KnitCrate Stitch Starter Knitting Month One Review
I feel like a lot of people are getting crafty right now. Knitting is one of those classic winter crafts, so combine that with a lot of second-wave lockdowns and you have the perfect timing for KnitCrate Stitch Starter Knitting*.
*Just a heads up, this post contains affiliate links. For more info check out my Affiliate Link and Sponsorship Disclaimer.
The idea is that this handy little three-month course comes with everything you need to get the skills to be a full-fledged knitter.
Before I get into things, I think it’s important to note that I have quite a few biases going on.
KnitCrate was one of the first yarn subscription boxes and I like subscription boxes. I subscribed to them way back when they were still owned by the creators.
In said way-back times, they released two courses- KnitCrate Newbies, and Sock Newbies. At that point, I had only really grasped knit and purl. I could knit, but not particularly ambitiously. I loved these courses. They were thorough, came with beautiful yarn, and, most importantly, gave enough skill and practice that you could go to any advanced beginner or intermediate pattern and get it.
I’m still super salty about my Stitch Starter Crochet experience.
So, with all that in mind, let’s get started…
The Box
It comes with the same Ella Rae Superwash Wool that the crochet kit came with. It’s a superwash wool. It’s fine. I’d buy this for a project, but it’s just a bit meh compared to the merino they’ve pictured.
I really like knitter’s pride, and I’m happy that they’ve gone with them. Also, outside of North America they’re called KnitPro, and they’re an all around quality needle. The back sneak peek shows a hat, so I feel like they’re going to put double points in the next box to accompany these.
I like that they included a tape measure. The retractable ones fit well in knitting accessory bags.
They’ve also included stitch markers. Can’t go wrong with a basic stitch marker! Just a note: that blue one got a big snag-gy.
I love that they’ve included scissors. You can never have too many pairs of scissors.
I’ve never tried the bent tip needles, but I’m super happy they included two. For some odd, unknown reason I lose darning needles like nothing else.
The booklets on these stitch starter kits are amazing. I love that they have photos of every step as well as videos. Sometimes all you need is a quick memory jog and it’s so much easier to look at a picture than fiddle with skipping ahead in a video.
Aside from my yarn substitution fear, I’m pretty impressed with the box. It definitely feels like a hit the ground running box. The measuring tape and scissors were definitely a great addition.
The Instructions
The course started with winding a ball, then a knit cast on and the long tail cast one. After that it goes into the knit stitch, then purl. All up these videos do a good job of explaining the stitches, but they start on pre-knit swatches. The first row is always a bit tough, so I think going from a cast on would have been good.
Another big, big issue is that the instructions are only in English style. Now, I knit English style, and I prefer it, but Continental is really trendy right now and a lot of people prefer it. I think it should have at least got a mention. If it had been available I was going to give continental a shot so I could be one of those colourwork wizards who do it with both hands.
I do like that they explain stockinette and garter, and there’s a cute infographic about the differences of both when working flat or in the round. Unfortunately, that’s the only mention of working in the round, so if you didn’t know what it was it’d be confusing.
Also, there’s no mention of how to join a new ball of yarn. I know this is a one skein project, but I found a knot when I was winding. Up to three knots is industry standard so I’m curious as to why it wasn’t mentioned.
The Project
There was enough yarn! I mean, there wouldn’t have been if you had swatched, and it didn’t tell you to rip out the swatches to contribute, so there’s that, but I mean, yay! There was enough yarn!
Honestly, I don’t like this cowl. I’m not sure if it’s just the shape of it, or if it might look better in a bit of a loftier yarn, or if it’s simply that I don’t like this colour close to my face. I didn’t bind it off because I’m at a point in my knitting where if I know I’m not going to wear it, I don’t keep it. It’s a good pattern though. I like that it goes through knit and purl and alternates them. You get enough practice to build muscle memory, and switching up the rows keeps it interesting.
I did find one errata, row 14 was printed twice. It doesn’t make a difference since it’s a knit row no matter what, but they didn’t explain looking up errata’s, or that you should do it with every pattern. They also didn’t go through curling, what it is, and why it’s definitely, 100% going to happen.
I’ve been knitting for a while, so it’s fair to wonder why I’m doing a learn to knit program. I am a lousy teacher. So, when people ask me to teach them things it’s great to say, “here’s a great class you can do.” So, I think the fairest way to judge this class is whether or not I’d recommend it. I’m not sure. I like KnitCrate, and I want to like this… but… I’ll see how month two and three go.
