The Complete Beginner's Guide to Knitting

Descripción

Product Description This step-by-step, hand-holding guide to knitting is easy to watch and makes learning fast and simple. Although this DVD is packed with everything a beginner needs to know, the chapters are quick & bite-sized. Beautiful and clear demonstrations can get you started knitting in just 30 minutes. What you'll learn: Cast On The Knit Stitch (English & Continental) The Purl Stitch (English & Continental) Add Yarn & Changing Colors Bind Off Increase Decrease Ribbing (knit & purl in the same row) Gauge Finishing First Aid Kit (how to fix mistakes) Auto Pause The video pauses automatically after showing you something new, waits for you to decide when to keep going, or lets you opt to see that last part again. Booklet Seven scarf patterns included inside take-along booklet. Website Bonus video, free patterns, tips & advice, links to fun stuff. Suggested Kit Good starter yarn and needles sold on desertcart.com are Lion Brand's Wool Ease Chunky Yarn (avoid dark colors/shades when first learning to knit), and Brittany 10-inch long Single Point Birch Knitting Needles US Size 10, 10.5 or 11. Any other 10-inch long wood needles in those sizes are good as well. Try to avoid the more slippery aluminum and metal needles, and the "grippy" plastics. As a beginner, start with a needle texture that's somewhere in the middle, such as wood. Playable WORLDWIDE. Review Knitting is a tactile and visual craft. You'll learn best when you see it in motion for yourself. With this DVD you'll learn to knit with close-up demonstrations, and you progress at your own pace. Replay demonstrations with the touch of a button, pause any time for a closer look, and even watch a technique in slow motion. The Complete Beginner's Guide to Knitting has received rave reviews from hundreds of new knitters; men, women, and kids as young as eight have learned to knit with this DVD. --Publisher Review: KNITTING SUCCESS!!! - Thanks to Nici McNally's DVD I am fulfilling a lifelong desire to learn to knit. I have tried knitting and crochet books on and off in my life, and it just didn't work for me to learn from diagrams! Nici's DVD is well done and better than expected production quality. At times, her enthusiasm gets a tad silly, but it's just her exuberant style and she clearly loves her craft. The lessons plans are laid out well. This is not a comprehensive introduction to knitting, but it's quite adequate to get you started. Actually, it's a positive thing that it's not too overwhelming or "too much information." It's just enough to get you started on beginner projects and to help you handle the challenges you will run into. The main thing a new knitter needs is practice, and Nici doesn't want the student to get too hung up on perfection, but to just get into the knitting process and practice and learn to be comfortable and enjoy it. There is a small reference booklet and a password to her website included. Both are helpful extras. One thing I strongly recommend is that you use her specific suggestions for materials for your first project. I went to the local needlework shop to be told the knitting expert only worked when I was at work and the person waiting on me sold me an elegant yarn that was a bloody stinker to work with, so I spent most of my time tearing out my stitches that were split or other problems developed. When I purchased (online) the materials Nici recommended, things went MUCH BETTER! When in doubt, follow directions? :) I have since bought a few other reference books that are excellent reference, but I give five stars to Nici's DVD and highly recommend it if you are like me and don't feel that books help you learn basic knitting, and you want to have personal, in-home knitting lessons at your own speed and convenience. Classes would be ideal, but not everyone has access to that. An onsite instructor could help you figure out some of your bloopers, but Nici assures you that ripping out some of your knitting is part of the process, so you get any aversion to that out of the way right off! Her troubleshooting section helps you to recognize and fix pitfalls. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I didn't feel I was knitting in an hour or two. I was flubbing around with stitches pretty quickly, but I felt for a while that I was "de-knitting" more than knitting as I ripped out problems and tried to figure out where my extra stitches were coming from, but the answers were in the DVD. But I am finishing my first scarf now and my knitting is starting to feel relaxing and enjoyable. I'm really quite pleased how well this simple first project is turning out and dreaming about my future projects. I am convinced that the key is to start with simple patterns and progress with more challenges, rather than frustrate oneself with something so complicated that you can't get the stitches right or figure out what the pattern is calling for next. Nici provides enough patterns to keep you practicing for quite a while on safe footing until you feel ready to take on more complex projects. Her follow-on DVD is supposed to be coming, though I have read that there seem to be some serious problems with the release. I have enjoyed good success with my beginner DVD, and I would not hesitate to purchase DVDs containing more advanced instruction by Nici McNally should it become available. Review: The Easy Way to Learn to Knit! - I am not good with reading instructions and translating that to real life. Not even with great drawings. But I was able to follow the clear, and simple instructions presented in this DVD! I loved sitting in front of the TV with my DVD remote by my side, knitting needles in my hands and yarn hanging from my fingers! I was knitting in just a few minutes and am absolutely hooked on it! That was two weeks ago and now I want to try new things and wish that I could find a DVD format for some more advance techniques. I most appreciated the way the DVD is set up and the personality of the teacher. She is very pleasant, talks slowly enough to be easily understood without being annoying or condescending. I felt like I was learning from an aquaintance . . . one with a lot of patience! The DVD stops at just the right moments and you can easily repeat sections as many times as you need to or jump to whatever interests you. There is an "emergency" secion that is invaluable! I was adding stitches like mad until she showed me exactly where I went wrong -- turns out it is a common mistake and very easy to correct once you see her clear explanation and video. Just a terrific resource that I will probably be coming back to frequently. I am not a big 'scarf' person and that is the only project included in the little booklet included with the video. But she teaches the basics of knitting and purling which is all it takes to create various patterns (garter, stockinette, seed, basket weave, etc.). Rather than full-fledges scarves, I made short "scarves" using cotton yarn and called them dish clothes. I also tried various patterns and combinations on with other types of yarn we had around the house and my daughter has happily employed these as blankets for her hundreds of beanie babies. There is a LOT you can do with a simple scarf pattern even if you're not a scarf person! I've now started making stuffed balls using four double pointed needles and am anxious to make a hat on a circular needle as soon as I find a suitable pattern! This DVD was a terrific start for me!