Knitting is once again being taught in some schools, but many of us are completely new to the craft. Whether this describes you, or you need to brush up half-forgotten skills, we thought you’d appreciate some pointers on how to get started.
It doesn’t really matter what size (thickness) of needles you use to practice your knitting technique, but you’ll probably find it easiest to start with a fairly chunky yarn designed for use with 5mm or 6mm needles. To find out which thickness of yarn you’ve got, consult the paper band or tag attached to it. There’s usually an image of crossed needles. The recommended needle size should be listed just below them.
Creating your first stitches
The first thing you need to do is create some stitches. This process is known as ‘casting on’. Start by making a loop about 15cm from the end of the yarn. Just wrap the yarn around your hand and tuck the end through the loop you’ve made. Take one of your needles and slot it through the loop. Pull the loop around the needle but ensure it’s still fairly loose.
Take the other needle and slide it, point upwards, parallel to the first needle, into the loop. Now for the tricky bit: hold the two needles in one hand and trap the loose end of yarn with a finger on the same hand. Wind yarn from the ball end of the yarn behind the needles and bring it towards you between them. Taking care not to allow the loop to completely come apart, push the point of one needle (right-handers will probably find it easiest if this is the left needle) down through the loop so it catches and pulls up the other side.
There should now be a loop on each needle. With the opposite needle to the one you just used, pick up the loop you’ve just created from that needle by pushing down through the loop again. There should now be two loops on a single needle. These are your first two stitches. Repeat the process of creating new loops until you have at least 15 stitches and are confident of making them.
Knitting your first row
To knit your first row, swap the needles so the stitches you’ve just made are in the other hand. To knit the first stitch on the new row, push your left needle up into the loop (as you did when creating new stitches before), bring the yarn round from the back to the front between the two needles. Tip the part of the loop that remains on the needle with all the other stitches over on to the needle that has none – you’re effectively transferring the stitch from needle to needle. Repeat this picking up, winding the yarn round from the back and transferring process until all the needles have been swapped from one needle to the other. You have now knitted your first row. Confusingly, the stitch is called knit stitch, as well as the craft itself. (Note that the cast-on row is not counted when following a knitting pattern.)
Congratulations. You have knitted your first knit row. Continue using the same technique and you’ll be creating something called garter stitch. This is where every stitch on every row is a knit stitch. It’s ideal for making scarves and for making squares that are later sewn together to make items such as blankets.
Learn to purl
Once you have mastered the knit stitch, you might like to try your hand at purl. Here, you bring the yarn to the front of your knitting before you put the needle into the loop. The other difference is that you insert the needle from the top, rather than going in at the bottom of the loop. You need the bring the yarn forward at the start of every stitch. Try knitting a whole row of purl stitches. You’ll be surprised at how quickly you master this stitch.
If you knit a row and then purl the next row (and then repeat the process for another pair of rows), you’ll notice that the pattern you end up with is lots of chevrons or arrows. This is called stocking stitch and will probably look familiar. It’s the most common combination of stitches you’ll see on either hand-made or machine made knitting.
Finishing your knitting
After a while, you’ll have knitted enough rows and will want to finish off your work. To do so, you need to cast off (also known as binding off). Casting off ‘binds’ the stitches so they don’t simply unravel. To secure them, you need to loop one stitch over its neighbouring stitch. Knit the first stitch as usual. Knit the next stitch too. Now take the needle without any stitches on it and use it to pick up the loop of the first stitch. Being careful not to pull both stitches off the needle, lift the loop from the first stitch over the top of the other stitch. You should now only have the second stitch you knitted on the needle. Now take the next stitch and knit it (i.e. the third stitch in the row). When you’ve knitted this and have two stitches on your needle, insert the spare needle into the loop from the second stitch (the first one still on the needle) and lift it over the other stitch.
Repeat this knit and lift over process until only a single stitch is left. You now need a pair of scissors. Lay the knitting on the table, snip the end of the yarn around 10 or 15cm from the end of the knitting and push the end through the loop formed by the final stitch. Before taking the knitting off the needle, gently tug on the end of yarn you’ve just put through the final stitch and ensure it is definitely pulling it into a knot. Behold, you have created your first piece of knitting.
Getting more from knitting
Once you know how to cast on, knit and purl and how to cast off, you’ll be able to make all sorts of items. Try introducing a different coloured yarn at the beginning of a row and making something stripy. To go back to using the colour you began with, start a new row with a new piece of yarn. Just ensure you leave enough yarn at the start and the end so that it doesn’t get pulled through as you knit. You can tidy up the ends later.
There’s lots more to knitting. It’s great fun exploring stitches, patterns and colour combinations, as well as trying different types of yarn and different sizes of needles to get different effects. The knit and purl techniques offer lots of possibilities too. Alternate a knit stitch with a purl, for example, and you’ll end up with the stretching ‘rib’ effect found on the bottom of jumpers and other clothing. Knitting is a great social activity too. We hope you’ll join us at Brockley Knits (or make knitting friends elsewhere).
PS: It’s not always easy following other people’s written instructions. The internet has lots of knitting-related video tutorials. There’s a useful photo guide to casting on your first stitches in this Wiki article: http://www.wikihow.com/Knit
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