Why should I take in-person knitting lessons? 6 reasons, plus some research about in-person learning

Why would anyone take in-person knitting lessons when you can learn for free on YouTube? To be perfectly honest, YouTube is where I turn to learn new skills.  But as we enter a possible 3rd year of the pandemic, we see people flocking to in-person classes!  Is it just that we’re all sick of the pandemic?  Well, yeah.  But also, in-person classes (especially in-person knitting classes!) have many benefits over online learning.

Distraction-free environment

I’m probably not the only one who struggles to focus at home.  Even if my kids aren’t there, the dog wants in and out…and in and out.  The laundry pile cries out to me, and the bathroom says “come clean me”.  There’s always something else to do at home.  But if you’re sitting in a yarn shop, with other students and a teacher, it’s so much easier to focus on the task at hand.

Hands-on Learning

There’s much to say about having a teacher right there, with you.  She can guide, correct, or explain something in a different way.  She can use bits and pieces from all the learning styles, so that each student learns in a way that suits her best.  If you’re at home, with only YouTube as your guide, you don’t have anyone to catch your little mistake before it becomes a huge disaster.  In-person knitting classes are usually quite small, so each student gets lots of one-on-one instruction.

Community & Motivation

I wrote a whole blog post here about the benefits of learning to knit, and the community created is a big part of that.  For a class, community can help you trudge through any difficulties you may have in learning a new technique.  Misery loves company, or so they say.  But if you’re all working on the same goals, it can be quite encouraging to work together.

Tools & Materials

I love knitting at my LYS (local yarn shop) for many reasons.  For one thing, if I have forgotten a tool, there’s one that I can purchase within just a few feet of where I’m sitting!  But also, most shops, like Yarntiques, have a few tools sitting around that anyone can borrow.  I often get away from my house without a darning needle.  And my LYS has one, right there, for me to use.  If you’re new to knitting and haven’t yet built up a stash of yarn or notions, it’s an ideal situation to learn in the shop.  You can try out different types of needles or notions.  You can feel the yarns before you purchase a whole sweater’s quantity.  You can really get to know what tools & materials you prefer before spending a lot of money on them.

Support your local LYS

Finally, I’d like to encourage you to take an in-person class to support your local yarn shop.  These shops are typically family-owned or woman-owned.  They’ve survived the worst of the pandemic, and some are holding on by a thread.  By taking classes at your LYS, you can spend your money locally, supporting your own community, but you can also encourage the shop owners.  It gives them so much joy to see new knitters learning & appreciating their shops.

Research of online vs in-person classes

The research that I found about online vs in-person classes was studying the effects of community & technical school courses.  But I believe it’s relevant to any course.  Back before the pandemic, in 2013, authors D. Xu & S. Smith Jaggars found that the overall effect of online courses is a negative one.  Students were more likely to drop out of online college and earned lower grades.  If we can extrapolate this to any course, new knitters are more likely to get frustrated and give up when trying to learn by themselves on YouTube! 

I’ve made a pretty compelling case against online knitting classes.  But honestly, I’m NOT against learning from YouTube, Craftsy, or any other online platform!  I’m actually hoping to start my own YouTube knitting channel soon.  If there’s not an LYS near you, please learn online.  But I’d like to encourage you that if you want to really learn a craft, go learn in-person from Craftspeople who love to share their talents and skills.

If you HAPPEN to be local to me, I’ll be teaching a Beginning Knitting workshop series at Yarntiques, beginning sometime in March.  Please email me or the shop for details!

Xu, D. and Smith Jaggars, S. 2013. The impact of online learning on students’ course outcomes: Evidence from a large community and technical college system. Economics of Education Review 37, 46-57.