Knitting supplies

As with most hobbies, you'll need to buy a few supplies before starting. And, as with most hobbies, you can easily spend a fortune before you even start.

My advice is too buy as little as possible to begin with, because there is a real possibility that you'll not like to knit in the end. For every enthusiastic knitter out there, ready to state that "knitting has changed my life", there is another non-knitter who after trying decided knitting is the most excruciating boring activity he or she ever attempted.

I know what I'm talking about because I'm both. The first time I tried to knit, I was young and impatient, and I just couldn't sit still for long enough. Now I'm older and wiser, and I've surprised myself considerably by discovering I have enough patience to not only learn it but actually finishing off a few easy projects even if it takes weeks to do it. It's so boring it's still hard for me to believe that I actually enjoy it. Crazy!

So instead of getting all carried away buying things you may never use, consider that if you have so much money to spare and know of no better use for it, you should instead give it to charity.

Here is the minimum stuff you'll need for your first project: a ball of yarn, a pair of needles, a crochet hook. That's all folks.

Of course I know there is like a million options out there and I'm sure you'll appreciate more detailed advice on how to choose right. To begin with: start by choosing the yarn and then choose the needles that go with it.

Yarn: choose a simple yarn,   fancy yarn is harder to work with,   in a light colour,   dark coloured stitches are considerably more difficult to see,   and of intermediate thickness: worsted, aran or chunky, that is yarn that goes with 5-7mm needles. Cotton, silk, or wool... not to mention alpaca, angora, or cashmere... so much choice. It doesn't really matter, but I'd recommend wool because it is more elastic and therefore easier to knit with. You can also buy synthetic, I personally don't like the feel of synthetic clothes, so I wouldn't recommend it, but I understand most people don't care.

Needles: the yarn label will give you the recommended size. I suggest you buy circular ones, they're easier to use. I got the ones with interchangeable tips because they're not much more expensive and they're more versatile. If you do the same, choose a good brand. A little more money can save you several headaches. Metal, wood, plastic...? It is hard to recommend what will be best for you, the reason so many options exist is that different people prefer different materials. They're not that different, so use your gut feeling to start with, later, when you need to buy more needles for another yarn, you can try a different material and decide which one you prefer. I've tried metal and wood and cannot decide which one is better. There really is not much difference, buy the prettiest ones.

Crochet hook: you'll need it for sure in order to catch dropped stitches. The good news is that it doesn't need to be the size appropriate for the yarn you're using, from my experience it is actually better if it is smaller, so I recommend a 3-4mm hook that you can use with any type of yarn, even chunky (I haven't worked with super-chunky so far, so I cannot assure you it'll work with that).

If you happen to already have yarn and needles, but the needles are not the recommended size, this is not a problem if the size is close enough. I think that a difference of 2mm is OK, you can always give it a try. More than that can make knitting more difficult than it should be. If your yarn is super-chunky and your needles are 4mm, or the other way around, if your yarn is lace and your needles are 9mm, go and buy either new yarn or new needles or both.

If you happen to have some fancy yarn around, like some textured yarn: boucle, thick-and-thin, "hairy" yarn like mohair, etc, etc, Keep it for later and go and buy some simple yarn. These types of yarn are too difficult to learn with and simple yarns are cheap anyway.