What is the name of that book you recommended as the best for teaching beginning knitters?
I love Kid’s Knitting by Melanie Falick and I also use a Japanese book, Clear and Simple Knitting Symbols, which has amazing line drawings.
I’ve gifted The Knit Stitch by Sally Melville many times.
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I think the best book for any new knitter is the book that gets them excited. Almost every knitting book has a few pages dedicated to the “how to” aspects. The things they can make with that skill I think is the best motivation and inspiration to keep at it while the fingers learn their new movements. So for one it might be something very basic like a Knit Simple issue with three things in it they are dying to make, for another it might be the photography and breathtaking styling of Last Minute Simple Gifts by Joelle Hoverson and Anna Williams. Or heck, that book by those Mason Dixon gals with the log cabin blanket in it! For me, nothing could have gotten me knitting faster than when I first saw Kaffe Fassett’s Glorious Knits! Aspiration totally fires my motivation. For others, that would be intimidating. I just think it depends.
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Don’t forget How To videos online. I’ve learned so much from different ones.
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I’m a big fan of the Tin Can Knits tutorials. The pair have put up some wonderful patterns for new knitters as well as amazing handouts designed for teaching knitting. I often use them as an after class resource to help students practice.
I developed a system for new knitters having them first knit a felted coaster with a stockinette center and a garter border and then knitting a coffee mug cozy in a pattern I wrote. It’s a little chevron with increases and decreases and a written out pattern (no chart.) Then I try and help students pick a project they would enjoy. Its a method that has produced more than a dozen competent knitters and a couple passionate ones.
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Love that book - there are so many great things to knit in that book I had to buy a 2nd copy for fear I was wearing the original one out!
P.S. The Purl Stitch by here is also good.
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I have that one too!
First Knits: Projects for Beginning Knitters
by Kate Haxell and Luise Roberts & a pair of BAMBOO needles are what got me knitting, finally. I can’t overstate the importance of learning on bamboo needles, & not the hand-me-down aluminum ones that someone passed down.
I’ve taught several people to knit, including an 8 year old grandson, & bamboo can mean the difference between a healthy fiber addiction & an aversion to the yarny goodness.
I also have to agree with Juliafc, because what appeals to me might not get the next knitter excited