Greetings, fellow monetarily challenged college students! It’s that time of the year when we all must get a bit crafty in order to procure all of those holiday gifts for our loved ones. But, no worries! I’m here to tell you about one of the easiest ways to make your presents: knitting. Not only is it inexpensive, but you can also knit literally anything: a hat for your best friend and gloves for your grandpa. It’s a pretty easy craft to learn too, even if you’re a total beginner. And even if you’re terrible at it, it doesn’t matter! Most people will just like that you made something with your own two hands, even if your attempt at a hat does look like a lump of coal. Here are a few great tutorials on the basics that I’ve found helpful in the past. Hope they help you, too!
Learning to Cast On: This is the first step to any knitting project— getting your yarn on the needles.
Learning the Classic Knit Stitch: Once you’ve cast on your stitches, then you can begin with the traditional knit stitch that is used in most pieces.
Knitting Your First Scarf: Now that you’ve got the basics down, here’s a tutorial for a simple scarf!
If you just looked at that video on knitting a scarf and promptly decided that it would take way too much time, I understand. Luckily, there’s a really great type of knitting out there called arm-knitting, and it makes the scarf creation process much shorter.
Enjoyed the Arm Knitting? Here’s an arm-knit blanket tutorial!
If you, like me, are an experienced knitter who’s a little tired of all those hats and scarves, I’ve also found some other quick patterns that you can whip up for that holiday party you have next week:
Some Winter Inspired Fingerless Gloves: I love this pattern, and these gloves should be pretty simple to make, since you don’t have to worry about knitting the individual fingers!
Some Actually Practical Winter Gloves: Okay, I realize that these are mittens… but either way, they are much more useful than the fingerless gloves if you actually want to use them in
the chilly weather.
And, to top it all off, here are a few cute and random gifts for your friends!
A Wonderful Coffee Cup Cozie: I carry around way too many scalding Peirce to-go cups on my way to class. Here’s an option for the friend who likes her hot beverages as much as I do!
A Really Quick Bunny: This is incredibly adorable and surprisingly simple! I’ve been wanting to try my hand at knitting animals for a while now, and I think that this is a good place to start.
No matter what level of knitter you are, there are a ton of patterns out there that you can use, and knitting projects can be incredibly fun too. So as the holidays roll in, consider knitting your gifts this year— I’m sure you’ll be able to get something for everyone on your list!
Image sources: Giphy.com