the absolute beginner’s guide to knitting.

When I first started knitting about eight years ago, I found it super overwhelming trying to figure out where to start. I remember standing in a craft shop in front of a massive yarn display, not having a clue which needles to buy, which yarn was the right type of yarn, or what I would even need for a first project. I didn’t even know what my first project should be.

If this sounds familiar to you, don’t worry! After making lots (and lots) of mistakes myself while learning, I’ve tried to compile a list of all of the tools and techniques you need to get started. I promise that with a little bit of practice (and patience), you’ll be away in no time.

How to use this guide

This article includes instructions on how to knit a suggested first project, which is a chunky garter stitch scarf. You can either follow this article from beginning to end, with the plan of having a lovely and squishy finished scarf at the end of it, or you can simply use the guide to refer back to whenever you need. It’s entirely up to you!

A little disclaimer:

When this guide breaks down the step-by-step of how to knit, it’s actually referring to a technique called ‘English knitting.’ I’ve chosen to teach this method first, as it is easier to pick up for beginners, and is the way that I first learned. There is also another method called ‘continental knitting,’ which is where you hold your yarn on the left (with English knitting you hold your yarn on the right). Continental knitting can be faster when you get used to it, but it does take a lot more practice to pick it up. I have heard that continental knitting might be easier for you if you already know how to crochet, or if you are left-handed. However, I’m left-handed myself and find English knitting slightly easier!

Step 1: Supplies and choosing a first project

You really don’t need a huge amount of supplies to get started in knitting. There is a whole world of knitting supplies out there, and they all (mostly) have their uses, but for the beginner there are only a few specific items that you need to think about:

Choosing your knitting needles

Everyone has a different opinion on what needles to use when you are getting started, and to be honest, there’s no right or wrong answer. Learning to knit takes patience and can be slow (at first), so I’m a great believer that quick and easy projects are the way forward when you are first learning. With that in mind, a chunky garter stitch scarf is probably the best place to start - it will work up quickly, you only need to know one stitch, and you can make it as long as you want! However, if you really don't want to knit a scarf, and are feeling a bit more confident, then a simple rib hat could be a good jumping off point. For either of these patterns, all that you will need is:

a pair of 7mm straight knitting needles.

Yep, that’s it! I would make sure that they are a minimum of 25cm long, and in terms of material I like to use wood or bamboo. Both wood and bamboo are lightweight options and have a slight friction on the needle, which means you are less likely to drop your stitches as a beginner. A nice and affordable option can be found on LoveCrafts.

Yarn

Learning to knit shouldn’t cost the earth! I absolutely love working with natural fibres, but especially when you are first starting out they can be a BIG investment. Therefore, I’d recommend some nice and chunky acrylic yarn to go with your 7mm knitting needles. I’m personally a fan of Paintbox Yarns Simply Chunky or Stylecraft Special Chunky - both are affordable, and knit up really well on a pair of 7mm needles. Plus, there’s a massive range of colours to choose from! If you’re picking a different yarn, you want to pick one that is a chunky (or bulky) weight, and that is designed for 6-8mm needles.

For knitting this scarf, you will need roughly 1 ball of yarn for every 68cm in length (I like my scarves really long (roughly 180cm) so I knit mine with 3 balls of Paintbox Simply Chunky). Feel free to choose several different colours if you prefer, as we will go through how to change colour in this article! I also added fringing to the scarf, so I used the leftover yarn for that.

Other things that you will need

A pair of scissors, a tape measure and a tapestry needle for sewing in the ends. You’re ready to go!

Step 2: Holding your needles and yarn

Holding your needles

There are two main ways to hold your needles - the pen method (where you hold your needles like you would hold a pen), and the knife method (where you hold your needles like you would a knife). As you become familiar with knitting, the way that you hold your needles might change depending on how you feel most comfortable, and that’s totally okay. Some people use a combination of these two methods, or use a different way entirely (I’ve even seen some people hold one knitting needle under their arm!) The best thing to do is give both methods a try and see which feels best for you.

Holding your yarn

When you first get started in knitting, you’ll probably find that juggling two knitting needles and your yarn can feel a bit awkward. You may end up finding it easier to let go of your right needle to hold your yarn in your right hand every time you make a knit stitch (this is called throwing). This is totally normal, and we’ve definitely all been there at the beginning! However, this method can feel quite slow, and can also cause some tension issues - for example, when you first start knitting it’s really common for your knitting to feel really tight on your needles. Not to worry, over time you will learn to feel more comfortable holding your yarn at the same time as your right needle. You might find it helps to weave the yarn through your fingers on your right hand, and use your index finger to guide the yarn around the knitting needle. That way, you don’t have to let go of your right knitting needle for every stitch!

Step 3: Casting on

The first part of starting a new knitting project is getting the yarn onto your needles, and setting your first row up - this is called ‘casting on.’ For this cast on method we are going to use the ‘long-tail cast on’ method as it’s one of the easiest and quickest ways to cast on. If you’d prefer to learn via a video, keep scrolling (I’ve added a recommended video at the bottom of this section).

Creating a slip knot

A slip knot is the foundation loop that the rest of your knitting starts from, and is the first stitch in your cast on row. In the long-tail cast on method, you first want to measure out a length of yarn that is 3.5 times the width of your project - this is where the slip knot will go. So for the scarf that we are making, which will be 22cm wide, you want to measure out approximately 77cm of yarn and then make a loop, with the tail end of the yarn at the back of the loop (see the video below for more detail).

Next, bring the yarn that is on top around to the back of the loop. With a knitting needle in your right hand and in front of the original loop, slide the needle under the yarn that is behind the loop. Pull both the tail end and the working end (the end that leads to the ball of yarn) until the slip knot is lightly hugging the needle. Try not to pull the yarn too tight, as this can make it difficult to knit later on, and can make for a wonky edge!

Casting on

Now that you have created your slip knot, it’s time to cast on the rest of your stitches. For the scarf, you need to cast on a total of 30 stitches and your slip knot counts as your first stitch, so we are going to cast on a further 29 stitches as follows:

Hold the knitting needle with the slip knot in your right hand, and make sure that the long tail is facing towards the front and the working yarn (the yarn attached to the yarn ball) is at the back. With your left hand, grip the two strands together with your middle and ring finger, and slide your thumb and index finger from left to right in between the two strands of yarn - the tail end of the yarn should be over your thumb, and the working yarn should be over your index finger, creating a diamond shape (or a slingshot) between the needle and the two strands of yarn.

Next, take the tip of your needle to the bottom of your thumb, and move it up your thumb, picking up the strand of yarn. Then, take the tip of the needle to the top of your index finger and move it down your finger, picking up that strand of yarn. Once you have done this, pull your needle through the loop of yarn that is around your thumb, and then drop the loop off of your thumb entirely. Use your thumb to gently tighten that stitch that you have just created. You’ve just cast on another stitch!

Repeat this process until you have a total of 30 stitches on your needle - once you have this, you’re ready to start knitting!

Don’t worry if this all feels a bit alien and awkward at first. Just remember to take your time, and if you do make a mistake you can just slip the last stitch that you have made back off of the right needle again.

If you’d prefer to watch a video, Purl Soho have an amazing video on the long-tail cast on method that you can watch below:

Step 4: Knitting your first row (and beyond)

Okay, so you’ve got your yarn, and you’ve cast on your stitches - the next part is knitting!

Knitting is mainly made up of just two stitches - the knit stitch and the purl stitch. Once you have these two stitches down, you’ll be a bonafide knitter! In this guide, we are just going to focus on the knit stitch, as it’s the only stitch you’ll need to know for your scarf.

How to do the knit stitch

First, take the needle that you cast your yarn onto and hold it in your left hand (either using the pen or knife method). Pick up your other needle, and hold it in your right hand. Next, making sure that the yarn is at the back of your left knitting needle, insert your right knitting needle into the front of the first stitch. You should insert your knitting needle from the left of the first stitch and through to the back, meaning that the right needle should be under the left needle in an ‘X’ shape.

Next, wrap the yarn anti-clockwise from back to front, so that it rests between the two needles. Slide the right needle down and bring the point of the needle forward through the stitch, bringing the yarn with it. Your right needle should now be on top of the left needle in an ‘X’ shape, with a new stitch on it.

The last step to the knit stitch is to slip the old stitch off of the left needle. Make sure that you only slip this stitch off of the left needle - the rest need to stay where they are for now! You should now have your new knit stitch on the right needle (yay!)

Repeat these steps until you have knit every stitch on your left needle - your left needle will now be empty, and you should have 30 stitches on your right needle (or however many stitches you cast on). You’ve now knit your first row!

To start your next row, all you need to do is swap the knitting needles over, so that the empty needle is in your right hand again. Make sure to keep the yarn at the back of your work, and start the process again.

And that’s it! Keep repeating this process until your scarf has reached the desired length, or until you are running low on yarn (the next step will explain how to add more yarn to the scarf).

Again, if you’d prefer to watch a video on how to do the knit stitch, Purl Soho have a video that you can watch below:

A little pep talk…

Knitting can be something that takes a while to get the hang of, as it’s all about building up that muscle memory. It will feel really slow at first, and you’re probably going to make a lot of mistakes, especially at the beginning. But be patient with it and keep going - before you know it you’ll be flying, and you’ll have a lovely new handmade item to show for it. In the meantime, keep a keen eye on your knitting as you go. In the beginning, I’d recommend counting your stitches each time you finish a row, or if something feels or looks a bit weird or wrong (your gut is usually right!). I’ve added some useful links at the bottom of this article, including common mistakes and how to fix them.

Step 5: Adding a new ball of yarn

You did it! You knit through an entire ball of yarn. The next step is to add more yarn to your knitting, so that you can carry on with your lovely hand-knit item.

There are several different ways to add a new ball of yarn to your knitting, and each method has its merits depending on what you are knitting. For today though, we are going to focus on one method in particular as it means you won’t have any visible knots in your work, and is worked in the same way that you would usually work a knit stitch (with some slight changes). One thing that you don’t want to do is just tie a normal know in your yarn - this may come undone over time, and there is nothing worse than all of your hard work coming unravelled!

To add a new ball of yarn to your knitting, wait until you have around 10cm of yarn left before changing. Alternatively, if you are planning on changing colour, or if you are knitting stripes, you will want to change the yarn at the start of a row.

The first step is to insert your right knitting needle into your next stitch, as you would with a normal knit stitch. However, rather than wrapping the yarn round the needle as normal, take your new ball of yarn and place it in between the two needles, with the tail end on the left and the working yarn on the right. You want to have about 10cm of tail end, so that you can weave in the ends later.

Next, knit that new loop on your right needle as you usually would, and drop the old stitch off of the left needle as usual. You may need to hold both ends of the new yarn as you do this, just to stop the new yarn from falling off the needle while you knit it.

Once you have knit this stitch, take the old tail of yarn and loop that OVER the top of the two strands of new yarn at the back of your work. You can hold this out of the way with your left hand once you’ve done that just to keep it in place while you knit the next stitch.

To knit the next stitch, insert the right needle as you usually would. However, this time we are going to wrap BOTH strands of the new yarn around the needle, just to make the yarn change a bit more secure. Finish this knit stitch as you usually would, and then repeat this step on a further two stitches, just for added security.

And that’s it! You’ve successfully added in a new ball of yarn and you’re ready to continue knitting. One thing to bear in mind is that when you knit the next row after you changed yarn, the three stitches where you knit with both ends of the new yarn are going to look like ‘double’ stitches, where there are two loops going over the needle. You want to make sure that you treat these ‘double’ stitches as one stitch, otherwise you will accidentally end up adding stitches to your row, and making your knitting wider.

Again, if you prefer to watch this all in a video, CreatiKnit has an excellent video on how to use this technique to add yarn:

Step 6: Casting off your project (and finishing it off)

Okay, so you’ve reached the length that you want for your scarf, and now you’re ready to finish it off (hooray!)

The next step is getting those stitches off of your needles, so that you can wear your cosy new creation with pride.

To cast off your knitting, knit two stitches as normal. Next, slide your left needle from left to right into the stitch on the right hand side of your right needle, lift that stitch over the stitch on the left and off the needle entirely (being careful not to pull the left stitch off of the needle too). Knit one more stitch, and then pull the stitch on the right over the stitch on the left again and off the needle.

Keep repeating this step until you have no more stitches on your left needle, and you have one stitch remaining on the right needle. Cut the yarn leaving roughly a 10cm tail, and pull this tail through the stitch on your needle. You can now take the stitch off of the needle, and pull on the tail to tighten the knot.

To see this method in action, here is a great video from Wool and the Gang on how to cast off:

A moment to celebrate - you’ve only gone and finished your first knitting project! Now all you need to do is weave in those ends, and add some fringing to your scarf if you so wish.

Weaving in ends

Now, there are SO many different ways to sew in your ends, and as usual, there’s no right or wrong way to do it. The main reason to weave them in rather than just cutting them off is to stop your knitwear from unravelling, so as long as you are doing this then it doesn’t really matter too much how you do it! That being said, there are methods that tend to work better or look neater, depending on what you’ve been knitting. As we have knit the scarf in Garter stitch (where you use the knit stitch all the way through), there is one method that works particularly well:

To start, pick up your tapestry needle and thread one of your yarn tails through it. Pick a row of knitting that is close to where your tail starts, and follow the direction of the stitches in the row, weaving your yarn through the loops of yarn as you go. Once you have woven your yarn for about three stitches width, take your scissors and cut the length of the tail down, leaving about 0.5cm in length.

Repeat this for all of the tails of yarn that are in your knitting - if you’d prefer to watch a video to see how it’s done, take a look at this video from Wool and the Gang:

Adding fringing (optional)

The very very last step before your new scarf is ready to be released into the wild is adding some fringing to each end.

To do this, cut three pieces of yarn for each tassel that are about 30 cm long. holding the strands together, fold them in half and pull the loop of the strands through the base of the scarf (in between two stitches) from front to back. Bring the loop under the base of the scarf, and pull the tail ends of the strands of yarn through the loop. Carefully pull the strands until the tassel is tight agains the bottom of the scarf. Then, simply repeat these steps for each piece of fringing you want to add. If you have a crochet hook to hand, this can make pulling the yarn through a little bit easier, but if not, you can use your tapestry needle (or your fingers).

When it comes to placement of the fringing, so that it doesn’t get too crowded I like to spread out the fringing slightly and add it in between every other stitch, rather than every stitch. This means that that for the scarf, you’ll need to add around 15 tassels to each end of the scarf. Once you’ve added all of your fringing, you can neaten it up by trimming the ends to the same length with some scissors.

VeryPink Knits has a great video on how to add fringing to a scarf with a crochet hook - watch below:

You’ve done it!

…And that’s it! You’ve finished your first knitting project, and you should be very proud (I know I am!)

Now you’re ready to tackle your next project, and the purl stitch - if you’re looking for your next challenge (or maybe something to go with your scarf) then the easy beanie may be for you (and as a plus, the pattern is free!)