Knitting Basics: The Knit Stitch

So you want to learn how to knit? Yay! We love to knit.

Mrs. Brown: It’s pretty much constantly hot in Texas. When I first started knitting, it seemed a bit odd to be making wool socks or hats when it was hot enough outside to cook an egg on the sidewalk. But then I realized that it would be impossible to actually knit all the items I wanted to give as Christmas gifts if I waited for the few weeks it was cold out. Now I give thanks for air conditioning and knit year round!

You too can knit – yes, even in the middle of the hot summer! Today we are going to show you the basic knit stitch. We’ll show you from a right-handed perspective, because we’re both righties.

Before You Make Your First Knit Stitch

Before you knit, you’ll need to cast on. This is the way to get your very first stitches on the needles. Previously, we’ve demonstrated how to do a long-tail cast on (pictured below).

After you cast on, you’ll want to get your working yarn in a comfortable position on one of your hands. This is called the yarn hold. Earlier this week we demonstrated one way to hold your yarn in your left hand (continental style), pictured below:

Once your yarn is cast on, place your needle with the cast-on stitches into your left hand, and pick up the other needle with your right hand…

How to Make the Knit Stitch

Look at the stitches on your left needle. You are going to be working with the stitch closest to the tip. Insert the right needle into the left side of that first stitch.

Wrap your working yarn (the yarn running from the needle to your left finger) around the tip of the right needle from left to right. If you are holding the yarn the way we demonstrated, you can actually just catch that working yarn with your needle tip.