How to do a Knit Stitch: Garter Stitch

Learn to Knit a Knit Stitch

Knitted Christmas Neckwarmer 

If you break it down there are really only two stitches in knitting - knit and purl - everything else is adapted from this. Everyone starts with learning how to make a KNIT stitch. Some call it plain knitting as opposed to purl which I will cover later.

Once you have mastered this stitch you will be surprised just how much you can produce and I have added in this free knitting neckwarmer pattern you can knit in an hour or two - a great place to start and with almost instant gratification! So let's get started.

If you missed it, I talk about casting on and how to knit and purl in the video. Plus I show you how I hold my yarn so it is tight enough to create a bit of tension but will still slip through the fingers when you are working it. 

HOW TO KNIT A KNIT OR PLAIN STITCH

 First I should mention there are a couple of ways to knit a stitch - the ordinary way is to knit into the front loop like the picture shows you.

Knit into the front of the loop

1. Cast on as many stitches as you want to work with - the Christmas neckwarmer has 25 stitches if you want to follow that. It is enough to make a good size neckwarmer without being overwhelming if it is  your first project. 
2.  Hold the knitting needle with the stitches on in in your left hand - your working needle in your right - change over if your dominant hand is your left one. 
3. Put the needle through the FRONT of the loop of the first stitch
4. Yarn over the underneath needle.
5. Pull it through the loop onto the right hand needle and let the stitch on the left hand needle drop and tighten the new stitch.

1 - put needle through font of loop

2 - yarn over between the two needles

3. Pull loop through onto right-hand needle

4. new stitch

tighten the stitch

continue as before

And basically that is it!

Turn you work by swapping right needle to left and knit every row until you get the length you want. This is called GARTER STITCH KNITTING - that is, every row is knitted - no purls at all. 

how to get a neat edge

Two Essential Tips for Knitting nearer edges:

The edges can be ragged and uneven when you start to knit as you are still learning to keep the tension the same all the way along. I always slip the first stitch off the knitting needle onto the working needle without knitting and for the last stitch I knit into the BACK loop which makes it tigher.

knit into the back loop

Knitting into the back of the loop at the end of each row

HOW TO CAST OFF

When you are ready to cast off here is what you do - 

Slip your first stitch onto your right-hand needle as usual.

Knit second stitch.

On the right hand needle pass the first stitch (the slipped stitch) over the second stitch and let it drop. - don't pull too tightly.

knit next stitch

pass the stitch closest to your hand over the one you have just knitted and let it drop.

continue to the last stitch

At the last stitch - cut your yarn leaving enough to make a long tail you can use to sew up your product them pull that through the last loop on your needle.

last stitch

cut the yarn and pull through 

FREE PATTERN FOR CHRISTMAS NECKWARMER NEXT