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YES, YOU CAN KNIT.
KNIT STITCH

Now you have cast on your stitches it is time to start knitting.

Knitting of course is the craft of manipulating yarn around two or more knitting needles and creating a piece. However, the most basic stitch is also called ‘knit’. It is usually abbreviated as ‘k’ in patterns.

 

Materials

 

You will need two single pointed needles and some yarn. I advise to use 4mm needles and DK yarn. Since at this point you are practicing, if you have any scrap yarn, use that.

Start by holding the needle with the stitches on the left.

Hands holding pink knitting needles with blue yarn in the process of knitting stitches.

Step 1

Put the right needle through the first stitch on the left needle. It is important that you keep the yarn on the right-hand side of the right needle, as pictured.

Step 2

Now wrap the yarn around the right needle. You do this by moving the yarn underneath the right needle and then over it from left to right.

Hands holding pink knitting needles and dark yarn, demonstrating wrapping yarn around a needle.
Hands holding pink knitting needles and a dark blue yarn, pulling the wrapped yarn through the stitch.

Step 3

Pull the yarn through the stitch.

Step 4

Slide the first stitch from the left needle.

Hands holding pink knitting needles and dark yarn, demonstrating how to slip a stitch off the needle.
A hand holding pink knitting needles with dark blue yarn, showing the result of one knitted stitch.

You now have one new stitch on the right-hand needle.

Repeat these steps until you have worked through all the stitches on the left needle. Move the right needle to the left and vice versa. Start the steps again. Repeat until you have the number of rows you want.

How to knit

Knitting every single row as described above creates what is known as the garter stitch.

It is the most basic of stitches and a good way to practice making your work nice and even.

Close-up of yellow knitted yarn in garter stitch.

Garter stitch

You can of course just knit the garter stitch as practice, but you can actually already make useful things!

How about a coaster? Or you could make pot holders, placemats or even a small blanket for a doll, dog or cat.

At this point I would advise against scarves and bigger blankets. I know that many instructors suggest these as beginner’s projects, but they do take a long time to finish. It is, in my opinion, better to start with small items, so you don’t lose your enthusiasm for knitting.

What to make with garter stitch

So, you’re knitting, which is great. Well done!

But in order to use the item you’re creating, you will need to know how to get the piece securely off the needles. That’s what the next article is about: casting off, or binding off (same thing, different term).

Conclusion

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