I knit everywhere, when I am home, when I am shopping, in the car, and during breaks in school. My friends watch me knit and many of them have asked for me to teach them. I have been knitting for 4 years, I had little instruction when I first started but I taught myself after learning from my host mom, when I lived in Finland, the cast on and knit stitch. Since I moved home I used youtube and books to teach myself the rest of my knowledge. I wanted to share with everyone some great videos that I found that can help anyone start learning to knit.
First, you need your materials. Go to your local craft store and buy some cheap yarn (I say cheap since you are learning and your first piece is not going to be your best) while you are there buy some needles. When it comes to needles there are so many different materials and gauges. I typically use wood and bamboo needles, they are a little more expensive but to me its worth it. There are metal needles which are slippery. And there are plastic needles that I do not usually work with but someone can let me know how they are in the comments below. The gauge of needle you need depends on what yarn you buy. Search the label for a square with needles crossing in the middle. Somewhere you will see something that says US (fill in size here) (size mm) I suggest since beginner knitters knit tight to buy a size or two up from what is on the label.
Keeping in mind that this is just the cast on I learned how to do, and I use it for almost everything, there are many ways to learn to cast on. If you don't understand this way just youtube other ways to cast on.
Alright now that you have stitches on your needles its time to learn the knit stitch. There are two styles of knitting: Continental and English. Try both ways and see what is more comfortable for you. There is no right or wrong way to do this just whatever you understand. The main difference between the two styles is what hand you hold your working yarn
Now all you need to do is just keep practicing. Do not worry about knitting really tight, if it starts to hurt your hands then get a larger gauge needle. Remember you cannot learn to knit over night, it requires you to practice a lot. If you get frustrated then set it down and come back to it later. Its supposed to be fun. I hope this was helpful and plan on making more of these posts as some of my friends learn more skills.
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