If You’re Feeling The Itch To Try A New Hobby, Here Are 87 (New Pics)

As The New York Times sagely points out, it is healthy to accept failure. It is perfectly okay to be bad at something when you’re just starting out. It’s a lesson we all need to remember!

“As adults, we so rarely try things we’ve never experienced before,” the NYT writes, adding that it is liberating to be bad at something “for a week or two before finally getting the hang of it.”

Previously, the Bored Panda team had a friendly chat about knitting with Whitney Cant, aka Knitted by Whitney, who has been sharing her creations online since 2015.

According to Whitney, she actually got into knitting because of ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.’ She really liked the protagonist Katniss’ vest, so she made one herself.

Since that first project, knitting has become a creative outlet for her.

Whitney shared her experiences about what her knitting process is like.

“It can honestly feel like herding cats sometimes! I’m a monogamous knitter, which means I work on one pattern at a time and don’t start anything new until I finish it. However, I’m in the minority—most knitters have multiple projects going on at the same time, but that is too chaotic for me, so I prefer to keep things simple with just one pattern,” she told Bored Panda earlier.

Knitting can do great things for your wellbeing, too. For instance, Whitney opened up that it has done wonders for her mental health.

“I have minor anxiety that spikes when I’m in certain situations, and the physical act of knitting helps me alleviate that anxiety so much, either during the situations or immediately afterwards,” she said.

“The creative side of knitting helps stimulate my mind and helps me just have fun in my spare time,” the knitter told Bored Panda.

“I wouldn’t have the self-confidence I have now without knitting, and I desperately want other plus-sized women to feel as confident as I do, and to normalize sharing bodies that look like mine because we are ALL beautiful.”

During another interview, Bored Panda reached out to knitter Ida, from Lapland, Finland, who runs ‘Knitgrammer’ and has been knitting for more than two decades.

From Ida’s perspective, absolutely anyone can learn to knit! Furthermore, knitting communities tend to be very friendly, and veteran knitters are usually happy to share their wisdom with newcomers. Which is awesome news for many of us who are just starting out.

“In Finland, it [knitting] is taught in elementary school and if it is not a school subject in your country, nowadays there are plenty of videos online from which you can learn,” Ida said.

“A pro knitter knows the technique, understands how different materials and stitch patterns affect the fabric qualities, and also knows the math behind knitting.”

However, she added that you can still “knit beautiful and usable things if you learn the basic techniques and follow good patterns as well as use the yarn recommended on them.”

“The first thing you need to learn as a beginner knitter are the two basic stitches: knit and purl as well as how to cast on and bind off. Good beginner projects are for instance a garter stitch scarf, basic hat, hot pad, or dishcloth.”

Ida said that after you’ve gotten to grips with the basics, you can move on to other, more complex techniques, like colorwork and lace.

That being said, learning a new skill takes time, effort, and patience.

“As with many skills, knitting takes practice. Learning the basic stitches does not usually take more than a few hours, but developing your muscle memory might take a while. After you have practiced enough, your knitting becomes more even and you don't even have to watch your hands when you knit.”

Meanwhile, knitting and crochet expert Nancy Queen, from ‘NobleKnits,’ told the Bored Panda team earlier that a ball of string and two sticks is all you really need to create fabric.

“You can knit sweaters, hats, toys, mittens, socks and so much more. My first project was a vest. I still remember how excited I was to meet my parents for lunch to show off the vest I had just completed and was wearing. I was beaming with more pride than a Girl Scout donning a sash full of badges,” she shared what the beginning of her creative journey was like.

Nancy emphasized that knitting is a great way to relax, unwind, and make something cool. Knitting itself is a rhythmic activity, so it helps you control your breathing.

She pointed out that anyone can become a knitter, but if you want to become good at this hobby, you’ll need some healthy habits.

For one, actually give yourself time to learn. “As adults, we think if we don’t know how to do something in less than a minute, we’re not good at it and we should immediately quit. Stick with it.”

And secondly, embrace your mess-ups. “It’s okay to make mistakes. We live in a perfectionist world and think that nothing can have mistakes in it. Guess what, when you’re knitting, mistakes will happen. However, the beauty of making mistakes is that they help you understand the construction of the stitches and how to avoid making those same mistakes in the future.”

The ‘Knitting’ online community, which unites a jaw-dropping 322k creative hobbyists around the world, describes itself as a “warm, fuzzy, sometimes tangled” niche on the internet.

According to the moderators, the group welcomes everyone, no matter if they’ve been knitting “for 5 minutes or 5 decades.”

Meanwhile, the ‘Machine Knitting’ group is meant for discussing and sharing machine knitting techniques, patterns, finished objects, etc. It is a smaller community, with 7.1k weekly visitors, but it is still very focused on quality and creativity.

This community of hobbyists sees itself as lying at the “intersection of craft and technology.”

We want to hear from you! Upvote your favorite images and join the conversation in the comments, dear Pandas.

Which of these knitting designs did you genuinely like the most, and why?

Have you ever tried knitting before, and if so, how did that go? What’s the coolest thing you’ve made?

What’s your relationship with creative hobbies like?

Oh, and you’ve been knitting while scrolling all this time, do let us know—we’ll be very impressed.