Arts and crafts

How to learn to knit

Knitting rests on two stitches, knit and purl, and everything else is built from them. Most people learn both on their own in a few evenings and finish a first project — a scarf or a hat — within four to six weeks. Below is which yarn to start with, the order of techniques and how to tell when you are ready for the next project.

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Yarn and needles for a first project#

Your first yarn should be smooth, light-coloured and of medium weight (worsted or aran). Smooth so the stitches do not disappear into fuzz, light so you can see them, medium so the work moves quickly and every stitch is big enough to read. Bouclé, eyelash yarn, mohair and very thin yarn are not for the first weeks. The label usually gives a recommended needle size: use that size or half a size bigger.

Straight needles or circular needles on a cable — which you can also use for knitting flat — are the easiest start. Wooden and bamboo needles are less slippery than metal ones, so stitches do not slide off; at the beginning that is a plus.

Evenings 1–3: casting on and garter stitch#

Cast on twenty stitches using any method from a video lesson — most people start with the long-tail cast-on. Then knit every stitch of every row. That gives you garter stitch, a dense ridged fabric that looks the same on both sides. The goal of these evenings is not beauty but even tension: stitches of one size, neither tight nor sloppy.

Mistakes at this stage are easy to spot: an extra stitch at the end of a row (the yarn went over the needle) or a hole (a dropped stitch). Count your stitches after every row — the counting habit will save you a lot of ripping back later.

Week 2: purl, stockinette and ribbing#

Learn the purl stitch. Alternate a knit row and a purl row and you get stockinette stitch, the smooth fabric most sweaters are made of. Alternate two knits and two purls within a row and you get 2×2 ribbing, which stretches and holds its shape — that is why it is used for cuffs and hat brims. Learn to tell knits from purls in the fabric: a knit stitch looks like a small V, a purl like a horizontal bump.

Weeks 3–4: a first project — a scarf#

A scarf is a good first project: it is straight, it has no exact size, and it forgives unevenness. Knit it in ribbing or garter stitch, and at the end learn to bind off and weave in the ends. If you notice a mistake several rows down, treat it as a reason to learn how to rip back (frog) to the right row and pick the stitches back up onto the needle. Knowing how to fix mistakes matters more than never making them.

Weeks 5–8: the swatch, gauge and a hat#

Before any project where size matters, knit a swatch: a square of about 4 × 4 inches (10 × 10 cm) in the stitch pattern you will use. Wash and dry it the way you will wash the finished item, then count the stitches and rows in 4 inches. That is your gauge, and you use it to adjust the stitch counts in a pattern to your hands and your yarn. Without a swatch, a sweater easily comes out two sizes larger or smaller than planned.

A hat is the next step: knitting in the round on circular needles, a ribbed brim, decreases at the crown. This is also where pattern abbreviations show up — k2tog (knit two together), ssk, p, k, rep and so on. Write them on a separate sheet with a small sketch of how each one is done.

A knitting journal#

For every project, write down the yarn, needle size, swatch gauge, how many stitches you cast on and what went wrong. After a few projects this notebook becomes your most useful manual: you will know how you personally knit — tighter or looser than patterns assume — and how much to adjust the numbers.

Step-by-step plan

  1. Evenings 1–3 — cast on and knitSmooth, light, medium-weight yarn, 20 stitches cast on, garter stitch with even tension.
  2. Week 2 — purlStockinette and 2×2 ribbing; tell knit from purl stitches in the fabric.
  3. Weeks 3–4 — a scarfA whole first project: bind off, weave in ends, rip back and fix a mistake.
  4. Weeks 5–8 — swatch and hatA washed 4 × 4 inch swatch, adjusting to gauge, knitting in the round and decreases.

Start learning this in your own space

The plan goes into your repository: tick off stages, keep notes — the change history shows how far you have come.

Start the plan

Sources

  • RavelryA database of patterns and yarns with forums; many free beginner patterns
    free
  • Very Pink KnitsVideo lessons on knitting techniques
    free

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