Knitting Instructions for Those Who Think They Can't
For everyone who thinks they're too clumsy or confused to learn to knit: these knitting instructions are for you
I've offered knitting instructions before, but there's a problem with learning anything online. It usually comes in with the people who find it difficult to learn either by reading or seeing -- because the Internet offers plenty of those options -- and learn best by doing. In that case, it's difficult to find good instructions on knitting, because the Internet can't hold your hand and help you form a stitch.
These knit instructions are the next best thing, though.
How knitting works
If you're this type of person, you probably find it hard to do something when you don't understand the mechanics behind it, so here they are. Knitting is a very simple concept. It basically involves forming a loop (which sits on the left needle), pushing the second needle through that loop, making a new loop and pulling it back through the first.
In other words, knitting at its simplest is simply a series of loops pulled through one another.
Step one: Tie a slipknot
If you don't know how to do this, look up this simple knitting technique. It's not difficult.
Step two: Place the slipknot on one needle
This is now your first stitch.
Step three: Slide your right needle through the first stitch
Both needles should now intersect inside of a single stitch. Your right needle should be on the bottom (please note that these instructions for knitting assume you're right-handed).
Step four: Create a new loop
Take the long, dangling piece of yarn and wrap it once over the right hand needle. You now have both needles crossed inside a single loop (the first stitch) and another loop on the right needle (the second stitch).
Step five: Pull the second stitch back through the first stitch
Do this any way you can. The trick is not to let either of the stitches fall off while you do so.
Step six: Place the second stitch on the left needle beside the first stitch
I used to describe this to my daughter as a bunny diving down a hole, getting a treat, pulling the treat out of the hole, and then putting it on the shelf with the others.
This is called casting on, and it's the first knitting instruction you need to master. Once you have enough stitches, you have completed what we call the first row. From here on, things get easier. You follow the exact same process, but you push the left stitch off the needle and keep the new stitch on the right needle. For example, if you have ten stitches on your left needle, you make a new one and push one off. Now you have nine on your left needle and one on your right.
Keep on going until all the stitches are on the right needle, and then switch hands. And that's all there is to it: the easiest knitting instructions around.
