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

[willidan]

I was taught by a friend on summer at work (shhh! don't tell) and it took me the summer to get it down to where I wasn't pulling it out as soon as I got a couple of rows on. I made dishclothes for my own use all fall and I gave some of the more presentable ones to forgiving family members as Christmas presents. I think I felt confident enough by spring to try knitting things to give as gifts. Or at least I felt confident enough to plan to make things to give away. I know everyone got a scarf the next Christmas. :-)

[princess]

I'm not super hand-crafty, but I sew. It took me about two months of regular practice, which you can see at one end of my harry potter scarf.

[smilingslightly]

I was taught the basics - knit/purl - in about a half hour at a county fair. Went back to it on my own the next week and was pulling everything way too tight. Once an experienced knitter told me what my problem is, I started in on a simple wool hat on circular needles and had that done within a few days. I needed help fixing dropped stitches, though. (I still wear the hat; it's perhaps not the prettiest thing ever.)

So, two weeks? If I'd *only* had a book to go on, and no one around in person to help me, it would have taken a lot longer.

[sporky_rat]

I did teach myself to knit from books, and at the end of two weeks I had a decent scarf (it did take a couple of days of 'wtf, why the hell is one end wider than the other .....oh. *FROG FROG* fixed!') and about another two weeks (I had to get the supplies) before I could knit in the round. That heel turning bit is what kills me every time, though.

[wired]

Call it a couple-three weeks. There are a ton of excellent knitting videos out there.

[yvi]

For me, who had never done any crafting before, it took me something like two or three weeks until I started my first simple lace scarf. And I wore that one in public :)

[apis_mellifera]

About an evening to learn--or, rather re-learn, as I'd been taught as a child and it didn't stick then. My first real projects after I relearned were a pair of socks and half of a pair of gloves with a fairly non-specific pattern. Both projects turned out pretty well, the non-finishing of the gloves was a loss of interest on my part, not a lack of ability.

I also re-learned from a book--no one showed me how to do anything and I didn't look up any videos online.

[damned_colonial]

I think it depends a bit on manual dexterity and whether they're used to doing other fibre/needle crafts. I suspect someone who eg. does embroidery or weaving would find it easier to pick up than someone who doesn't. Even someone who does eg. model-building or ties flies for fishing might find it easier than someone who has none of those sorts of hobbies.

For someone with reasonable manual dexterity and/or other fiddly hobbies, I think it takes about fifteen minutes to get the simple knit stitch down. Then a few sessions knitting with a friend, or a bit longer independently, to sort out things like tension, not accidentally making yarnovers, picking up dropped stitches, etc. Someone who's good with their hands could probably make acceptable dishcloths within a week, and be moving on to more complex things (eg. hats or plain socks or simple lace or a basic sweater) within a few weeks.

[kareila]

After a morning of tutelage, it took me about six weeks of practice and studying diagrams from library books to achieve reasonable consistency.

[thistleingrey]

Does your character mean to sit down and practice a lot or only to touch on it as an occasional hobby?

I taught myself to crochet from a book, then (about ten years later) to knit from book + internet. Not sure to what extent that skews your "how to knit, full stop" question, but I'd say about three weeks to make headway on a scarf one could wear in public. (Completing the scarf depends on its length. :D ) I haven't found it necessary to ask the LYS folks for help, FWIW.

As for starting in the round *or* starting socks--one can go toe-up, which is easier, I think--maybe another few weeks spreading into months? There, it really depends on how much time per week one ends up spending.

[jackandahat]

He's a little obsessive, so he would put in actual effort while learning. And good point about the LYS thing - I've never had an actual person show me how to knit, though I have looked at online videos some.

[moonbathe_skin]

They say that you can either sew or knit but not both. I think this may be true about 90% of the population.

Some people could learn to knit a scarf in an eavening, it's quite easy. Others could end up dropping stitches and not knowing how to pick them up (wtf I don't understand that!)

Whatever you do, make the knitting experience really suit the character because knitting is part of our personality (I am a bit obsessive and enjoy repeating patterns for example)

I was quick, because I knew how to crochet

[jazzypom]

I got the knit stitch immediately. The cast on took forever (I learned long tail slingshot cast on), and the purl (because I was taught English) I needed someone to correct me, because my purl stitch sucked. But I got bored with the scarf reallly quickly, and went straight into a jumper for my next project (in the first three months). Socks took a long time to get my head around though - back before circular needles became really popular.

[jackandahat]

Huh. I've never heard the "you can sew or knit" thing before! I know a lot of knitters who seem to hate sewing - I hate sewing up knitting, but I like sewing other stuff.

And yeah - I have a fair idea of how he'll go about it (there are Harry Potter scarves...), I was just wondering about ballpark figures because I'm awful at guessing timescales.

Re: I was quick, because I knew how to crochet

[jackandahat]

It's interesting hearing everyone's stories of how/where they learned, I've had loads of people tell me "I can't imagine learning from a book", but then just as many people say they learned from a book just fine.

I learned a mix

[jazzypom]

Like, my friend showed me how to cast on. Then I got Stitch and Bitch by Debbie Stoeller and learnt everything else in terms of ribbing, and gauge, etc. This was a year before youtube, you see, but there were a lot of books about beginner's knitting. Then I discovered Rowan yarns and pattern books, and saw stuff I liked, so I told myself that well, ripping back never hurt anyone, so yeah.

Re: I learned a mix

[jackandahat]

I found Jean Greenhowe's Knitted Toys in the local library and some yarn in the charity shop. Which looking back was *horribly* unsuitable for a beginner, it was some skinny fluffy stuff and I made a giant snake out of it.

I know my grandmother knit, but the thing is - she started a baby jacket when my mother was pregnant with me. Last I heard, I'd turned 21 and she'd still not finished it. So... yeah, didn't really have anyone to ask to teach me!

[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*

[girlpearl]

I honestly think that a large part of how long it takes for you to be able to knit in the round, or make socks, depends on how difficult you've been told those things are.

My roommate taught me to knit--like Skud says, about 15 minutes to learn "knit" and "purl," then sent me away to fiddle with some basic patterns. I came back in a day or two, bored, and the very first thing I knit was a pair of mittens in the round. The second was a pair of socks.

And I didn't know that was supposed to be hard until I was introduced to the knitting community at large. So, that, I think, is a big factor.

[wrabbit]

It took me two weeks with a book and knittinghelp.com last year. I have a helpful LYS that fixed all of my mistakes for the first couple months- I think the most difficult part is learning how to "read" your own knitting.

[aedifica]

But everyone I know who knits also sews! (Most of us work at the renaissance festival and sew our own clothes for it.)

[aunty_marion]

A lot of it depends on how motivated the character is, I think. For instance, we had a Dalek Knitalong in the Sam's Cafe group on Ravelry, and cruentum taught himself to knit WHILE MAKING A DALEK. Because he desperately wanted an Extermiknit, but didn't know anyone who'd make him one. I think he used YouTube videos a lot.

Me, I don't remember learning to knit. I know I could do it by age 3, as that's one of my earliest memories.

[jackandahat]

*Stares at Extermiknit* That's dedicated!

[holyschist]

It took me a couple hours to get the basics, my much more obsessive boyfriend about a week to get even tension to the point where he could have knitted a wear-in-public scarf (if he wanted to), and about 2-3 weeks for him to teach himself to knit in the round. I, on the other hand, have not gotten there because I'm lazy.

We did both have the head start of a friend to show us the basics, but I think one could figure out from a book in less than a day.

Some of it's going to depend on how obsessive the person is and how much free time they devote to practicing.

[holyschist]

I guess the other 10% all do historical reenactment?

[evilawyer]

It's going to vary widely, but for someone who is good with their hands, decent at visualization or at least comfortable with the concept of not knowing what his rendition of a written pattern will look like until at least a few inches are done, and who likes to sit relatively still and concentrate (because it take a long, long time to develop the "second nature" attitude, and even then it's not going to apply for complex stitches and patterns) for longish periods of time (as in hours per day, because I maintain that you can't learn the "feel" of knitting by spending a few minutes a day on it ---- you have to sit and practice it until you've got full control of the yarn and the needles), I'd say he'd be producing a decent-looking scarf that he wouldn't be embarrassed to wear in public within a month's time, maybe less if he's particularly good with his hands. Of course, there is the advice I received years ago: "You finished, so wear it! You won't knit anything else if you don't." And it's true. Wearing your first scarf is both important to congratulate yourself for finishing in (no small feat!) and to keep you motivated to make the next thing.

[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.

[firecat]

I'm kind of slow about learning stuff with my hands, but it took me three to six months on and off, because someone would show me a stitch or cast-on and I wouldn't be able to remember it the next day. Then there was a period where I could follow instructions but I wasn't able to read my knitting, so I would pick it up and knit in the wrong direction and stuff.

[liseuse]

One of my co-workers learned to knit a couple of months ago so that she had something to do in front of the television. She'd never knitted before, but she picked the basics up very quickly. She's at the wearable scarf stage now, and starting to think about learning how to knit in the round. So, for basics a couple of months - but this is knitting as an evening thing, and thus she isn't knitting all the time or, for some bits of time, particularly frequently.

I'm basing this also in part on another co-worker who picked up knitting as a new hobby, at about the same time, but is finding it harder because she learned to crochet as a child and thus is having trouble ridding herself of muscle memory. She's finding it a harder slog.

[moonbathe_skin]

Yes! I like this answer!!

[indywind]

I can say from personal experience, about a week and one small scrap project (I just made a dishcloth-sized Random Thing to accustom myself to manipulating the thread and needles and practise foundational stitch patterns).

[dru_evilista]

I learned as an adult, only a few months ago, from the internet and books, and the first thing I knit was a scarf. ...a ugly, randomly increasing and decreasing scarf done only in knit stitch as I can not purl to save my life, but a scarf. (My second scarf, a couple wash clothes and a bracelet have come out much better) Only took me a couple days. Of course this was after many, many, many years of trying to learn and getting upset and flinging things across the room, before a book a friend gave me(Not Your Mama's Knitting) finely got it though my head and I was able to do it.