7 things I’d do differently if I started knitting today.

Today I wanted to share seven things I would tell myself if I was just starting knitting. Hi, I'm Paulina, also known as Lina, and I'm a knitwear designer based in Helsinki, Finland. I design knitting patterns for your soul and create these knitting videos here on YouTube. I am working on a vest right now. I'm knitting those together with DK and Mohair. I thought we could chat while I knit so if you've got something on your needles go grab it with and and join me and let's have a little knitting club meeting together. I have been knitting for more than three decades now and in my line of work I meet knitters who have knitted for a lot longer than I do and knitters on the other end of that spectrum, those who are just working on their first projects and every now and then I think about the things that I would like to tell myself about knitting if I was completely new to it. Number one, learn what you like knitting. You don't have to jump on every trend that's what I would tell myself and I don't mean fashion trends I just mean those knitting trends the trendy patterns that pop up every now and then that everyone seems to be knitting and if it's not something I really want to knit and wear myself then I would just tell myself it's okay to to just wait it out and just keep doing the things that I want to be doing. If it was a pattern that I really wanted to knit myself then yes sign me up I'll cast on right away. During my knitting journey I've certainly come across patterns that I have wanted to knit but then ended up not wanting to wear and also patterns where I really wanted to wear that item but not enjoyed the knitting process and I'm glad I've tried both and I do think it's those are both kinds are important projects to make in order to learn about what you like and what you don't like and then after you've learned those lessons you can try to find the sweet spot where both meet where you enjoy love the process of knitting that thing and then absolutely also love wearing and having that thing that item and and just trust that there will be plenty of those as well. The second thing I would tell myself is that substituting yarns is okay. Knitting patterns usually state the yarn that the designer has knit the pattern with. That's all it is. It's what they have worked their project with. It's what they can guarantee will give the result that they're showing. And plenty of knitters do want to know what specific yarn it was knit with and of course that information is also important when you want to pick something else so you know what to what to expect and what to look for but there's no rule that says that you have to knit with that yarn just as there's no rule that says you can't that you have to substitute. There are many reasons why I personally have substituted yarns and that I know other knitters have substituted yarns for. Number one is I already have something suitable in my stash and prefer to use that one. Number two is I can't find it anywhere the yarn that they're looking for at least either not at all if it's been discontinued or if it's difficult for me to get the yarn because of the distances, geographies, taxes, custom charges. There are plenty of reasons in today's world where you might not want to order something from the other side of the world. I have also substituted yarns when I haven't been able to afford the yarn that the designer has used also sometimes because I wanted to splurge on nicer yarn than what the pattern was worked with or nicer in my opinion nicer yarn than what the pattern has called for say it's not in 100% wool but I wanted to use a wool silk mix to give it a bit more luxurious feel I speak a lot about Ravelry I know but it's just an unbeatable database though and there's nothing quite like it yet at least so there you go but on Ravelry you can see if you look at a project that if you look at a pattern that has several projects knit or associated with it you can see what other what yarns yeah you can see what other yarns people have used for for their knits and that's a good starting point. Substituting yarns is a very useful skill to have and if it's something that intimidates you those notes from other knitters are a good place to start. If you want to learn to substitute yarns you can find many videos here on YouTube that talk about and teach the subject. I've got one myself. Number three there's no correct amount of money to spend on yarn. I know I talk about this a lot and it might make people uncomfortable but I just especially for beginner knitters I think it's important to know that the price tag of the yarn is not something that makes you a knitter or doesn't make you a knitter. Now we all love hand dyed yarn don't we or small batch farm yarns. The price of yarn can can be really expensive and especially for larger projects like sweaters and cardigans the price really adds up. There have definitely been times in the past where I've spent more on yarn than I should have. I don't feel too bad about it because it's been such a long time ago but still I would tell my past self that it's just as okay to knit with cheaper mass-produced yarns. Now don't get me wrong I love to support indie dyers and small businesses whenever and wherever I can but I'm also more than ready to reach for that supermarket yarn if I have to be on a budget. And then there's also the flip side. Don't let other people make you feel bad about the amount of money that you do spend on knitting. I have done both for sure. I have felt embarrassed to be knitting with that supermarket yarn and I have also felt embarrassed to admit to how much the yarn for my sweater actually cost. And I'm sure I'm not the only knitter who has felt like this at some point. If it's within your budget it's okay. Sometimes I think people have a hard time understanding how I can spend so much money on yarn when I could get a similar sweater from the store a lot cheaper but to me it's I'm not just buying that sweater I am buying hours of knitting time and and we're not in this to have an economical way of making clothes we are in this because we want to knit and we enjoy knitting. Really the price of yarn for a sweater isn't really that far off from the price of ethically produced sweaters for example. So when it comes to budget it's definitely a balancing act at least for me. My budget fluctuates over time. Number four. You don't have to buy every beautiful skein you see. I'm going to be very honest here and admit that in the past I have definitely bought way too much yarn just because I thought it was nice just because I liked it loved it I may even have had a project in mind for it but in all honesty there's only so much knitting time that I have and I can only make a certain amount of projects in it even nowadays when I no longer do that I'm still burdened by it a little I live in a quite small home and I only have a limited amount of storage space so over the past years I have tried to streamline what I own in terms of everything that I own not just yarn but with yarn as well. I wouldn't call myself a minimalist but I think the Marie Kondo method is is the closest to where I'd like to be only keeping things that are useful and bring me joy and yarn yes yarn definitely falls into actually both of those categories but as my tastes and knitting preferences have changed there are certainly yarns that I keep bypassing year after year after year and never actually casting on with so I think those would be the skeins that I would consider passing on. So in retrospect yes I do wish that I would have maybe bought a little less yarn in the years past so my advice for the beginner knitter in me would be to only buy yarn for a few projects at a time. I do like having some extra stash here at home because I like to play with color combos and I like to try out stitch patterns with different yarn or fiber types and I love having enough yarn to be able to do those late night cast-ons when the stores are closed so yes definitely having some stash is fine and only you know what the the right balance is for you number five you can adapt a knitting pattern like the shape of a sweater but not the stripes leave the stripes out and just knit it in plain stockinette or garter or whatever the stitch pattern in it is like like the shape but want it more cropped or longer adjust the body length don't like the one by one rib and the hem substitute with your own favorite rib would you prefer the increases in the yoke or the crown to lean and into another direction to swap them out making adaptations to a knitting pattern that you love is perfectly okay just be aware that the more structural the change that you're making is the the more you need to understand what the pattern is doing and with certain changes there will be some math involved like if you want to add bust darts for example. Number six, experiment. Now this is something that I did do even as a beginner knitter and I'm so glad I did. I actually talked about my knitting journey more in an older video of mine. I'll link it below and up here. I tried many different techniques and never thought anyone was above my skill level I just went for it and thanks to that I now have quite a clear picture of what I like knitting and what I don't enjoy and although taste yes they do change over time or can change but thanks to all of the experiments I did before I do have a quite clear a picture of what everything entails and I can make an an evaluation of of how I think I would like it nowadays. If I was just starting out I would like to know that there isn't a certain advancement route that I have to follow. I can just pick and choose the patterns based on what like yes there are techniques that aren't exactly beginner friendly that's not what I mean but all of the techniques can pretty much be done in steps so just look at what the next step is for for whatever technique or pattern that you're looking for and research. Swatching just for the purpose of learning is a perfectly good option to do so dedicate some of your knitting time for that if if you're wanting to try a new technique there's no law that says you have to do intarsia first on a sweater you can just do an intarsia swatch and learn it and this all leads to my seventh and final point on this list of things that I would tell myself if I was just starting knitting and that is it's just one stitch at a time. It really is. Whenever I am in a place where I'm giving advice to someone wanting to learn something new or trying out something new this is the advice that I dole out the most often it's just one stitch at a time go for it one stitch at a time right so yes it's a good idea if you have a certain general understanding of what the pattern is trying to do and what each segment of the pattern is for but often it's also about trusting the pattern and trusting that working at it one stitch at a time is going to get you there even even if you don't really know how just check what the next stitch is is it a knit stitch a purl stitch a decrease an increase and then research that if you don't know how to how to do it. YouTube has a lot of tutorial videos. I had to really keep this one stitch at a time mentality in mind when I was crocheting as a cardigan last year. I have dabbled in crochet here and there over the years but I'm definitely not as familiar with the world of crochet as I am with knitting and most of the time I had no idea what I was doing but I was just doing the next stitch and I was happy that I ended up with a finished cardigan that I can wear and use and I think that if I had been stuck in that not getting it mindset I wouldn't have really got very far and I would have given up but I just looked at the next stitch in the pattern and and made that so let me know if you could go back in time what would be the one piece of advice you would give to the beginner knitter you and if you are a beginner knitter yourself let me know which of these was the most helpful or useful to you right now. Thank you so much for watching and hanging out with me and I will see you soon again.