Welcome to the Cosy Craft Club's arm knitting month! We really want to encourage you to have a go at arm knitting, and we'll be sharing the key things you need to know to get started. You can find all our arm knitting posts in one place here.

Every month at Cosy Craft Club we focus on a different craft, and I love to contact a number of UK crafters who do that craft to ask what their top tips for beginners would be. This month’s responses from arm knitters were great! Keep reading to discover all the useful nuggets :)

One thing to bear in mind with arm knitting is that your wrist is thinner than your elbow - if you don't keep this in mind and make stitches too tight, then you soon begin to feel that the natural curve of your limbs is not beautiful, but depressing... or worse, if super tight, you could cut off circulation and lose them all together. Best to keep stitches loose enough to pop over your elbow without grimacing.

Emily - Chap and Darling (@chap_and_darling)

Use your body parts to measure the size of the stitches, to keep them all consistent. An example is the palm of your hand (mine is 3 inches wide) - I make sure I always wrap around the same part of my hand to keep all the stitches the same size

Jen - C.hnky (@c.hnky)

Arm knitting can be so relaxing that the knitting process becomes automatic, except when your thinking mind gets involved and interrupts the flow! If this happens mid way through a row and and you can't remember which direction you are travelling/which arm you are knitting the stitches over to, let go of the working yarn for a moment. It will dangle from the arm you are knitting the stitches over to. Now you can pick up the yarn with the opposite hand and continue knitting in the right direction.

Sara - Cloud Nine Knits (@cloudnineknits)

My top tip would be... don’t give up! The key to success is trial and error. It will go wrong, but unravel it and start again. The more you practise the better you become. And once you finally achieve that perfect knitted blanket, the pride you will feel makes you forget all about the failures.

Katy - Katy Elizabeth Handmade (@katyelizabethhandmade)

Take your time, keep your tension nice and even but tight (by pulling the yarn after each stitch) and keep practising! You only get quicker and more confident with practise. And if you're doing it on your sofa, put a double sheet as a cover to prevent a fluffy sofa!! :)

Lucy - Knitted by LW (@knitted_by_lw)

Remember to remove jewellery, watches etc and make sure your nails are short and neat. Buy the best quality wool you can afford and mostly have fun!!!

Helen - Knitting Nelly (@knitting.nelly)

1. Keep your arms/wrists close together while knitting, don't feel the urge to pull them apart to check your knit or tighten. 2. Always cast on using the long tail cast on method. 3. Wollymahoosive Mammoth yarn is ideal for chunky blankets and is the acrylic version of Chunky Merino, with no need to felt before use. Perfect for learning and comes in around 20 colour options.

Emma - MOO + BOO (@moo_and_boo)

Before you sit down to arm knit, make sure you are ready- you have eaten, you fed others, had a cup of tea.. because once you start, you won’t be able to use your arms for anything else for a couple of hours!

Gerda - Rheya Home (@rheyahome)

The best wool you can knit with is the Merino wool and you need around 2kg of wool to make a blanket! Before knitting it is best to felt your wool to make it more durable. There’s loads of different ways to felt, but for beginners the best way to do it is running all of the wool through your hands a couple times to bind the fibres together a bit more. If it isn’t felted then the Merino wool can break more easily whilst knitting.

Sharnelle Ashleigh (@sharnelleashleigh)

I would say the main thing is making sure you spend time prepping your yarn, remove as many stray fibres as you can and do so carefully. This means that your yarn is easier to arm knit with and your finished blankets look smooth and silky.

Amy - Tink and Stitch (@tinkandstitch)

When you first start knitting it’s a bit like “tapping the top of your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time”, but it does get easier as you - have fun!!

Kati - What Kati Did Next (@what_kati_did_next)

If you want to achieve what looks like stocking stitch on one side and garter on the other, then make sure you twist the yarn the right way when transferring your stitches from one arm to the other!

Claire - Wool Couture (@woolcouture)

After finishing your project, use the left over merino wool to make GIANT pompom decorations - all that’s needed is some ribbon and yarn for the centre of the pompom. They can even be turned into heart pompoms! They then can be tied onto the corners of the blanket or around the house (hanging on door knobs, for example). It’s a great way of making sure there’s zero waste.

Jessica - Woolly Woollard (@woolly_woollard)

Wow, so many great tips! Thank you so much to all our arm knitters. Please click on the links to learn more about them and show them some love :)

Rachel x

Top tips for beginner arm knitters