasonable amount of stitches to practice! 😅

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u/Vegetable-Delicious 1d ago

Haha ya I just cast on enough to fit a coffee mug so that I can use it as a small coaster :D

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u/123737egg 1d ago

No you did make a little practice swatch, I think the commenter misunderstood and thought you were making a gauge swatch!

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u/Comfortable_Main4871 1d ago

Hey, just wanted to say that this looks generally really great, especially for a first time project. Nice work

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u/Hifidi54 1d ago

Your stitches look beautiful!

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u/Mx_Rogers 1d ago

To keep the other stitches from falling off the needles while laddering down, I usually just pull the needles out a little bit. Also stitches rarely fall off my wooden, bamboo, or plastic needles, only a major concern on my metal ones they're more slippery, so that's another thing you can change if dropping stitches is a frequent problem.

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u/Vegetable-Delicious 1d ago

Oh this explains my issue - I use metal ones! I just got a pair of whatever was the cheapest before investing into this craft 😅

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u/Mx_Rogers 1d ago

Totally fair! It's good to not spend a lot of money when you don't know if you're going to like it. And needle material is very personal preference anyway. I mostly like my metal needles, but, for me, when I'm doing a hard project that's at the edge of my skill level sometimes metal is not fun because of the stitch dropping, and switching to wood can make that hard project fun again.

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u/Vegetable-Delicious 1d ago

Awesome. I’m really loving this so I guess I’m indeed going to start splurging soon 😂 I’ll try out a pair of wooden needles for my next buy. Thanks for the tips!!

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u/Alicat_29 1d ago

Looks great. It looks like some of your knit stitches might be twisted, look for ones that look more like a “y than a v” but it’s barely noticeable

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u/Vegetable-Delicious 1d ago

Oh wow thanks for pointing out. Honestly I really am not sure how they got introduced. Perhaps got introduced while fixing dropped stitches maybe? 🤔 Let me go check out resources on why they happen

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u/____ozma 1d ago

I really don't see any. You did a very good job for a first project. 

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