What learning to knit reminded me about learning

Reading Time: 6 minutes

**Post updated Sept 2023**

I have recently taken up knitting (as anyone who follows me on Instagram will know), and as well as helping me build an increasing collection of brightly coloured hats, it’s helped remind me about the process of learning and how this relates to people learning in general. This post covers five concepts and tips to remember about learning.

I had been thinking about starting knitting for a while and was spurred on after seeing Kris Howard talk about it at the YOW! Conference in Australia at the end of last year. I saw her knitting the whole way through the conference. And the bit of me that my mum taught me to knit when I was a kid wanted in.

So, when I come home, I get myself a kit, a really chunky yarn and big knitting needles to make a fairly easy-to-make hat.

It’s brilliant. I follow the simple instructions, and in no time at all, I have made a hat. One I can wear. 

I created a usable thing with some yarn and a couple of sticks, from nothing to something, and I am invincible.

I want to make more. I want a fancy scarf, so I get more supplies, new needles and some fancy wool yarn, and I get started. 

In no time at all, the yarn becomes a tangled mess, and I realise that I’ve been doing purl stitch wrong all this time. 

I was defeated, but I picked myself up and started again. 

This post isn’t about knitting, though; it is about learning, and I am going to tell you what learning how to knit taught me about learning.

1. Take time to understand a new language

The basics of knitting are fairly easy; there are two main stitches you need, and everything else is a variation or combination of these. Those stitches are ‘knit’ and ‘purl’ (basically a back-to-front knit). Then, it gets more complicated from there.

I was originally overwhelmed by knitting patterns. They are written in code, which you have to decipher before you can start knitting anything. It already felt like a special club with a language of its own, not unlike a lot of agile methodologies or organisations.

Here is an example:

I was just about ok with K1, meaning knit one stitch, and P1, meaning purl stitch, but completely lost at yfwd, yarn forward, or psso, pass slipped stitch over.

You also need to understand needle size, which is different in the UK and the US, yarn weight, which is also different in the UK and US and what those code words for stitches in the pattern mean. 

So, to get me started, I bought that kit that came with needles and yarn, although I still had to understand the pattern and use YouTube to learn how to purl properly.

As I was learning new terms, I often had to remind myself what they meant and still do, then watch and rewatch tutorials to help me.

Tip: It’s always worth remembering that when language is new, it takes a while for people to understand what it means. It can be overwhelming to throw a whole new set of terms at someone without giving them time to work out what they mean and to practice them.

2. Learn the rules and aim for small wins

That first hat I knitted was easy; the yarn was very chunky, and the needles big, 10mm UK or size 15 US for those interested, which makes it really quick to make something. 

That second attempt didn’t go so well. The yarn I bought was very lightweight and in a skein rather than a ball. 

Yarn can be wrapped in many different ways; it could be a hank, folded hank, twisted hank, skein, bullet skein, donut ball, hard core ball or cone.

I didn’t know how easily skeins can become a tangled mess and that most people wind them into a ball first; how would I? So, the expensive wool I bought ended up as a cat toy.

I went back to basics and found easier patterns to practice with; I learnt that scarfs take ages, chunkier wool is much easier to deal with and to frog or undo, and colour work is not as hard as it looks.

Starting with simpler patterns helped build my confidence and allowed me to grow my skills, especially after the initial failed scarf.

Tip: When someone is learning for the first time, they need small victories and not try to take on too much. Failing early on can be disheartening and lead to giving up and returning to the safety of what they already know.

Beware the Dunning-Kruger effect, which is a cognitive bias whereby people with limited competence greatly overestimate their own knowledge or competence in that domain and help walk them through building skills.

3. Follow a pattern to make it easier to start learning

I very quickly really wanted to make super cool colourful jumpers like Annie Larson; she designs her own patterns, makes up designs as she goes and uses colour techniques like intarsia; her stuff is cool. She also uses a knitting machine. 

There are lots of advanced techniques, and I had to learn by following patterns before I could even attempt to create something different; I went from basic knitting patterns to making up my own designs and patterns. I got really good at designing and quickly making colourful patterned hats, which I sold for charity. I can’t make those Annie Larson style jumpers, maybe one day.

When thinking about learning, I always like to look to the Dreyfus model of skills acquisition that takes people through from novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert. At those early stages, people need patterns to follow and support to do that. Later on, they need less support and fewer rules.

Tip: Following a pattern is a good way to learn some basics; taking on too much at once leads to being overwhelmed and missing out on some fundamental building blocks. Giving people patterns to follow and not bombarding them with too many options will give them time to understand the rules and boundaries of what they are learning so they can break them later on.

4. Create a safe-to-fail environment with the ability to undo

One thing I learned after the skein/cat toy incident was not to spend a lot of money on yarn while learning.

You can pick up some pretty awesome coloured acrylic yarn for less than £2 a ball, which makes it much cheaper to fail.

One thing I learned after the skein/cat toy incident was not to spend a lot of money on yarn while learning. 

You can pick up some pretty awesome coloured acrylic yarn for less than £2 a ball, which makes it much cheaper and safer to fail. 

If you are using chunkier yarn, you can also really easily undo a knitting project if it isn’t working out and start again. These two factors made it much easier to take risks, make mistakes and learn from them, which is all an important part of learning.

Tip:  People need a safe-to-fail environment to learn in, where mistakes can be made and risks taken. This may mean allowing people time to learn with the close support of others or being put in real-life, low-risk situations that they can undo. Don’t put them in a position where mistakes will break a live service that is business-critical. This might be through low-risk projects or deliberate practice.

5. Someone has tackled a problem before; Ask others, the internet is your friend

If I hadn’t had access to so many knitting blogs and videos, it would have taken me a long time to get to where I am. I learn knitting techniques best through video, I find it easier to see how someone else does it and try to follow along. Visualising knitting through written instructions or static images is really hard. If I have a challenge or a new idea, chances are that someone else has thought of something similar, and I can learn by mimicking or building on top of their ideas.

Tip:  People need to be able to experience new ideas that they are learning, have the opportunity to learn from others and not be afraid to research new ideas. There is a lot of knowledge readily available; use it.

-o0o-

This post was not about knitting; it was about learning. Here are my 5 takeaways; I hope they help frame learning for you, too.

1. Take time to understand a new language.
2. Learn the rules and aim for small wins.
3. Follow a pattern to make it easier to start learning.
4. Create a safe-to-fail environment with the ability to undo.
5. Someone has tackled a problem before; Ask others; the internet is your friend.