Beginner’s guide
Try
and
hold
your
knit like
this.
Now, carrying on from casting
on, you now get the needle
that you took out to form the
stitches (the one without the
loops on it) and place it on
the left side of your needle
through the first stitch,
keeping the continuous thread
25
Time to add rows onto your knit...
Now that you have the first row of stitches that will form the start of your knit,
you can start to add more rows to your knit. Remember that the number of
stitches you add onto your first row will determine the width of your knit and
the number of rows will determine the length of your knit.
on your left hand pointing
finger. Then, place the loop
created around your pointing
finger onto the top of the
needle that you have pushed
through the stitch and pull
it back through towards the
right. Or, if it is easier, you can
push the needle through the
right hand side of the needle
and repeat the same procedure
just on the other side of the
needle. This will create a loop
on the other needle and you
can drop the stitch off the
needle that you pulled the loop
through.
How to cast off and finish your knit
When you come to the end of your knit, you will want to make sure it doesn’t
unravel. Check that you have enough yarn left to cast off. If you don’t, then try
unravelling the previous row to practise ending your knit. If you end your knit
too tightly and don’t have enough yarn, it will show in the final product.
If you continue to do this,
switching needles around
as you go along, you will
eventually get 10 rows. You can
keep counting as you go along
or, if you want more practice
then you can keep going until
your ball of yarn runs out. You
should have something that
resembles the above picture.
Don’t worry and don’t be
discouraged if yours is not
as neat as the picture above,
it takes time to learn to knit
neatly. Lidia took six knitting
projects (or six balls of yarn) to
learn to knit as she does now.
To finish your knit off so that it
doesn’t unravel, you will need
to ‘cast off’. To do this, you
will need to practise the same
procedure as adding rows to
your knit, except this time it is
slightly different. Thread your
needle through the left or right
hand side of the needle and
through the first two stitches.
Now, knit two stitches as if
they were one stitch. Then
you will have one loop on your
other needle. Place this back
onto the needle with all the
stitches on it and knit the next
two stitches (so you are reknitting the loop you’ve made).