Teach Yourself VISUALLY Knitting

Chapter 1: Introduction to Knitting

Are you ready to learn how to knit? Before you put any stitches on a needle, you need to gather materials: yarn, needles, and a few essential tools. There’s such a variety of yarns and tools that it’s a good idea to understand your options before you stock up on supplies.

Getting Started

Yarn Types

How to Read Yarn Labels

Care Instructions and Symbols

Needles and Accessories

Getting Started

Get yourself some yarn and needles and let this book walk you through the basics of knitting. By the end of the first few chapters, you will be proficient enough to create a beautiful scarf, a bag, or even a hat.

Once you begin to get into a knitting rhythm, you’ll discover one of the most relaxing and satisfying of hobbies. Sitting down and taking up your knitting—the feel of soft, warm wool running through your fingers, the look of vivid color against color, the excitement of watching your fabric grow—will become one of the highlights of your day.

Grandmothers are not the only ones who know the joy of knitting. Knitting has grown so much in popularity that there are knitting groups, knitting Web sites, and pattern books geared toward knitters of all ages and sensibilities. Children and teens are knitting in after-school groups, twenty-somethings are holding knitting circles in cafes, and new mothers are celebrating the births of their babies by knitting for them.

As more people have taken up knitting, the selection of yarns and tools has grown by leaps and bounds. Walk into any yarn shop, and the riot of texture and color will overwhelm and entice you. You’ll discover what seasoned knitters mean when they talk about the tremendous stashes of yarn hidden under their beds and in their closets.

What’s also wonderful about knitting is that you can take it with you everywhere. You may even begin to look forward to time spent in the doctor’s waiting room, or at your daughter’s violin lesson, or on a long train ride. You won’t be able to leave for vacation until you have packed a selection of knitting projects.

A hand-knit gift has extra meaning for both the person giving and the one receiving. When you knit a special hat, scarf, or baby sweater for someone, you weave your love into the fabric, and the person receiving your gift will know it and appreciate it.

It’s no wonder that people have been knitting for centuries. Even now, when sweaters can be mass-produced by machine, people are still choosing to create by hand. Hand knitting is a creative outlet that satisfies the senses and soothes the nerves. It’s good for you. Did you know that the rhythmic repetition of hand knitting can induce brain waves similar to those achieved through meditation? Once you learn the basic techniques that follow—and they’re easy—you, too, can let your needles fly and your mind wander.

Yarn Types

Knitting yarns come in so many fibers, weights, and textures that you may be overwhelmed when you first walk into a yarn shop. You can use the guide that follows to help choose yarns.

Natural Fibers

Yarns spun from animal fibers, like wool, alpaca, mohair, cashmere, and angora, are generally the warmest to wear and hold their shape well. Wool comes in a range of textures, from sturdy Shetlands to soft merinos. Alpaca is a sumptuous fiber with a lot of drape. Mohair is hairier than wool, and mohair-only garments have a fuzzy halo. Cashmere comes from goats and is buttery soft, but expensive. Angora, spun from rabbits, is also supple and fuzzy. Silk is warm, but not as elastic as wool. Garments knit in cotton, linen, bamboo, and hemp yarns are good for warm weather wear. These yarns, however, are less stretchy than wool. Sweaters knit in these fibers can lose their shape over time. Soft but strong, yarn made from soy has the look of silk.

Synthetic Fibers

Synthetics include acrylic, nylon, and polyester. These yarns are human-made and often less expensive than natural fibers. Many are machine-washable.

Blends

Two or more fibers can be combined and spun into one yarn; these yarns are called blends. Certain characteristics of a fiber can be altered by combining it with another fiber. For example, cotton can be improved in body and elasticity by being combined with wool; combining wool with alpaca or cashmere can soften it. The combinations are limitless.

Novelty Yarns

Furry, metallic, and bumpy yarns are called novelty yarns. These yarns work well for trims and dressy garments, and they can be doubled with another yarn for added texture and color. Novelty yarns are not recommended for beginners, as it is difficult to see stitches and mistakes in a fabric knit in novelty yarn.

Yarn Weights

Yarn weight refers to the thickness of a yarn. Yarn comes in many thicknesses and is labeled—from thinnest to thickest—as super-fine, fine, light, medium, bulky, and super-bulky. Super-fine yarns include fingering, baby, lace-weight, and many sock yarns. Fine yarns generally encompass sport weight and some baby yarns. Light yarns include double-knitting and light worsted. Medium yarns are also called worsted, Aran, or afghan yarns. Bulky refers to yarns that are labeled chunky or heavy worsted. Super-bulky yarns are sometimes called polar or roving. In general, fine yarns require thin needles, while bulky yarns require thick needles.

Balls, Skeins, and Hanks

Yarn comes packaged in many shapes. Yarn can come in a ball, with a label in the center, or as a skein, with the label wrapped around the middle. Both balls and skeins can be knit from directly. Some yarns come in hanks, which look like twisted braids. You must wind a hank into a ball before using it, or it will become tangled.

How to Read Yarn Labels

Most yarns come packaged with a label, also called a ball band. Always save your ball band with your yarn, as it contains useful information regarding the yarn.

The largest print on a ball band is the yarn manufacturer’s name and/or logo, and then the name of that particular yarn. Also included is the fiber content of the yarn.

The ball band also lists the weight of the ball and the yardage, or the length of yarn contained in the ball. Yarn companies assign numbers to indicate color. These numbers are not the same from one manufacturer to the next. Also listed is a dye lot number. Yarns are dyed in large batches, or lots, and the dye lot number refers to a particular batch of a particular color. It’s important to buy enough yarn from the same dye lot for a project because color differs from one dye lot to the next.

The yarn label also suggests the size of knitting needles to use with the yarn and lists the desired gauge for that yarn when knit with those needles. Care instructions are usually shown in the form of symbols like those found on clothing labels.

Care Instructions and Symbols

It is a good idea to become familiar with the symbols used to indicate care instructions for a particular yarn. You need to know this information when it comes time to clean your hand-knit items.

Symbols using the image of a tub or washing machine indicate whether a fiber is machine- or hand-washable. Note that the symbol of the tub with an X over it means the fiber is neither machine- nor hand-washable. The triangular symbols indicate bleaching instructions.

Symbols using the image of an iron indicate whether a fiber can be pressed. The symbol of the iron with dots in it illustrates what temperature should be used when pressing.

Circular symbols illustrate dry-cleaning instructions. If the circle has an X through it, the fiber should not be dry-cleaned. Circles with letters in them indicate what chemicals should be used to dry-clean the fiber. The people at your dry-cleaning shop should be able to tell you what solvents they use.

Needles and Accessories

Knitting needles come in many shapes, sizes, and materials. Try out various types to see which ones work best for you. There are also a number of accessories, but you will need only a few to start. As you complete more projects, your collection of needles and accessories will grow.

Types of Needles

Knitting needles come in metal, plastic, wood, and bamboo. Yarn slides easily along metal needles. Plastic needles are lightweight but can bend. Wood needles are beautiful and can be more expensive than metal or plastic. Bamboo needles are lighter and less expensive than wood needles. Some teachers recommend bamboo for beginners because the surface slows yarn from slipping off the needle.

Sizes of Needles

Needle sizing can be confusing because each needle has three numbers that refer to the size. The most important number is the diameter of the needle shaft, which is measured in millimeters (mm). The second number, representing the U.S. numbering system, labels sizes ranging from 0 for the thinnest needle to 50 for the thickest needle. The third number on a needle is the length of the needle’s shaft. This number is generally represented on the needle package in both inches and centimeters. The UK/Canadian numbering system for needles differs from the U.S. system, so it’s better to buy needles based on diameter than on numbering system. The chart below shows needle size in metric as well as both U.S. and UK/Canadian numbering.

Shapes of Needles

Straight needles, also called single-pointed needles, come in various lengths and have a point on one end and a knob on the other. Double-pointed needles are sold in sets of four or five. Circular needles, which have two points connected by a nylon or plastic cord, come in a variety of lengths and materials.

Essential Accessories

You’ll want a small pair of scissors and a tape measure. Row counters record rows knit. Tapestry needles are used for sewing knitted pieces together and darning in loose ends. Point protectors prevent work from slipping off the needles. A stitch and needle gauge measures stitch and row gauge as well as needle diameter.

Other Accessories

Stitch holders hold stitches to be worked later. Plastic-headed knitting pins fasten knitted pieces together before sewing. Stitch markers are small plastic rings used to mark a point in knitting where an increase, a decrease, or a pattern change occurs. Cable needles are used to hold stitches when making cables.

Handy Extras

Choose a knitting bag that stands open, has a smooth interior, and has pockets for accessories (watch out for Velcro fasteners—they can snag your knitting). Small amounts of yarn can be wound on plastic bobbins. Crochet hooks come in handy for making edgings and ties. Pompom makers are great for making thick, round pompoms.

Chapter 2: Basic Techniques

A knitted fabric is made up of many stitches. In this chapter, you will learn the basics: how to get your first row of stitches on the needle as well as how to knit and purl those stitches using a variety of methods. After you master knit and purl stitches, you will learn how to join new yarn so that you won’t have to stop when your yarn runs out. Finally, you will find out how to bind off, which is what you do to remove your stitches from the needle when you’re done.

Make a Slipknot

Cast On

Hold Needles and Yarn

Knit: English Method

Purl: English Method

Knit: Continental Method

Purl: Continental Method

Join New Yarn

Slip a Stitch

Knit with a Double Strand of Yarn

Bind Off

Make a Slipknot

The time has come to pick up your needles and learn to knit. You need a ball of worsted weight or bulky yarn and a pair of needles in the size that the yarn’s ball band calls for. When you have those things, you are ready to put your very first stitch—a slipknot—onto your needle. You have probably made a slipknot before, but there’s a special method for putting one onto your knitting needle.

How to Make a Slipknot

1. Starting about 10 inches in from the end of your yarn, make a loop.

2. Pull the working yarn (the yarn coming from the ball) behind the loop as shown. Insert the needle underneath the working yarn and pull it up through the loop.

3. Pull the ends of the yarn so that the slipknot sits snugly on the needle.

Cast On

Casting on is what you do to get a foundation row of stitches on your needle so that you can start to knit. There are many cast-on methods, each with different results. Take care not to cast on too tightly, or your edge will have no elasticity.

Backward-Loop Cast-On

This method of casting on is the easiest and quickest, so it’s good for beginners. It doesn’t, however, create a very tidy edge. It is also referred to as the simple cast-on method.

1. With the needle with the slipknot on it in your right hand and the working yarn in your left, make a loop with the working yarn, then give the loop a twist so the working yarn is on the right and the back of the loop is on the left.

2. Place the loop onto the needle with your left hand and then pull the working yarn to tighten.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you have the desired number of stitches on the needle.

Long-Tail Cast-On

You may think that this method of casting on stitches looks complicated, but once you master it, it’s very quick and easy. This method creates a neat, elastic edge.

1. Put a slipknot on your needle, leaving a tail that’s the equivalent of 1 inch per stitch you plan to cast on plus a few more inches. (So if you plan to cast on 12 stitches, leave a tail that’s about 15 inches long.)

2. Hold the yarn with the tail wrapped over your thumb and the working yarn over your forefinger, grasping both ends with your pinky and ring finger in the center of your palm.

3. Lower the needle to create a V.

NOTE: Holding the slipknot in place with your right forefinger can prevent the stitch from slipping off the needle.

4. Insert the needle up and under the yarn that is looped around the outside of your thumb.

5. Move the needle to the right and use it to grab the yarn from the nearest side of your forefinger (a); then pull it through the loop around your thumb (b).

Step 5A

Step 5B

6. Once the yarn is pulled through the loop between your thumb and needle, drop the loops from your thumb and forefinger and pull both ends of the yarn to tighten the stitch on the needle.

You have just cast on 1 stitch.

7. Repeat steps 2–6 until you have cast on the desired number of stitches.

Knit Cast-On

The knit cast-on produces an elegant elastic edge, so it’s good for most anything—sweaters, hats, socks, and scarves, to name a few. You start with a slipknot on your left needle and then use the right needle to work the stitch as if you’re going to knit it, but instead of taking it off the needle, you place the new stitch back onto the left needle.

1. Put a slipknot on your needle. Holding this needle in your left hand and the empty needle in your right hand, insert the right needle into the stitch from front to back, as if to knit.

2. Wrap the working yarn around the tip of the right needle and pull up a loop, as when knitting a stitch.

3. Do not slip the stitch off the needle. Transfer the new stitch to the left needle by inserting the left needle into the stitch then sliding the right needle out.

4. Pull the working yarn to tighten.

5. Repeat steps 1–4, placing each new stitch to the right of the previously cast-on stitch until you have the desired number of stitches on the left needle.

FAQ

My cast-on feels too tight for sock and mitten cuffs. What can I do to make my cast-on more elastic?

Even highly elastic cast-ons like the knit and long-tail cast-ons can be too tight for some projects. When casting on for something that requires a resilient edge—like sock and mitten cuffs—try this: Cast on using a needle a size or two larger than the size that your project calls for; then when you begin knitting, switch to the correct needle size.

Cable Cast-On

The cable cast-on is performed like the knit cast-on, except that the needle is inserted between two stitches before the loop is pulled up. It produces an attractive rope-like edge on both sides of the knitting. It is not as elastic as the knit cast-on, but is good for buttonholes and non-ribbed edgings. Use a different cast-on if you require a flexible edge.

1. Perform steps 1–4 of the knit cast-on. You should now have 2 stitches on your needle—the slipknot and 1 new stitch.

2. Insert the right needle between the 2 stitches, and not into their loops. Wrap the working yarn around the tip of the right needle (a). Now pull up a loop, as you would when knitting a stitch (b).

Step 2A

Step 2B

3. Leaving the initial 2 stitches on the needle, use the right needle to place the pulled-up loop onto the left needle.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3, placing each new stitch to the right of the previously cast-on stitch until you have the desired number of stitches on the left needle.

FAQ

I’m having difficulty pulling the new loop between the stitches when working the cable cast-on; it keeps slipping off the tip of the right needle on the way through. What can I do?

This can be a problem with the cable cast-on at first, particularly if you’re using inelastic yarns like cottons and silks. Try replacing the right needle with a crochet hook a size or two smaller than your yarn requires.

Provisional Cast-On

You use the provisional, or open, cast-on when you want to be able to access the cast-on edge as live stitches to be worked later. For example, you might want to work a lacy border or add a peplum or hem to your lower edge. The provisional method is worked very much like the long-tail cast-on, only you need a length of scrap yarn—something strong yet slippery, like mercerized cotton.

In the instructional photos for the provisional cast-on, the working yarn is yellow and the waste yarn is green.

1. Cut a length of scrap yarn equal to 1 per stitch you need to cast on, plus a few inches extra. For example, to cast on 30 stitches, use a 36 length of scrap yarn. Tie the end of the scrap yarn to the end of the working yarn.

2. Holding the yarns and a needle in your right hand, hold the knot against the needle with your thumb.

3. Take the yarns in your left hand, holding them as you would for the long-tail method, with the waste yarn around your thumb and the working yarn over your forefinger, grasping both ends with your pinky and ring finger in the center of your palm.

Step 3

4. Work as you would with the long-tail method, inserting the needle up and under the waste yarn that is looped around the outside of your thumb (a), and then move the needle to the right and use it to grab the working yarn from the nearest side of your forefinger (b).

Step 4A

Step 4B

5. Pull the working yarn through the loop between your thumb and the needle.

Step 5

6. Drop the loops from your thumb and forefinger and pull both ends of the yarn to tighten the stitch on the needle.

Step 6

You have just cast on 1 stitch.

7. Repeat steps 4–6 until you have cast on the desired number of stitches. Then continue knitting your project with the working