How to Get Started
An easy pattern for beginners
You can do this too!
A Novice Knitter's Success Story
Ingrid's Shrug
Materials:
Yarn: 4 hanks @ 100g, baby alpaca grade (Note: Ingrid and Laurie used 3 hanks of Manos, 2 Kids Silk Haze; hold the yarns together as you work)
Needles: U.S. 11, 24” long in straight needles or 32” long in circular
Gauge: 12 sts = 4” K2, P2 rib on size 11. Take time to knit a practice swatch and measure! Switch to larger to smaller needles to match guage
- Cast on 120 sts
- K2, P2 for 7½”
- K2 tog, P2 tog across row (60 sts)
- K1, P1 for 16” (total length now 23½”)
- *K1, M1, P1 in front and back of st; *repeat across row (120 sts)
- K2, P2 rib for 7½” (total length now about 31”)
- Bind off loosely in pattern
- Sew the 7½” sides together
Put on your shrug. Prepare to receive compliments!
Beginning knitting can be fun and wearable. Proof comes from Ingrid Shipton, who used the pattern here for her first knitting project.
She wore it to a Destination Knits retreat, where she won so many raves from more experienced knitters that she emailed the pattern to the class.
This seems to be sufficiently in the public domain to share: Ingrid says she was given the pattern by a friendly knitter at the Chevy Chase Stitch DC store.
Retreat leader Laurie Gonyea made her own version. She and Ingrid are pictured in the Chevy Chase Stitch DC, right.
Other quick and easy gift ideas
- Handmade washcloths knit in chenille cotton. Tie them up with a nice soap in a pretty bow. A picture and patterns are in Tara Jon Manning's "Mindful Knitting"
- A beer cozy. Check out Michael Del Vecchio's "Knitting With Balls."
- Fingerless gloves. Buy the pattern at Laurie Gonyea's Destination Knits.