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Hey all-
I've been wanting to knit for quite a while and wanted to see what the best knitting books out there for beginners?

Also any tips on type of yarn/needles to but would be great.

Thanks in advance & happy new years!

I am a beginner too and I am using the book "The Knitting Experience Book 1: The knit Stitch" by Sally Melville. I am working on the Baby Albert coat. The knit stitch is one of your basic stitches and this book is dedicated to practicing it. You also get great directions and instructions. Good luck and happy new year to you too!

I, like many others, used the book 'Stitch and Bitch' to learn how to knit. Although in places where the book was lacking, I used the internet to search for better descriptions of how to do that certain stitch or whatever.

My advice, even if you are just starting out to knit, is to spend the money and buy the good wool from a local shop. If you are making a big project and therefore spending a lot of time on it, you want to end up with something that is really beautiful. I knit a huge shawl with cheap wool once and I dont wear it as much as I wear the shawl I knit with the nicer wool.

Also, go to second hand store to find all the needles the Grandmas gave away. A good way to stock your needle collection with different styles and sizes.

Stitch 'n Bitch was one of my first books. I still turn to it. (I also found videos online that were very helpful that show certain stitches.)

And I agree--buy beautiful yarn. Cheap yarn makes things look, well, cheap.

Stitch N' Bitch is a great book to learn by. it's what i used, and it's very easy to follow and understand, but i also started going to a regular stitch n' bitch knitting circle. the ladies there were extremely helpful.

The Knitter's Companions is what I teach people with. And I tell them about the website knittinghelp.com

I would buy size 8 needles and some cheap Red Heart yarn from Wal-Mart and just practice before starting anything.

Learn to do the knit stitch first - do it for a few days - and then do the purl stitch for a few days. After you have those down you can learn anything and you won't be discouraged with and item when you make the inevidable mistakes. Then buy some great yarn that you love and try something like a scarf, shrug, or poncho!

GL!

I agree. SnB may not be the prettiest knitting book out there but time and time again her well-written instructions have helped me when I was confused about something. I'm always referring back to it.

My favorite instruction book (keep in mind I'm an old fart) is Maggie Righetti's "Knitting in Plain English." Yes, it's more of a book to read and absorb than for pretty pictures of projects (whew...alliteration always wipes me out), but she pokes good fun at herself and the drawings are excellent (I couldn't remember how to cast on when I started again, 12 years after I learned, and her diagrams set me straight).

She gives you the basics and it's a book I refer to whenever I drop a stitch ;)

And yes, the cheap stuff is fun when you're starting out and making mistakes, but don't buy too much of it. Get some real wool/fiber and find an easy project you're dying to make, that's the best motivator. KnitPicks.com sells (mostly) real fiber, cheap, and their catalogs are full of ideas.

My first project was a baby hat knit in the round (bonus: no purl stitches!); now it's my instant no-brainer gift to friends having a baby.

Most of all, have fun, find a great group of people to knit with (if possible), ask questions, and keep knitting!

--Denise

I have been using Learn-To-Knit Afghan Book by Barbara G. Walker for an interesting way to learn how to make a lot of different blocks... lace, cable and all the other basics. Plus I'm getting an interesting blanket out of it... 'course I couldn't stick to the simple color pattern the suggest and have been using many different yarns and colors... we'll see what the finished project looks like!
Also, I just have to mention a fun quick read that has reinspired my knitting habit: Chicks with Sticks. A very fun young adult novel similar to the sisterhood of the traveling pants. Happy reading and knitting!

I like many others used the Stitch and Bitch books to learn to knit. I also Heavily relied on . Where you can watch videos of someone knitting and see what her hands are doing. This was SO helpful.

Agree with Sarah above about knittinghelp.com -- excellent resource!

S'NB wasn't really around -- I learned to knit from grandma as a kid, but when I picked it back up a couple of years ago I went to the LYS and checked out their books for patterns I LIKED. When I found "Hip to Knit", I saw a lot of patterns I liked, and great instructions for beginners.

Start with a small thing, like a scarf, they are boring but cost less great for learning that knit and purl!

My nearly-7-yr-old daughter is learning to knit. She's really enjoying it, and I've learn to just let her do it and not supervise her too much. She's knitting me a scarf. She keeps adding stitches though. I'm trying to decide if I should ask her if she'd like me to "fix it" and do a few decreases, evenly spaced, so it won't get too distorted. She talks so much about how proud she is that she can knit and how much she enjoys it. Any tips from experience?

We used Kids Learn to Knit a little bit.

Okay, well, this was *my* experience: I counted the stitches and told her there were some extra ones and I could fix it easily. She agreed, and there was no crying or feeling of failure. I just keep emphasizing that I used to make the same mistakes and reminding her that I didn't learn to knit until I was 9 years old. It's so cute how she wants to sneak in knitting a few stitches at every opportunity. She enjoyed sitting with me yesterday while we knitted and chatted with each other. Great Mommy/Daughter time!

Have you seen Melanie Falick's book for kids on knitting? It's a good one. Good patterns, too.

I looked at it on amazon.com or something. Not sure why I didn't choose it, except it may have looked like it was for older kids.

I bought it when my son was around nine or ten and was learning to knit. Very cute book.

We like the above book too! My son learned when he was 6 and can knit in the round on 5 DPN's now!! (he's 8)

we like some of the simple patterns in the waldorf book, " the childrens year"

I love "Stich n' Bitch and also "The Knit Stitch" by Sally Mellville (there also Purl book too). I feel that a book is helpful but I need to be shown hands on, the book is my last resort and used to do more end things like a ladder seam.

I may be in the minority, but I couldn't learn from a book. I needed a teacher. (Turns out my natural knitting style is a bit ... odd.)

knittinghelp.com is great, though.

My 7 year old granddaughter is knitting, too. I tell her to count the number of sts at the end of every row. When she has too many I go back and fix it for her.

I've also used the first Stitch n Bitch book with the internet.

My mother taught me the basic cast on and the knit stitch, but she said that was all she knew. I found "I Can't Believe I'm Knitting" from Leisure Arts at AC Moore and I loved it. I've recommended it to quite a few people that wanted to learn to knit. It has the basics and really good pictures. There are a few patterns that employ all of the stitches, yo, decreases, etc. from the book. It doesn't have everything you'll ever need to know about knitting, but I found it a big help.

I started with the Stitch 'n Bitch, and have found it very useful, especially when augmented by the internet. I have amassed a huge library of knitting books, though I have managed to knit very little. I have the Barbara Walker book referenced above and am looking forward to learning patterns while knitting an afghan. I buy yarn off the internet from KYarns - a great web site with gorgeous yarns. Great yarn hides a multitude of sins!

Knit Aid by Vickie Howell

The one mistake almost every new knitter makes with flat knitting is that they pull the yarn from the last stitch on a row over the top of the knitting as they turn it around rather than underneath. That pulls the two sides of the last stitch up so that they look like two stitches and the novice knitter knits into both sides unknowingly making an increase and that is why the knitting grows. Always pull the yarn under when turning the knitting around.

Excellent tip.