How to Knit for Beginners - The Easy Continental Way

The knit stitch - making fabric row by row

Hold the needle with the cast-on stitches in your left hand, like a knife. The working yarn (the end attached to the ball) should hang from the last stitch.

• Step 1: Turn your needle so the short tail from the cast‑on hangs down on the right side.

• Step 2: Loop the working yarn twice around your left pinky finger clockwise. If the yarn glides too easily, use two wraps; if it moves freely, one wrap is enough.

• Step 3: Run the yarn across the back of your left hand and then drape it over your index finger.

• Step 4: Take the needle with the stitches in your left hand, holding it like a knife again. Check that the working yarn is snug and lies behind the needle.

• Step 5: Pick up the empty needle with your right hand, also holding it like a knife.

• Step 6: Push the right needle into the first loop on the left needle, moving from left to right. The two needles will cross to form an X. The working yarn must remain at the back of the work.

• Step 7: With the right needle, catch the yarn and wrap it counter‑clockwise around the tip. Picture the needle as the center of a clock face – the yarn should be brought around from the back side.

• Step 8: Draw the right needle back through the stitch, pulling the wrapped yarn along. You may need to tip the right needle slightly downward to make it easier to slide through.

• Step 9: Let the original stitch slip off the left needle. Then give a gentle tug on the working yarn to snug up the new stitch sitting on your right needle. You have just completed one knit stitch.

• Step 10: Repeat steps 6 through 9 for every stitch on the left needle. Once you finish the row, all stitches will have moved to the right needle.

How to start the second row

Turn your work around - the needle with the stitches goes back into your left hand. The working yarn is now at the beginning of the row again, still in the back. Knit each stitch exactly the same way. Row after row, you'll create a bumpy, squishy fabric called garter stitch.

What if you run out of yarn or make a mistake?

To join a new ball, tie the new yarn to the old tail with a simple knot, slide the knot down to the base of the first stitch, then continue knitting. Later you'll hide the tails. If you drop a stitch, don't panic. Use a small crochet hook to pull the loose loop back up through the rows - it's much easier than it sounds.

➡️ You've knitted several rows. Now let's finish your piece neatly. The final page shows you how to bind off and weave in ends.