Lou is the newest member of Team Arnall-Culliford and, since joining the team, she’s been rediscovering the joy of knitting using Modern Daily Knitting’s brand new how-to knit volume, Skill Set. She’s already off to an amazing start, and she’ll be sharing more of her adventures as a new knitter over the next few weeks!

I must admit, I am not an entirely novice knitter. My granny taught me how to knit when I was 8 or 9 years old. I remember thinking that purls would perhaps transform into those beautiful, shiny spheres that she wore on her necklace. I haven’t picked up any knitting needles since then, until our eldest daughter came home from school with a bunny she had knitted. She was keen to knit at home, so we bought a pair of needles and she showed me what to do, and I remembered! There’s a lot to be said about muscle memory. Now that I work for Arnall-Culliford Knitwear, I am surrounded by everything to do with knitting, and it is time to learn something new so that I can enjoy knitting with my daughters for years to come. Skill Set, compiled by the amazing ladies at Modern Daily Knitting, has been a fantastic introduction to help me on my knitting journey.

The book has a cool, retro feel to it and is very nicely laid out with clear, concise, and jovial instructions and diagrams. There are 9 simple lessons, starting with the tools, yarn and how to cast on and finishing with fixing mistakes. In between, you’ll learn about combining stitches, increases and decreases, knitting in the round, lace and cables, colourwork (stripes, stranding, intarsia) and completing your knitting. Jen and Jim’s Something to Knit With with Aran yarn is a great alternative to worsted yarn which Skill Set recommends, and this is what I have used throughout.

I was using a very basic cast on method before but the long-tail cast on is a fancier technique and more aesthetically pleasing. After sussing out the long-tail cast on method, the first lesson is how to knit a garter stitch square and how to cast off (or bind off). Given that I remember what I learnt when I was a child, I still had to check the diagram to see if I was doing it right, but once I got going the rows started multiplying and soon it was time to cast off. One by one the stitches dropped off and the knitting was literally hanging by a thread!

The next lesson was learning the purl stitch and combining that with garter stitch to create stocking stitch, which has a different texture to just garter stitch on its own. The lesson also provided an introduction to ribbing. Now, this was the first really new thing for me! It’s wonderful seeing how the combination of stitches emerges even though I made a few mistakes on this swatch – can you see?

This lesson also helps you to ‘read’ your knitting, which I had never done before, and cleverly sets you up for the next lessons. I then jumped ahead to the lace lesson (I love that you can dip in and out of the book!), and I must admit I really fluffed up the first attempt so unravelled it all and tried again – much better!

With this pile of little swatches done and my confidence boosted, I am ready to try making A Thing! I’ll share how I get on in my next post!

Grab a copy of Skill Set for yourself or your knitting curious friend over in the online shop. And now through Sunday, pair it with MDK Field Guide No. 18: Beginnings and get both for just £25! Beginnings is chock full of inspiring but totally achievable patterns, perfect for flexing new knitting skills on (and still totally fun to knit for the more experienced!) Discount is applied automatically at checkout.