Knitting/Crocheting: Making Gifts with Love in Every Stitch 🧶

I learned to knit in 2014 from members of a dear friend’s club called Knit Happens. Although I have made a lot of fun projects over the years, I only know the very basics of knitting: knit stitch, pearl stitch, cast on, cast off, knitting with linear needles, and knitting in the round. I also know the very basics of crochet but can’t do anything advanced like cabling yet. However, despite having a pretty basic toolkit, I have made a lot of fun projects, mostly gifts for friends or functional winter wear for myself.

Making a scarf was also my first crochet project but in that case I made an infinity scarf; that is, a circular scarf instead of a linear one.

Once I had the basics down, I learned to knit in the round and with different sizes of needles. This enabled me to learn to used stuffed animal patterns to make some cute creations.

I also learned to make hats, headbands, and gloves to supplement my ongoing scarf projects. I made fingerless gloves because they required less detail work than standard gloves with fingers. I also got creative and used my skills to make a cute little silk-lined clutch with a flower button.

Along the way, I was fortunate enough to have friends who modeled the gifts I made for them. Once of my most excited recipients was a friend’s daughter who dressed up as Jasmine for Halloween. Out of respect for her privacy as a child, I have displayed only the headband and not her in the friends modeling my work photos.

Notice how even in some of my simpler projects, I used the natural gradient of colors in the yarns that I chose to make what looked like much more complex patterns. Knitting and crocheting are incredibly relaxing hobbies. Once you get familiar enough with the basic stitches, it almost feels like pure muscle memory, allowing you to zone out and hang out with friends like in our Knit Happens club (or watch TV/some other form of entertainment). There are endless possibilities of patterns and weights, colors, and materials for yarn (e.g. bamboo yarn as opposed to classic wool). Ravelry is a great way to get started on this hobby and find beginner level patterns than inspire you.

And don’t think that knitting or crocheting is just for women! I have had the pleasure of teaching both women and men how to knit (I love sharing my skills with others). Anyone can learn to knit and thus gain a tool for making beautiful gifts for others (and themselves)!

P.S. I highly recommend the below gift tags given to me by my friend and master crocheter Rebecca Stylings. These tags do two things, in my opinion: 1) Let someone know you handmade their gift with love, and 2) Let them know the time, energy and love cannot be returned, all while doing so in a light-hearted and humorous way.