[I was kindly gifted the wool and knitting needles from LoveCrafts]
I grew up wearing knitted jumpers - a bit like Ron Weasley - we had our initials on them, Disney characters, colourful cardigans.....
My Mum loves to knit and she taught me the basic knit stitch as a child, I haven't been that adventurous with my knitting skills and only ever managed scarves before but I have often found lovely wool and yarn online and asked Mum to knit beanie hats for me. Before I even started my blog I used to follow one, it was an American lady called Manda Townsend, she used to knit lovely hats and people would often ask her if she sold them and she would always say: "Learn to knit."
I must say I do find knitting very therapeutic and with mindfulness and self-care being so important - knitting is a good place to start. Knitting is a really great way to promote slow fashion and sustainability with the handmade nature of the craft and you get a lot of satisfaction knowing that you have made something yourself.
I chose a scarf starter kit from LoveCrafts to get me going - it is called the MillaMia Simple Scarf Pattern. The wool I went for was a pale mint green colour called Eau de Nil, I was sent two balls of the super chunky MillaMia yarn and a pair of 12 mm needles. The pattern was available to download online on the website - I have it on my phone as a PDF but it was a very simple pattern to follow.
It has been a while since I started a knitting project, so I went to a cafe and met my Mum who showed me how to cast on (yes I had forgotten). This is a very basic pattern of 10 stitches across in knit stitch. You then keep going until you've used up both balls of wool.
I found that my memory for knitting had come back and I enjoyed the process of sitting down and relaxing. My son found it pretty relaxing to watch me too and every night asked if I would be doing a bit more knitting.
It didn't take long for me to use up the first ball and connect the second ball of wool. The chunky yarn is very soft and I have thoroughly enjoyed making this scarf.
If you want to give knitting a try but don't have anyone to teach you, there are always YouTube tutorials to watch - I have learnt so much from YouTube.
This little one has been snuggling with it.
It has inspired me to knit more this year and as a big fan of hats - I would love to try a hat next. Once I am more confident with my stitches I might even attempt a jumper.
