I am slowly but surely learning how to knit. If you’re not careful, knitting, like many hobbies, can be expensive. At the moment I’m working on a jumper, and even though the yarn I bought was on sale at John Lewis, it still cost about £20 which isn’t really all that frugal for a little girl’s top.

So I scoured the web for a few tips on knitting on the cheap and am sharing them with you, in no particular order:

• Join local knitting circles—when you have friends who knit you can borrow needles and books or swap yarns. In London, try Stitch and Bitch London or the knitting group and Sunday knit roast with iKnit.
• Use Google video search to find free online demonstrations when you’re trying to learn a new stitch.
• Sign up with Ravelry, the online social network for knitters, for free (and not free) patterns, advice and tips.
• Recycle yarn, either by taking apart your old clothes or shopping thrift stores for items that can be easily deconstructed. Look for pieces with seams that are woven rather than sewn, so the yarn can be pulled apart in one long piece.
• Check your council’s libraries for knitting books rather than buying them.
• Make friends with your local knitting store (or local John Lewis) so you’ll find out ahead of any sales or discounts.
• Consider substitutions. For example silk can be expensive and a silk blend or even an acrylic yarn could be just fine.
• Don’t throw anything away. Bits and bobs of extra yarn can be used to make doll clothes or in quilts, or small projects like oven mitts.
• Skip the fancy accessories. We’d all love to have a Cath Kidston knitting bag but that free tote you got in last month’s Marie Claire will do the trick and you know it!

Happy knitting!