Mother of Purl

numerous new friends.
[EDITH KNIT TIP]
Choose Your Yarn Shop Wisely
Investigate your local knitting stores thoroughly—find a place with a nice selection of yarn and accessories and a skilled shop owner or teacher who can answer your questions. In the last year, thousands of knitting stores have opened, but too few of them have the one nonnegotiable item needed for success: a knitting expert. No matter how quaint your local knit shop may be, it will be counterproductive if the owner doesn’t know the basics of knitting and is unable to answer questions themselves or guide you through the knitting process to solve your problems.
Like any new activity, knitting requires obtaining the basic necessities before beginning: the proper size needles to ensure the correct gauge, a tape measure, scissors, and, of course, the most important item: a yarn you love. At La Knitterie Parisienne, I only sell the very best quality yarns, needles, books, and patterns. I stock needles that cost as much as $30 a pair, and the finest cashmere yarn costing up to $80 a skein—but I won’t sell these items to a beginner. Instead, I recommend firsttime knitters start with simple, quality items: a chunky smooth yarn (you’ll see your results more quickly) and appropriately sized plastic or bamboo needles. A total initial expenditure should be between $30 and $50.
[EDITH KNIT TIP]
Having Enough Yarn
When you select the yarn for your project, always make sure that the shop has more in stock than the one ball you select to make your gauge.
Not All 50–Gram Balls Are the Same
The same weight yields different lengths depending on the yarn you choose: 50 grams of acrylic equals 191 yards; 50 grams of wool equals 125 to 130 yards; and 50 grams of cotton equals 115 yards. Always calculate the amount of yarn needed in yards, not ounces or grams.
Yarn. Your first yarn purchase is critical—buy the wrong yarn and you may very well cast knitting aside in frustration and never learn. Buy the right yarn—one that feels soft to the touch and knits up easily—and you will be hooked for life. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you’ll find yourself bitten by the knitting bug and addicted to the thrill of finding gorgeous new yarns. Once you begin to invest your time in knitting, you’ll appreciate the importance of knitting with quality yarns and come to see a $40 skein of yarn as an investment.
Following are basic guidelines to buying yarn for a first project. I will elaborate more on other yarns in the coming chapters, but for now, this is what you will need to know to begin.
I usually recommend a chunky yarn and one that is soft to the touch and light in color. The key for a first project is to be able to see and recognize each stitch, and at the same time to enjoy seeing your project progress. A light color yarn will also aid in recognizing mistakes.
Avoid knitting with a fuzzy or hairy yarn, because it will make it hard to see the stitches on your needle. If you make a mistake while knitting with this type of yarn, it is virtually impossible to see the mistake and even more difficult to rip the stitches because the yarn will become completely entangled.
When offering wool as a choice of yarn, you’d be amazed at how many people say they are allergic to wool, claiming it irritates their skin, when actually they are remembering the coarse scratchy wools they may have worn as a child. Wools have come a long way. Today, most wools are softer and come from a variety of sheep, including the most popular type, merino wool.
Remember, all wools are not created equal. If it doesn’t say 100% Virgin Wool on your label, then it could be made from recycled wool from garments and is of a much lower quality. Virgin wool indicates that it has gone from the sheep to the skein to you, and is much softer since it contains more lanolin and longer fibers, which is a desirable feature. Remember: with wool you get what you pay for.
If you are looking to felt your knitting, avoid superwash wool. This kind of yarn has been treated and won’t shrink.
Needles. Like yarn, there are a variety of knitting needles ranging widely in price and quality. Needles may be made of bamboo, wood, plastic, and metals of all sorts. The Rolls–Royce of needles, however, are the rosewood needles, which are both beautiful and pricey. At La Knitterie Parisienne, I suggest that knitters select needles based on their level of experience. It is not necessary for beginners to use the most expensive needles. Instead, buy a pair of plastic or bamboo needles in the size indicated on the ball of yarn. Often, when knitting a scarf, I recommend going up one needle size to ensure the scarf is light and airy, and using plastic needles when knitting with artificial fibers, as they don’t slide well on bamboo. As you become more experienced, you’ll want to invest in needles in a variety of sizes and styles—including the coveted rosewood needles, which also come in incremental sizes. Typically, needles used in the United States only come in single sizes: 0, 1, 2, etc., except for the incremental size of 10.5. For the skilled knitter who wants to be very precise about their knitting gauge, a perfect gauge can be maintained by using rosewood needles, which come in quarter increments such as 8.25 and 8.75. Such sizing is common in Europe.
There are a few other basic items a knitter will need and important to have.
[EDITH KNIT TIP]
U.S. vs. Metric Needles
When reading your yarn label, make sure the size of the needles stipulated is in U.S. measurements, not metrics; otherwise, you will need to convert it to U.S. sizing. For example, a size 6 metric is actually a size 10 U.S.
A Case for the Needle Case
It’s not only functional to