Knitting Instructions

Without a doubt, knitting is one of the most popular crafts around. hip new books are encouraging a whole new generation to take up needles, and even join together in public places to knit.

But if you’re new to knitting and want to figure out what all the fuss is about, don’t worry. Knitting is very easy to learn, and though there’s more to it than this, you can really get by for a long time knitting knowing how to do only four things: casting on, binding off, knitting and purling.

Cast on Knitting Instructions

There are many different ways to cast on that will give the finished edge of your pieces different looks. But for a beginner, there’s a really easy way to cast on, and then there’s the way most books teach you to cast on.

Whatever way you want to do it, all knitting starts with a slip knot. The loop formed by this knot is the basis of your whole project. To make a slip knot, you form a loop in the yarn, wrap the piece that is on top back through the loop and pull.

It’s easier to explain with drawings, so look for instructions here or here, which is a little more confusing because it shows the whole mess wrapped around fingers.

Once you have your slip knot, slide it onto the needle of your choice. Pull the yarn so the loop closes up. You don’t want it to be completely tight against the needle but you don’t want it to fall right off the needle, either. This is probably the hardest part to learn. How tight or loose your stitches are is called tension, and most beginning knitters have too much. It’s hard to remind yourself to loosen up, but you’ll have a much easier knitting experience if your loops aren’t attached to the needle so tightly that you can’t stitch easily.

Now you need a bunch more loops so you can begin your pattern. The easiest way to explain casting on to a new knitter is like this: Put the first needle (with the stitch on it) in your left hand and the empty one in your right. Slide the second needle into the loop on your first needle, front to back, sliding the second needle behind the first needle. Draw the tail of the yarn that’s attached to the ball around the second needle, being careful not to pull too tight. Leaving this “loop” on the back needle, slide the back needle to the front and then slide the back of that loop onto the left needle. Then slide the right needle out. You should have two stitches on the left needle and nothing on the right.

Then put the right needle through the loop you just made and repeat the above steps until you have the number of stitches called for in the pattern. If pictures are more your forte, look here for a good set of pictures illustrating what we just did.

The other popular way to cast on involves just one needle and you work with both the tail end and the ball end of the yarn. You have to have a tail end long enough to make all the loops that you need for your project, so it seems to me this could cause some frustration for beginning knitters who don’t know how to judge how long of a tail to use. So I say, don’t cast on this way. But if you want to try it, here is the most lucid explanation I have ever seen.

Knitting Instructions

The good thing about the first method of casting on mentioned above is, once you know how to do it, you know how to knit. The knit stitch is done in basically the same way. Put the needle with the stitches on it in your left hand, loops facing you and the side that looks like little knots facing away. The yarn should trail behind the work.

With the needle in your right hand, go through the first stitch, front to back, so the right needle is behind the left needle. Wrap the yarn around the right hand needle, and slide the needle back to the front. Instead of putting the loop over the left needle, slide the loop that’s on the left needle off. You now have a loop on the right hand needle and all the rest of the loops are on the left.

The same Learn to Knit site we just looked at for casting on has a pretty good illustration of what this looks like; just scroll down. Another good site, with video, is Stitch Guide.

Continue this process until you have reached the end of the row, which means you have no more stitches on the left needle and they are all on the right needle. To start the next row, move the right hand needle to your left hand and again have the loops facing you (basically flip it over).

If you want to practice knitting for a while, a bulky scarf is a great project. Go to your yarn or craft store and buy a skein of bulky yarn and the size of knitting needles it requires (see How to Buy Yarn for more details on picking yarn). Cast on 12 stitches in the manner described above. Knit every stitch, until you have a couple feet of yarn left. Cast off (we’ll get to that in a minute) and enjoy.

Purling Instructions

The companion stitch to the knit stitch is the purl stitch. You can think of purl and knit as opposites, because they are formed in the opposite way and look opposite as they form the knitted piece.

To begin, have the yarn in front of the project. Slide the right needle through the back of the first stitch, so that it is in front of the left hand needle. Wrap the yarn around the needle and slide to the back, slipping the first stitch off the needle. Again, you can see pictures and video here or check out these instructions.

With knit and purl in your arsenal, you can make all sorts of patterns and textures. Stockinette is formed by knitting one row and purling one row, and it makes a nice smooth fabric. Garter stitch is formed by knitting every row, and it makes a kind of ribbing where one row is raised and one row is flatter.

A seed stitch is made by doing one row of knit one, purl one followed by a row of purl one, knit one. To change stitches in mid row, simply move the yarn from the back to the front or vice versa and form the stitch as you would normally.

Using just these two stitches you can make diamonds, parallelograms, ribbing, checks and more, which you can use in patterns or to make your own patterns for scarves, blankets, hot pads and more.

Binding Off Instructions

When you have completed your pattern, you must get the item off the needles in order to enjoy it. Biding off is a very simple process. Begin by knitting two stitches in the normal way. Then pick up the first stitch with the left hand needle and pull it up over the right hand needle again. This will make a bit of finished edge and you will only have one stitch on the needle. Knit another stitch and repeat until you’re down to no stitches on the left and one stitch on the right. Slide the stitch off the needle, cut the yarn ball thread, leaving a tail, and thread the yarn through the loop, pulling tight. You’ve just knitted your first piece! Now go start something else, and enjoy your new-found craft!

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