Hello & welcome to this online workshop on How To Be a Knitter.
These pages are designed to support my in-person Beginners Knitting workshops. Here I am to say ‘hello’.
I am going to start with a refresher on how to cast on.
Here’s a reminder of how to make a slip knot.
Now you have a slip stitch on your needle here’s how to cast on some more stitches.
To make some simple garter stitch squares, cast on 33 stitches in total.
Knit 68 rows using the 33 stitches to make a garter stitch square.
Here’s a reminder of how to make a knit stitch.
How do I know how many rows I have knitted?
Here is how you can count them.
Finally you can cast off the stitches to finish your square.
You can also knit some stocking stitch squares. To do this you will need to alternate between knitting a row and purling a row. The instructions explain which rows to knit and when to purl.
Here is a reminder of how to work a purl stitch and how to create stocking stitch.
I am just going to talk through the instructions for the stocking stitch square and show you how you can count the rows of knitting. There are two options with this square, either count the rows of garter stitch in the edging or count the rows of stocking stitch in the centre panel.
As mentioned, it takes 68 rows of garter stitch (knit only) but only 48 rows of stocking stitch/garter stitch to create the same length of knitting. This is due to the different gauge or tension created by working the different stitches.
I am now going to show you how to knit 2-colour striped squares.
If you need to join a new colour or a new ball of yarn it might be helpful to see how this is done.
I am going to move on now to talking about finishing off the knitted pieces and giving yourself a professional looking result.
Starting off with blocking the work. This is a step that’s often skipped because knitters don’t appreciate the importance but have a look at the difference it can make.
Before I show you how to do it I have a short film here explaining the equipment needed. This is from a knit along that I ran a few years ago so it’s not specifically for this project but the supplies you need are the same.
Moving on to how it’s done.
If you’re not sure of the value of doing this, keep watching for the impressive difference made to the stocking stitch squares.