I am well aware this is a strange question.

[jackandahat]

I learned to knit as a kid, so I don't remember that much about it. Now I'm writing a character who has suddenly decided he's going to learn to knit. So. Assuming a fairly intelligent adult who does stuff with his hands (drawing, sewing), with the usual book/internet resources - how long would it take someone to learn to knit things? How long before being able to do a scarf you could wear in public, or learn to knit in the round and start on socks?

I know it's going to vary hugely from person to person, but I'm curious about guesstimates.

Comments

[kelachrome]

Hm. Drawing from my experience teaching kids to knit here, so.

What I've seen is that it depends more on personality than you'd expect. The easygoing kids will start, and make mistakes but keep going. And they get better fairly quickly--a week or so. (That's just the knit stitch, but.)

But then there's the kids that are perfectionists, or just trying too hard. They get frustrated so easily that they'll be half a row in and pull everything out, and I'll cast on for them again, and they never get anywhere. So...how much of a perfectionist is your character? *grins*

[labellementeuse]

But then there's the kids that are perfectionists, or just trying too hard. They get frustrated so easily that they'll be half a row in and pull everything out, and I'll cast on for them again, and they never get anywhere.

A big +1 on this and what's said below about perceived difficulty (as opposed to actual difficulty.) Just going for it and not worrying about errors is IMO the best way to learn to read your knitting.

@ the OP: Although I had knit a bit as a child, I hadn't touched it for more than 10 years when I started again - and I'm NOT a crafty, drawy, sewy person at all. I started at a stitch & bitch and learned ribbing (which I think was the best decision ever, as I got to learn both knit and purl AND how to 'read' my knitting) and within a week I'd finished a hat, knit flat. It was a bit ugly but not that bad and I wore it everywhere! That weekend I knit a basic hat and fingerless mitts, flat again, that I still wear, and a couple weeks after that I was knitting in the round on magic loop - and I'm sure I could have been doing that earlier if I'd had a pattern I wanted to knit in the round. I really think this is down to the fact that I'm not a perfectionist and I didn't mind just keeping going and keeping going until I could see the shape of what I was doing & understand it - until you've got several inches I don't think you can "see" your knitting really. So my first hat is kind of holey, way too big, and floppy, but it was fast and fun and kept me excited to move onto other stuff.

So, given a me-like person, I think you could be knitting a respectable scarf within a week (although of course it would take awhile) and a sock, with plenty of mistakes, within... oh, three? But there would be some gauge fuck-ups and messes, etc.

Also: why not make your character someone who already knows the knit stitch, at least? Lots and lots of people do, and just have to be reminded! That would decrease his learning time tonnes, I think.