Lost skills in fashion: Knitting

The evolution of woolly clothes has gone from geek to chic and it seems that knitting still has to catch up. With this skill slowly becoming endangered, is it any surprise that knitting seems to be a lost fashion skill? We should celebrate knitting and bring it back into fashion! After all, you can make anything from scarves to socks without breaking the bank!

We caught up with Zoe, a knitting advocate, who recently finished a gorgeous cardigan.

What got you into knitting?

Well I found this book lying around the house, and in our house we make our own little Christmas gifts. So I decided to make these little woolly monsters, they were so cute and they came out really well.  After this I bought my own knitting needles and some wool and decided to make myself a cardigan.

How did it go?

Well it was a bit tricky at first, but with the help of this book and lots of practise I learnt new patterns and designs and got to work. A cardigan is a pretty big thing to start with, so it might be worth starting with something small, so you can practise patterns. It took me about 200 hours to complete this cardigan, but it was my first try and I kept coming back to it. With more practise I could feel myself getting speedier and before I knew it I had finished!

What would you recommend to people who want to start knitting?

Well set yourself a project that isn’t too tricky. If you start with something that won’t take up too much time and that you’ll actually wear, it’ll be really worthwhile. Once you’ve done a couple of small things, you can move onto something bigger and you get to wear it! There are two basic stitches that can pretty much make everything up and then you can take it from there. By using forums and Google, you can knit whatever you want.

What do you love about knitting?

I love the fact then when you finish working on your piece, it’s yours and there is no other replica of it because you designed it. When you get the knack of it, you can make small little gifts and great pieces of clothing for yourself for half the price than at the retailers. It might start off a bit fiddly, but once you get the hang of it you will have learnt a new skill that is useful and rare. I feel so great now that I’ve finished this cardigan and I can’t wait to start on my next piece of work. Step by step instructions are available all over the internet, so more people should get into it.

So why not try out a new hobby and bring back knitting! If you need some supplies to get you started, I recommend Abakhan Fabrics in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.

Get creative, get knitting!