Basic Knitting Techniques for Beginners

All knitting is made up from two basic stitches: knit and purl. Everything else is just a variation of it. And really, you can knit many beautiful projects with just the knit stitch.

Yarn comes in different shapes: cake, skein, hank, and ball.


A cake, skein, and ball are ready to knit but if your yarn comes in a hank your first step is to wind the yarn into a ball.




First step in knitting is casting on. There are many ways to cast on, in fact there are whole books written on casting on, but to begin you only need one.



Next comes the knit stitch. If you know how to cast on, make the knit stitch, and bind off you can knit a potholder, hat, scarf, cowl, or even a sweater!



Second stitch is the purl stitch. Between knit and purl you can make anything!



The third step is binding off.

After binding off there is the final step: polishing your work. Weave in the ends and block your knitting. Blocking is like icing the cake. Your knitting is finished but you can make it more polished and beautiful with a few simple steps. Soak your knitted item in lukewarm water for twenty minutes or so (it is totally okay to forget and come back in a couple hours too). Squeeze out most of the water without wringing your item. You can blot out more water with a towel. Lift your item onto dry and clean towel. Lay it out and shape it to desired measurements and form. This is just fancy words meaning pat it into shape. And in a few hours when the knitted item had dried you are truly finished!