With cold weather and the holiday season approaching, now is the perfect time to learn how to knit. However, knitting can be much more exciting than making simple scarves and socks — The Yarn Store at Nob Hill employee Fred Whiteman said she saw a crocheted version of the Great Barrier Reef. Knitters are also expanding to graffiti, darning scarf-like strands of yarn onto bikes and stop signs around campus.
The Daily Lobo is here to help keep you and your loved ones warm, as well as fashion forward (though we don’t endorse breaking the law) with a few basic instructions to start off your knitting projects, whatever form they take.
The first step is casting the first stitches onto the needle.
Materials needed: two knitting needles and a ball of yarn.
Step 1: Make a slip knot on one end of the yarn. Put one needle through the loop, and pull the long end of the yarn to tighten the loop around the needle. This is your first cast-on stitch.
Step 2: Take the needle with the stitch in your left hand, and with your right hand push the second needle through the loop, making sure it is behind the first needle.
Step 3: Hold both needles in your left hand, and pull the long end of the string around the rear needle. Pull it taut. Maneuver the rear needle towards you, pulling the wrapped strand of yarn through the first stitch. Raise the needle in your right hand, so there is one loop on each needle.
Step 4: Push the left-hand needle into the middle of the loop on the right-hand needle, and pull the right-hand needle out of the loop. You should now have two loops on the left-hand needle. Continue this process until you have as many stitches as you want.
Once you have finished casting on, it’s time to start knitting. The knit stitch is very similar to the casting-on stitch, so the hard part is over.
Step 5: Take your right-hand needle (empty) and push it through the first cast-on loop behind the left-hand needle. Wind the long end of the yarn around the back of the rear needle counter-clockwise and pull it tight. Snag the strand with your right-hand needle, pulling it through the first cast-on stitch. Lift the first cast-on stitch onto the right needle.
Step 6: You should now have one stitch on the right-hand needle, and the rest still on the other needle. Continue this step with the next cast-on stitch, until all of the stitches are on your right-hand needle. This is your first row.
Continue knitting rows until your product is as large as you would like. To detach the needle from the knitted piece, you have to cast-off the stitches.
Step 7: If the knitted product is on your left-hand needle, knit two stitches onto the right-hand needle. Push the left-handed needle through the bottom stitch on the right-hand needle, and pull it over the higher stitch on the right-hand needle. Then pull it off the right-hand needle entirely.
Step 8: Knit another stitch, and continue the previous direction until there is only one stitch left. Take the stitch off the needle, and pull the long end of the yarn through the stitch, pulling it tight.
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Compiled with help from How-to-knit-guide.com. Visit the website for more photos, advanced steps, and patterns.
