A Great Start: A collection of knitting patterns for the absolute beginner

Miss Haley
Mar 2
2 min read

So you've just learned to cast-on, knit, purl, and bind-off. Congrats and welcome to the wonderful world of knitting! Now... what are you supposed to make?? There are so many options, and Ravelry can be kind of overwhelming. Some of them say they're beginner friendly, but look way too complicated.

The most important thing you have to remember about learning to knit is this: Knitting is a skill that requires muscle memory and consistency. Don't rush through your first year of knitting, because the repetition of all those knits and purls will help build your muscle memory, and give you clean, even, consistent stitches when you're ready to make your first sweater, tackle lace, or try something adventurous.

With that in mind, here are some of our favorite knitting patterns for the absolute beginner!

Technicolor Oreo cowl

This project was designed to be a simple set of stockinette and reverse stockinette sections. It drapes beautifully, you can use up small amounts of yarn, and it's a great "mindless knit" for knitting in social settings.

We designed Technicolor Oreo for 3 colors, but you can try these different variations, like adding stripes, only using 2 colors, or making the whole thing out of one color.

Technicolor Oreo is available on Ravelry for $0.99, or if you subscribe to our email list, you can get a coupon code to download it for free.

Lockbox Cowl

Lockbox is a fun, highly textured project that introduces a slip stitch. Since it has so much garter stitch, it won't curl. It's not good for social knitting hour at your local yarn store, because you do need to keep track of your rows and count your stitches.

Lockbox shows up best when knit in solid or tonal yarn, and we recommend a high twist or single ply to show off the texture.

Pipette Cowl

Pipette is mostly stockinette stitch with a few little strips of purls, similar to the piping on a wedding cake. It's perfect for a soft, luxurious yarn, or a really cool skein where you want the yarn to do the talking!

Sugar Cookie Swirl

We designed this one to utilize the paillettes in our local yarn shop. This cowl makes a great replacement for a necklace at a holiday party, and only takes 1 skein of each material!