How to Knit

There are lots of reasons that you might want to begin learning how to knit. Maybe it's for a bit of nostalgia, or you want to learn to do something that your grandmother once did. Perhaps now that the kids have left the house you find yourself with some free time or maybe you would just like a new hobby that gets you working more with your hands and watching less TV. But no matter what your motivation knitting is one of those things that can be both addicting and relaxing at the same time and it's really not hard at all to get started.

Knitting is basically built with three things. First is the cast on which begins to build the framework from which the rest of the article will be knitted. Once you have begun a project by casting on, a great number of knitting projects are completed with the knit and purl stitches. Finally, you will learn to cast off which is much like casting on except that it ends the project instead of beginning it. Once you learn the basics of these three steps you are ready to tackle some more advanced techniques.

When learning to cast on you might want to begin with the long tail cast on which has a nice clean edge but also as a little bit of stretch to it which makes it suitable for a broad range of knitting articles. Although it's not quite as simple as a backward loop cast it is much more versatile and very easy to do once you get the hang of it.

After you learn the basic knit and purl stitches you will probably also want to figure out how to accomplish a couple of increases and decreases so that not everything you knit has to be perfectly symmetrical. Of course, there are far more advanced knitting stitches and techniques that you can learn by with the basic knit and purl stitches, along with being able to increase or decrease a row, you can practice on a great number of patterns.

Binding off is actually fairly simple because the stitch is almost the same as the knitting and purling stitches. With just a minor change, you can learn to use the same basic stitch and weave in the loose tail after you are done. One of the best knitting projects to begin learning with is a knitted dish rag. Starting with this small square will give you a chance to practice everything we've talked about when it comes to learning how to knit. You're sure to enjoy many hours of relaxing, therapeutic fun when you begin to knit.