by Jane Allyson

Created on: July 22, 2008   Last Updated: February 24, 2011

Knitting may look very difficult especially if you have been watching the nimble and proficient fingers belonging to your parent or grandparent, but it isn't as hard to do as you may think.

Knitting is one of the easiest and cheapest hobbies that you can find to do. You need very few start-up materials and you will have the satisfaction of producing something personal and unique at the end of your endeavours.

Initially all you will need to use will be a pair of knitting needles, a ball of yarn and a lot of patience!

Depending on how comfortable the needles feel in your hands, will dictate to which size needle will be suitable to use if you are a beginner. Holding knitting needles is a personal thing, and what may suit one person may not suit another. Size 8 needles are good to practice with, and until you can start to knit properly it may help to practice holding your needles to find a position which suits you the most. I myself knit with one needle wedged under my armpit, a method I found most satisfactorily after I had an operation on my hand. My hand healed but I still carried on knitting in this way because I found the position very comfortable.

The first thing you will need to do is to cast on the number of required stitches.

Start off with making a slip knot and pop it onto the pointed end of your needle and pull it firmly into place without over tightening.

Using your left hand take the slack of the yarn and slip it around your thumb and hold it into place with your fingers.

Take your needle to the right of your left thumb and then tuck the needle tip under the strand of yarn resting in your palm.

Slip the yarn off over your thumb and tug gently to make a new stitch on the needle.This is known as the single cast on method and is the most easiest to learn. Repeat the above steps until you have the required amount of stitches for your project.

Hold the needle with the casting on, with your left hand and taking another needle in your right hand Insert the tip of the needle going from front to back into the first stitch on the left needle. The tip of the right needle should be positioned at the back of the tip of the left needle.

To form a new stitch, wrap the yarn UNDER and around the right needle, and carefully pull it through the stitch on the left needle so the loop is in front of the work. You have just made your first stitch. Secure its shape by slipping the "old" knit stitch over and off the tip of the left needle. This is known as a knit

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>