How To Knit
The Complete Beginner’s Guide
Learn everything you need to start knitting — from your very first loop to a finished piece you can wear with pride.
Knitting boils down to four essential skills: the slip knot, cast on, knit stitch, and cast off. Master these and you’re officially a knitter. Follow each step in order, take your time, and enjoy the process!
The slip knot is the very first stitch placed on your needle. It acts as an anchor for all the cast-on stitches that follow.
- Leave a generous yarn tail and pinch yarn with both hands.
- Bring your hands together to form a loop.
- Hold the loop in one hand.
- Grab the yarn attached to the ball and bring it behind the loop.
- Pull that strand through the loop — this is your slip knot!
- Place it on your needle and pull gently to tighten.
Casting on turns loose yarn into neat stitches sitting on your needle. These form the foundation row of your project.
- With the slip knot on needle, grab the short yarn tail — thumbs up!
- Swing your thumb behind the yarn.
- Hook the yarn onto your thumb, keeping a firm grip.
- Touch the needle tip to the front of your thumb loop.
- Slide the needle into the loop on your thumb.
- With your right hand, wrap the ball-end yarn around the needle (back to front).
- Pull the yarn down so it meets the thumb loop.
- Pull the thumb loop up and over the needle tip.
- Slide thumb out — one new stitch! Pull tail to tighten.
- Repeat from step 2 until you have the desired number of stitches.
The knit stitch is the fundamental building block of knitting. Master this and you can already make scarves, dishcloths, and much more!
- Insert right needle into first stitch on left needle — bottom to top.
- Push right needle through so it peeks out the back.
- Grab the yarn attached to the ball.
- Wrap yarn around the right needle, back to front.
- Pull yarn down — notice it peeks through the stitch.
- Gently pull right needle downward and pick up the yarn loop.
- Push right needle through — this loop is your new stitch!
- Slide the old stitch off the left needle.
- Pull ball-end yarn to tighten. Repeat from step 1.
When you’ve knit every stitch on the left needle, you’ve completed one row. The yarn will be at the left end. Simply spin the needle around so the yarn is on the right — pick up the empty needle and keep going!
Casting off secures your stitches so your knitting doesn’t unravel. You always need exactly two stitches on the right needle to cast off one.
- Knit two stitches normally onto the right needle.
- Insert left needle into the FIRST stitch on the right needle.
- Pull first stitch up and over the second stitch — and off the needle.
- One stitch cast off; one remains on the right needle.
- Knit one more stitch. Repeat steps 2–4 until one stitch remains.
- Cut yarn leaving a 25 cm (10″) tail.
- Wrap tail around the needle and pull last stitch over it.
- Pull yarn tail through and tug to tighten. Weave in the end.