What is it?
It's basically twisting and twirling yarn with two sticks to create stitches (two types : knits and purls) that, together, form a knitted fabric. You can vary the shapes with increases and decreases, and you (most of the time) follow a pattern, that tells what to do at every row. You can use yarn of any color or size, any texture, and any budget, as long as you take into account what your pattern suggests (if you decide to use one, which I would recommend). You need to learn how to start your knitting project (cast on), the basic stitches, the increases/decreases, and the binding (finishing) off, then you can do pretty much anything knitted. Isn't that amazing?!
Why do?
Have you seen Tom Daley knitting in the Olympics of Tokyo 2020? What do Julia Roberts, Marilyn Monroe, Demi Lovato, Audrey Hepburn, Catherine Zeta Jones and Ryan Gosling have all in common? They knit! Knitting is for men AND women of all ages. Not only is knitting recognized for its numerous benefits such as stress reducing, refining motor skills, practicing concentration focus and inducing a sense of calmness (like meditation), you can also do it anywhere and the community is very tight-knit (duh-dum tsss).
How much does it cost?
Knitting can be a pretty cheap hobby. You do not need a ton of different material, and you get to decide how much you want to spend on your yarn and needles. For example, you could probably find some knitting needles at your dollar store, or at a Walmart. Of course you can also purchase some higher quality material at a specialized boutique (it can get very expensive), but it's definitely not needful to start. For a beginner, I would suggest to simply buy 1 ball of yarn of a color that you love (if you want to make it easier, buy some thicker yarn), a tapestry needle and 1 pair of knitting needles of the good size (see image below). You can get that for less than 15 - 20 $, I'm pretty positive.
Final word
I technically learned to knit when I was 10 years old. My grandma showed me and all I did was a scarf that I didn't even finish because I got bored, it was too hard because it wasn't perfect and it was taking too much time.
At 21 years old I decided to try again when I was stressed because of college, and it was not so easy at first but I got through the learning phase and I fell in love with it. Knitting is still the same motion, but it feels way better now because I appreciate the fact that it takes my mind off of work/school/social media/concerns and focusses it to make something beautiful. It is definitely one of my favorite creative outlets. It is versatile and accessible. Could it be your creative outlet too?