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The Knit Stitch
There are several ways of holding your yarn and needles in order to knit and purl and which style you adopt is purely a matter of personal preference. Two of the most common styles of knitting are called English and Continental. They both produce exactly the same stitches, the only difference between the styles is how you hold the yarn and needles.
We are going to teach you English here but once you understand how to knit and feel confident knitting, we recommend you try knitting in the Continental style (more info here) as it might be a better fit for you. Every knitter is different!
The knit stitch is the most basic stitch in knitting and can be abbreviated to K in knitting patterns. So K5 would mean knit the next five stitches (but don’t worry about that now!)
To begin knitting the stitches you have just cast on, place the needle with the cast on stitches in your left hand and your empty needle in your right hand.
Insert the empty right hand needle into the front of the first stitch on your left needle from front to back as shown below, holding the yarn to the back of your needles:
Now wrap the yarn around the tip of the right hand needle once counterclockwise or round the back to the front. Once you have wrapped it round, gently lower the strand of yarn between the two needles.
Now slide the end of the right hand needle the wrapped yarn back through the stitch towards you. The right hand needle will now be in front of the left hand needle and it will contain a new stitch.
If you find it easier, you can put the tip of your left forefinger over the end of the right hand needle to stop the wrapped yarn falling off the needle.
Slide the rest of the original stitch off the left needle (it’s okay, do it!).
You have now knit your first stitch!
Now it is natural to think: ‘gosh, I’ll never get used to this’ but believe us you will and very soon. By repeating these steps for each stitch on the left hand needle until it is empty and your right hand needle is full, you will become more confident and smoother.
Remember to always hold your yarn to the back of your work at the start of each stitch.
More knitting. That’s what! We are going to teach you how to do a purl stitch and a bind off (which is what you do when you have finished knitting and want to take your knitting off your needles without it unravelling) but before you move on, try knitting a few rows.
When you get to the end of your first row, simply swap the needles over in your hands, so the needle with the stitches on is in your left hand and the empty needle is in your right hands and start again as instructed above.
Watch and rewatch the knit stitch clip as many times as you need to, until it becomes second nature!
Some tips:
◉ Try not to tense up. Nothing terrible is going to happen if you drop a stitch, it is okay to have a few holes and mistakes at first. That is how we all start out. It is impossible to learn without making a few mistakes on the way. The important thing is carry on knitting.
If you tense up though, you are likely to pull your yarn too tight and that can make it difficult to knit the stitches.
◉ Try not to be too loose either though. Loose stitches are more likely to fall off your needles. This all might sound difficult to judge at first but as you knit, you really get a feel for the correct tension of your stitches.
◉ Rhymes can sometimes help to memorise the steps involved in knitting. ‘In, round, through and off’ is a popular one but you can make up your own if it makes more sense to you!
For more information, tutorials, free patterns and other knitty stuff visit www.learntoknitinanhour.com