Transcripts
1. Introduction: Is there anything cozier than settling in for an
afternoon of knitting with a steaming cup of
tea until of course you find yourself completely
and hopelessly tangled. If that's you. First of all, I've been there, but
also I'm here to help. Hey, I'm Amandine Thomas, and although my main job is to write and illustrate kids books, I have been knitting
since I was a child. And I grew up listening to the clicking of my
mum's knitting needles. She was an amazing knitter and she made me some seriously
great outfits. She also taught me
from a very young age, and now I'm the one
knitting for my daughter. And I love carrying on
the family tradition, the way it keeps me
connected to my roots. But for me, knitting is
also a way to carve out some creative me time. As a
professional illustrator. A lot of my creative
energy goes to my paid work that can sometimes
take the joy out of it. Using a totally different medium to create something just for me is a wonderful way
to reconnect with my creativity outside of work. But I know from experience that there are many
hurdles when it comes to getting started. Between
the weird abbreviations, the three different ways
to describe a needle size, and those pesky stitches. It's easy to get discouraged. Well, this class is
designed to help you confidently step or re-step
into the world of knitting. With an easy project
that will cover all your bases from casting
on to binding off together, we will knit super
fun pompom scarf, which you'll be
able to customize to your taste and abilities. Throughout the
class, we will cover the material you will need
to complete the project. The vocabulary and
abbreviations you will have to decipher in
order to read the pattern. And all the basic building
blocks of knitting, including how to troubleshoot
common mistakes. The class also includes
a bonus lesson for those looking for a challenge with
an additional color way. Finally, I've also put together a bunch of really useful
resources for you. The list of common
abbreviations, a needle size conversion chart, the template for the pompoms, and of course, our pattern. Whether you've never
touched a needle, or you have vowed
never to do it again after unraveling your work
for the millionth time. By the end of this class, you will have a
thorough understanding of the basics of knitting and the confidence to
take your new skills onto other more
ambitious projects. But before we
tackle all of this, let's take a closer
look at the project. The material you'll need, and what you'll learn step
by step. See you there.
2. The Project: When it comes to knitting. One thing I love is
how versatile it is. You can follow a pattern, sure, but you can pick
your own colors, the type of yarn
you want to use. Once you're a little
bit more advanced, you can even create
your own designs. Of course, we're not
quite there yet. We will start with a
fun and easy scarf, which you will be able to customize if you're
feeling a little bit adventurous or if this isn't your first time trying
your hand at knitting. But let's start
with the material you will need to
complete your project. First, you will need a pair of knitting needles
in US size eight, UK size six or 5 millimeters. Don't worry, we will go into details about what
these numbers mean. In the next lesson, you will also need three
balls of worsted yarn. I will be using cascade yarns, 220 worsted, but you can
use whatever you want. Acrylic warm, it doesn't matter. Of course, we will go over the different types of
yarns in the next lessons. Don't worry if you're not quite sure what any of this means. Quick side note, if you
want to use two colors, you will need one ball of your contrasting color and
two balls of your main color. Finally, you will
need some cardboard, maybe from a cereal box, some scissors and
a tapestry needle. I do want to touch on the
price of material quickly. Knitting can be expensive. Don't feel like
you have to go and buy all new fancy
stuff for this class. In the next lesson, I
will share some tips on how to source secondhand
accessories and yarn. That won't break the bank, I promise Once you have
gathered your material, we will start by learning
more about the vocabulary, the tools, and the techniques you'll need to
complete this project. First, you will learn about needles and yarn and
how to match them. Then we will dive into
knitting vocabulary and abbreviations before moving on to learning
and practicing the basic techniques required
to complete your scuff. From casting on to knitting
Gardas stitch to binding off. Once you're feeling confident
with these techniques, we'll move on to meeting
the actual scarf. Finally, we will make
and attach our pompoms. If you feel comfortable
with the basic techniques, you will have the
opportunity to pick a two tone call away,
but no pressure. Please do set your own pace. Of course, I always love seeing what my
students come up with. Feel free to share your scarves in the gallery
section of the class. I can't wait to see it. In the meantime, let's move
on to the next lesson, where we will dive a little bit deeper into needles and yam.
3. Needles & Yarn: Over the years, I
have accumulated quite the collection
of wool scraps, needles and accessories. Sometimes it's
hard to figure out what I spend quite a bit
of time on the Internet, googling needle sizes and ply numbers To save you the trouble, I thought we could
start this class with a little bit of an intro
into your main tools and accessories or notions like they can be called in
the knitting community. I do want to keep
the information in this class as
simple as possible. I want dive too deep
into the nitty gritty. Instead, we'll focus on needles yarn and
how to choose them, match them, and use them. First of all, I
wanted to quickly come back to sourcing
your materials. Given the price of
one ball of yarn, it can be hard to justify
spending time and money making something you could just buy for way cheaper. Let me share a few tips on sourcing secondhand
notions and yarn. First, check out your local
up shop or thrift store. There are always needles and yarn you can buy
for very little there. Of course, you might not find fancy bamboo needles
or marina wool. But it will be enough
to get you started. It will let you practice without the stress of using fancy stuff. You can also activate
your community. A couple of years ago, I posted on my local
Facebook community group asking for leftover yarn. I kid you, not
five or six people donated the most beautiful
wall. No questions asked. It was beautiful to connect with my local knitting community
and witness its generosity. Later on, I decided to donate some of my knitting
needles the same way. I have also inherited a few
accessories from my mom, and I was given more
by my mother in law. If you have meters in
your family, hit them up. I'm sure they'll love sharing
the passion with you. Okay, let's jump in and
talk about needles. You've probably come across straight needles and
circular needles. Ones plastic ones, big
ones, little ones. It can all feel a little
bit overwhelming. For our project, you will
need straight needles like these ones in
size 5 millimeters, which is US eight or UK six. Why straight needles? There are two ways you can knit. You can knit flat or
you can knit the round. Knit flat mostly requires straight needles and will
produce a flat piece of fabric. Knitting the round requires circular needles and
will produce a tube. You can also use
circular needles to knit flat if you're knitting a really big piece
like a blanket. And all the stitches won't
fit on straight needles. But straight needles
are perfect for anything that is worked
flat and not too wide, which is the case for many
beginners projects like scarf. Why use 5 millimeters
needles then? Well, there are many
different sizes of needles from really small ones
to really big ones. Typically, you will use the
small ones to knit lighter, thinner yarn and you'll use the bigger one for
chunkier, heavier yarn. For beginners, medium sizes are best because they're
easier to manipulate. That's usually a size
four or 5 millimeters. Of course, you might be
wondering why I talked about US eight and
UK six earlier. Well, there are three
different systems when it comes to the size of
knitting needles metric, which is the size
of millimeters. And then UK and US. In the metric system, it's easy. The number is the
diameter of the needle. The bigger the needle is,
the higher the number. The US system is similar, with the smallest needles
having the smallest number. Two millimeter needles
are a US size zero. Still following. Okay. This is where it gets silly. The UK system is the opposite. The smallest needles have the biggest number and
it goes down from there. Really small needle is a size 14 and a really big one is a 30. Honestly, I am constantly
confused about this, and I have needles in
all three systems. It's a little bit
of a nightmare. That's why I included a
handy conversion chart in the resources for this class. You'll see, you'll
thank me later. All right. What about yarn? Obviously, some yarn
is made of wool, some is cotton, some is bamboo. Once again, actual
wool is expensive. Get what you can
and you'll be fine. What you should do
though is make sure that you get the right weight
for each project. Yes, yarn is
classified by weight, but it has nothing to do with how much it weighs on a scale. In fact, the weight refers to the thickness of the
yarn from the lightest, thinnest one to the
heaviest thickest one. You might have heard
yarn being called sock decay, worsted, or chunky. For example, for this project you will need to use worsted, which can also be
called Aaron or ten ply because another way to define the thickness
of the yarn is ply. In certain parts of the world, ply refers to the number of strands that have been used
to make a piece of yarn. Here you can see my
worsted yarn is made of trends twisted together. But in Australia, where I live, ply and weight go together. The higher the weight,
the higher the ply. I do believe it
might be different. In the US, I would
recommend not worrying too much about ply and focusing on weight
to avoid confusion. Often a pattern won't
even mention ply anyway. Instead, it will give you the
size needles that you need and the weight of
the yarn so you don't have to work
it out yourself. Respecting these
parameters is important not only to get the right
size piece at the end, but also to it evenly. For example, using the
exact same pattern to need a blanket
with worsted yarn and 5 millimeters needles
or fingering yarn and is needles will give you
vastly different results. One will be the right size, one will be very small. In the same way,
knitting a blanket with really big needles and really thin yarn will give
you a loose even fabric. While using really chunky yarn with small needles
will give you a tight, stiff one to avoid variations
in the finished piece. Both Y labels and patterns usually include instructions
to make a knitting gauge. A gauge will tell you
how many stitches and how many rows you need to make a ten by ten
centimeter square or a four by 4 " one. If you get it right, following the pattern will produce
the exact dimensions. Of course, easier
said than done, as the gauge is affected
by three factors. The weight of your yarn,
the size of your needles, and the tension, which is how
tight or high loose you it. In the upcoming lessons, we'll need a few gauges. You'll have plenty
of opportunities to test your intention, either relax or
tighten your knitting, but don't worry
too much about it. Knitting evenly and adjusting
tension takes practice. It's okay if your
first few gauges are a little bit wonky. But before we get knitting, let's jump into the next
lesson and have a look at the vocabulary and abbreviations you'll need for your project.
4. The Lingo: When I moved to Australia, one of the unforeseen
challenges I came across was translating my
knitting vocabulary from French to English. All of a sudden, I had to re, learn pretty much a
whole new language. Sometimes I still need
a glossary to read a new pattern if you're confused when trying to
decipher knitting instructions. Trust me, I've been there. That's why I included
a handy glossary of basic knitting terms and abbreviations in the
resources for this class. In this lesson, we
will quickly go over the ones you need to know to
understand the calf pattern. But don't worry, this
is a beginner's class, there aren't that many. Of course, we will start with
the stitch, abbreviated SD. A stitch is basically a loop
you create with your needle. You can make a knit stitch, abbreviated K, or a pearl
stitch, abbreviated. Those are the building
blocks of knitting, as we will see in the
following lessons. With these little loops, you can create many
beautiful stitches, which I know is confusing, but actually refers to certain
textures in your fabric. We have a stitch as
in the needle loop, and a stitch as in the
texture you're knitting. For our project, for example, we will be knitting
in Garda stitch, which is abbreviated SD. It's honestly one of the
easiest stitch there is. Then you have the row. A row of knitting is made up of all the little
stitches on your needle. When you knit or peel them all, you have completed a row. All these stitches and
row form your work. The work has the right
side abbreviated RS, and the wrong side
abbreviated WS. Right side is the dominant
side of your project. For example, if you're
making a jumper, it will be the side facing out. The wrong side is the
backside of your project. In your jumper, it
would be facing in. Another term we will
use is casting On. Abbreviated CO casting
on is creating the very first stitches which are needed to begin any project. You can't start knitting unless you have cast on
your first stitches. Then of course we
have binding off, which is abbreviated sometimes. It's also referred
to as casting off, but then it has the same
abbreviations as casting on, honestly, who needs more
confusion in their life. Binding off is the technique used to finish your
knitting project. It doesn't simply unravel, you can't take your project off the needles
without binding off. In the glossary included in
the resources for this class, you'll find additional
vocabulary and abbreviations that you can
use for your next project. But for the basic pattern
we'll be using for this class, that's pretty much
all you need to know. You'll find the pattern in the resources and
it looks like this. First we have the measurements
for the finished piece, then we have the
recommended tools and materials with the
colorway if needed. Don't worry if the wool you get isn't the same one as mine. As long as it's
wasted, you're fine. Then here we have the gauge which we mentioned previously. Start with the pattern itself, where you will spot
some familiar terms. This pattern has
two color versions. A plain 1.2 tone, 1.2 width. All you have to do is
follow the instructions for your preferred style
and ignore the rest. Okay, are you ready
to start meeting? Remember to download
the resources before moving on to
the next lesson, where we will learn
how to cast on.
5. Casting-on: I always find casting
on so exciting. It's the first step towards making something from scratch. And there is a little
thrill in that. But it's also the
part I always used to ask my mom to do for me
because I could never, for the life of me,
remember the technique. Don't worry if it takes
you a few tries to wrap your head around it to
practice casting on. You will need your needles, your scissors and a ball
of yarn in any color. Although it's easier to
pick a lighter color to practice because you can see the individual stitches better. Now I'm going to show you
what is called a long tail cast on because we are not
working on the pattern yet, We will only cast 20 stitches. To figure out how long
your tail needs to be, you can wrap the yarn ten times around one
of your needles. This gives you the length
for roughly ten stitches. Since we want to cast on
20, you can double that. That's your long tail. I always give it a little bit
extra just to be safe. Now, we need to
make a slip knot. First, pinch your yarn where
your tail should start. Then wrap the tail around
your index finger, making sure to pull
it back towards you. Then secure the loop
with your middle finger. Then take the working yarn, which is the one
attached to your ball, and make another loop securing
it in the exact same way. Now we're going to thread the second loop
through the first. You can see I'm holding
the second loop between my thumb
and index finger. With the other hand, I'm gently pulling on the tail
until the knot tightens. We have ourselves a
little slip knot. If you pull on it hard, it will unravel and we can
practice one more time. Make a first loop where
your tail should start, Pull your yarn forward and
secure it with your finger. Grab your working yarn, make a second loop, thread it through the
first pull on the tail. We're done. Here is
our little slip knot. Now pick up a needle and thread it through the
loop above your knot. Grab your tail and tug it
until the knot is tight, but not too tight. Holding your needle and working
yarn in your right hand, pinch the tail with the thumb, the index, and the middle
finger of your other hand. Making sure you have grabbed the tail and to
the working yarn, which is attached
to the ball and should be in the hand
holding the needle. You want to pinch quite
close to the needle, but not to close. This is too close. This is too far. Here is good. Now make another loop
around your index, keeping the tail pinched between your thumb
and middle finger. Just like when we
did the sleep knot, while maintaining
a bit of tension. You're going to thread
your needle into the loop going under the yarn that is between your index
and your thumb. Not the one that is between
your index and the needle. You want the tip of the
needle to go under. Then into the loop directly
facing your index finger. Let's do it again. Pin,
make a loop. Go under. Then in, this is
the shape you want, now you are going to
grab the working yarn. At this stage, I like to
transfer the needle into my pinch here to free my right hand with
the working yarn. We are going to go around the
needle from back to front. Not front to back, but really coming from
behind the needle and pulling the yarn
back up towards you. Now you can hold both needle and working yarn into your
right hand again. Next step is super easy. Pull your loop over the tip of the needle,
just like that. Let go, then pull your tail and boil up
your first stitch. There are techniques when you
don't need to swap hands, but this is much easier,
I think, to get started. Next one, the working yarn and needle in your dominant
hand, pinch the tail. Make a loop, thread the needle
under and into the loop. Pick up your working yarn,
transfer the needle. Go around the needle
from back to front. Transfer the needle and working yarn back
to your right hand. Pull your loop over the tip of the needle and pull the tail
until you have a stitch. As you keep going, make sure you're not making
your stitches too tight because we will have to thread the needle
through them later. If the stitches are too tight,
That can be really hard. But don't make them too
loose either because we do want a nice and
springy edge going. Should we do another one, Slowly pinch the yarn, make a loop. Go under in transfer the needle. Go around, transfer
the needle back. Go over the tip and pull. Just keep going until
you have 20 stitches. Now you know how to cast on. Feel free to practice a few more times before
getting started with the project so that you're comfortable and your stitches
are nice and regular. Next we'll be tackling the pearl stitch and
the neat stitch, which are the building blocks
of any knitting project.
6. Knitting & Purling: We are now really getting
into the thick of it because these two
little loops I'm about to teach you are foundational to pretty much
everything you'll ever knit. Exciting, right? Of course, I'm talking about
the knit stitch and the pearl
stitch in knitting. Pretty much everything is a combination of these
two little loops. In garter stitch, it's
all it in stocking, it's 11 pearl and
it's seed stitch, it's it pearl knit,
pearl, et cetera. I'm about to teach
you both for this, you will need your
cast on stitches from the previous lesson as we'll
keep on building from there. First you're going to pick
up the needle you cast on while you're holding
it in your right hand. Before now you need to swap. Every time you'll finish a row, you will swap the needle with the stitches to the left hand, making sure the tip
is facing right. Now you can see we have
two pieces of yarn here. From now on, we will always be working with
the working yarn. Okay. Now you're going to
pick up your bare needle, the one that has no stitches on it to need The first stitch, you are going to
start by checking your working yarn is
hanging down nicely. Then you are going
to insert the tip of the right needle
into the first loop, making sure you go
from front to back, not back to front. You want to go through the loop and under the left needle, then you are going to pick
up your working yarn and loop around the right
needle from back to front so that the yarn is resting
between the two needles coming back towards you.
Let's do that again. Insert the right needle into the loop of the first
stitch from front to back. Pick up the yarn and looped around the right needle
from back to front. Then you are going
to gently pull the left needle up and
back over the right one. Before slipping the stitch
fully onto the right needle, you have your first stitch.
Let's do another one. Sert the right
needle into the loop of the next stitch
from front to back. Loop the yarn around the right
needle from back to front, pull the left needle up
and back over the right, and slip the stitch
onto the right needle. As you continue knitting, you can keep your
working yarn in your right hand to avoid
picking up the tail by mistake. Now, if you have made your
first stitches too tight, you might struggle
with inserting the right needle into the loop, then slipping the left needle
up and over the right one. You want to make
sure that you keep your stitches nice and springy. A good way to correct
the tension is to make sure you're not pulling
too hard on the yarn. Here. Here you need a bit
of tension in the yard, but not a death grip. You can see that
even I'm struggling a bit here, don't
worry too much. Let's keep going together until we've completed our first row. Keeping tension in mind and relaxing our hands and
shoulders if we can. That is the end
of our first row. If you look closely, you can see that each
stitch looks like a little V. This is the
front of the stitch, but just like before, when you finished casting on, you are now going
to flip your work. If you take a look
at the stitches now, they look more
like little waves. This is the back of the stitch. Now you are ready
to start a new row. While you do this,
I'm going to need a few more to show you what
the texture looks like. Of course, go at your own pace. You are learning, so
there is no rush. All right, this is six rows
with only knit stitches. As you can see, it creates
this lovely texture, the garter stitch, which is the one we will use
for our project. Now if you look closely, you will notice that
the garter stitch is essentially composed of alternating rows of our little
Vs and our little waves. See, that's because
we flip our work. At the end of each row,
we get one row showing the front of the stitch and
one row showing the back. This is what creates the
texture of the garter stitch. What about the
pearl stitch then? The pearl stitch is essentially
a knit stitch backward. You can think of it as
having the little wave at the front and the
little V at the back. To make it, you basically take every step from the knit
stitch and reverse it. This time you are
going to go back to front so that the right
needle is on top. When knitting, you
went front to back and the left needle ended up
on top with pearling. You want to go back to
front and end up with a right needle on top,
the exact opposite. Then grab your yarn, which you can see is
hanging at the front now. And loop it around the right
needle from front to back. This time away from you, so that it comes to rest
between the two needles. You need to slip the left needle up forward and over
the right one. Now we just slip the stitch off the left needle and onto the
right. Let's do it again. Insert the right needle into the loop of the stitch
from back to front. Grab your working
yarn and loop it around the right needle
from front to back. Next, gently pull
the left needle up forward and over the right. Now, slip the stitch onto
the left needle easy, right? Let's keep going
at your own pace. You might be confused right now, but remember you can watch
this multiple times if you need and you can even
slow the video down. No stress already. You can see the little
waves forming here. You might have guessed
by now that since pearling and knitting,
rowing each other, purling every row will
also produce Garda stitch with alternating
rows of Vs and waves. What's the point
then? Well, for Garda stitch there isn't really
a point in using pearl, but for other stitches like
stockinet for example, where you want all Vs at the front and all
waves at the back. It's really essential
since the little V is the front of the knit stitch and the back of
the pearl stitch, by alternating a row of knitting
with a row of pearling, we get only Vs on one side,
only waves on the other. We can also create
beautiful patterns or textures by combining knitting and pearling, as
you can see here. But for this class project, we will only use
the neat stitch. Since we're working
in Garda stitch, I encourage you to keep
practicing by making your gauge. Simply keep on knitting until you reach ten
centimeter length. If you use the right
needles and yarn and if you maintain a
consistent tension throughout, you should end up with a little square of ten
by 10 centimeters. Of course, this is easier
said than done once again. Because as we've
seen previously, the size of your gauge is
affected by three factors. The yan weight, the needle
size, and the tension. Now beginners will often
struggle with tension that's 100% or more as you find your flow and you become
comfortable with the technique. Here is my ten x
ten square Garda stitch which will be my
gauge for the project. Feel free to need a
few of these before we start to practice
those new skills. Once you're confident,
all that's left to learn is how to bind off and then we'll be ready to
tackle the scarf.
7. Binding-off: Now that you have completed
your little ten by ten gauge, you're ready to take
it off the needles. To do this, you
need to bind off. Binding off creates a seam at the edge of your work and
keeps it from unraveling. Otherwise, if you took your
stitches off the needles, they would simply unravel
like a sleep knot, and all you would be left
with would be a pile of yarn. What do you need to
bind off, of course? Your little gauge
in Garda stitch, a pair of scissors and
your tapestry needle. As with every row, we're
going to start with the work on the left side and the naked needle
on the right. Then we are going to
knit the first stitch. Insert the right
needle into the loop of the stitch from
front to back. Loop the yarn around
the right needle. Bring the left needle up and back and sleep the stitch
onto the right needle. Next we're going to
knit a second stitch. Now is the trick. You are going to
insert the tip of the left needle into the loop of the first
stitch you knitted, Going back to front. The tip of the needle
is coming from the back through the
loop and towards you. Now you're going to slip
the left needle up, back and over the right one. You know this move, right now you have one stitch
left on the right needle. Next we are going to knit
another regular stitch. We're back at the beginning
of the little trick I just showed you. Right? Let's insert the tip of the left needle into the
first stitch from the back. Then we slip the left
needle up back and over the right one and stick the stitch onto
the right needle. I'll do a few
abnormal speed now. As you keep going, you
will see part of the work is now of the needle and the
braid is forming at the top. That's the edge we're
creating right now. Here is what it looks like. Eventually you will
reach the last stitch. Now you're going to grab your
working yarn and cut it, leaving a decent tail like this. Then pick up your
tapestry needle, thread your tail through it, and guide it inside the
last loop like this. Pull it through, slide the
stitch off the knee door, and tighten the knot. Here you go, Your
little gauge is ready. If you're still feeling a little bit shaky with all
this new knowledge, go ahead and need
a few more gauges. But if you feel like
you've got this, then join me in the next lesson where we will start working
on your actual scarf.
8. Knitting the Scarf: You have knitted your gauge, you have your pattern handy and you have mastered
the neat stitch. It is now time to get started. First, let's take
another look at our pattern and check out our options because
you do have a few. First of all, you have several options within
the pattern straightaway, you see that you can have
two width, medium, or wide. I will be knitting the wide, but please note that
the medium will be faster simply because
it has less stitches. If you're not a patient person, maybe go with the medium. Then in your material lists, you can see that you have the option to add
a second color. There will be a bonus lesson
on how to change colors. If you're feeling
a bit adventurous, by all means go for it. But if not, you
will be following the instructions
for Call away A. Then of course you will
need your needles, your tapestry needles, some cardboard and the
template for your pompoms. After that, we are diving into the knitting
instructions proper. It's nothing you haven't
done before, don't worry. And we're going to go through
them together right now. First you are going to choose whether you want to
go with colorway A, which is easy plain one color, or call away B,
which is two tone. You go for like me, you need to start with your one ball of
contrasting color. For me, it's this
lovely paprika tone. With your color of choice
cast on either 40 stitches, if you're going medium or
60, if you're going wide. Remember to wind the yarn
around the needle ten times to figure out how much tail
you need for medium or wide, and multiply it accordingly. I'm casting 60 stitches. I need six times this
length for my tail. Okay, let's get started
with the slip knot. Remember, pinch the yarn, make a first loop, pulling your tail yarn forward and securing it with
your middle finger. Grab your working yarn, make a second loop, thread it through the first, then pull on the
tail to tighten it. Once it's nice and tight sleep. The loop on the needle. Next, hold a working yarn and
needle in your right hand, pinch the tail, Make a loop. Thread the needle under
and into the loop. Pick up your working yarn around the needle
from back to front. Pull your loop over the tip of the needle and pull the tail
until you have a stitch. As you cast on, try to keep your hands soft. No death grip. Relax your shoulders and your wrists and don't pull
too hard on the tail as we don't want tight
unyielding stitches, just take your time. As mistakes happen when we rush, you can see the
edge forming here. Once you've cast
all your stitches, I recommend counting them two by two just to make sure you
have the right number, as it's really easy
to lose count, maybe even count them
twice just in case. Here is the completed, lovely bottom edge of our scarf. Now let's flip our work. The tip of the needle
carrying the stitches should point right and it should
be in your left hand. You're going to pick
up your bare needle, the one that has
no stitches on it. You want to make sure that
the tail is out of the way, as we will now knit
with the working yarn, which should be
hanging down nicely. To knit the first stitch,
you are going to insert the tip of the right needle
into the first loop. Then wind your working yarn
around the right needle. Then pull the left needle
up and back over the right. Here is your first stitch. Let's do a few more together. You can see the working yarn hanging at the back of the
work, which is normal. You want to make sure it's
attached to the ball and that you're not using the tail because that's a common mistake. If you've picked up the tail, you'll with it until it runs out and then you'll have to start over, which is never fun. Then we keep on going through the row as you progress
in your knitting. If you're starting to
find yourself feeling a bit tense or frustrated, don't worry, Take your time. The first few rows are always a bit slow. As we find our rhythm. Here is my completed first row. You can see our little Vs are taking shape all along here. I'm going to need a
few more rows now so you can get a good look at the
texture on a bigger piece. I will meet you again once
we have a bit more length, but feel free to pose
here so you can catch up. Once you reach this point, you start to get a
really good feel for what the scarf is going
to look and feel like. Of course, you might have a few irregularities here and there. Some stitches might
be too tight, others might be too loose. You might have accidentally pulled on one of the strands in the yarn and created bumps
on the surface of the work. But don't worry
too much about it. No one will have the nose glued to the scarf trying to
pick at your mistakes. Of course, your technique
will get smoother and your stitches more
consistent as you go along. Just a quick note
here, because this will happen as your
scarf gets longer. Let's say you have been
knitting for a while now and you're about
to run out of yarn. I'm going to pretend here that I'm at the end of a ball so I can show you the transition
from one ball to another. When this happens to you, and you are close to
the end of a ball, simply knit until you have
yourself a bit of a tail, making sure the right side
of the work is facing up. Since we're knitting
in garter stitch and both sides look the same, it can be tricky to tell
which side is which. Luckily, there is one easy way to tail while you're knitting, and that's by looking
at our long tail. If it's hanging on the
right side of your work, then the right side is facing
up, mine is on the right. So I'm good to go. First
drop the old working yarn. Just let it hang like this.
Next, pick up your new ball. I'm going to use a
contrasting color to help you see what's
happening here. Give yourself a bit of leeway. Letting the end hang
next to the old tail, like this, securing
it with your finger. Then simply keep knitting
with your new working yarn. We will learn how to tie of these pesky tails when we
finish off the project, but you can just
ignore them for now. As you chug along. There
are a few classic beginners mistakes that you
are very likely to encounter because you're
just getting started. Unfortunately, fixing
these little mistakes will often mean
unraveling part of your work as a lot of the fancier fixing techniques are a little bit too
advanced for beginners. With this in mind, let's
go through a few of these mistakes and
then I'll show you how to safely
unravel your work. Sometimes you will
see the edges of your work start to slope out. Instead of being
nice and straight, the edges are just going
to get wider and wider. This usually means that you
started to knit quite tight, and then as you're
relaxing into it, your stitches are
getting looser, which means they're taking more space and that just
makes your work wider. There is, of course,
the opposite issue, which is a beginners classic, where you're going to start
to knit tighter and tighter, which is going to pull the stitches together and then your work will start to slope. Another common issue is to find little holes in your work. I have created one here on the Swatch so you can
see what it looks like. If you pull on them,
nothing happens. The work doesn't
start to unravel. But it's like you created a
bottom hole or something. This often happens when we don't follow the proper steps
to knit and pearl, we might get confused
in the middle, the yarn or the needles
go the wrong way. Poof, we've created a hole. One other mistake
that I have been guilty of a bit is
adding stitches. You might suddenly finding yourself with one or
two extra stitches, often picked up because
you have been knitting into the thread between
two stitches like this. This is the thread and sometimes we accidentally pick it up and knit it like
a regular stitch, keep an eye out for that. Alternatively, you might lose stitches by knitting
two at once. For example, especially
if you knit loosely, which is clearly not my case. Or you could have
dropped a stitch, which means a stitch slipped off your needle
unnoticed like this. If you don't realize quickly that you have dropped a stitch, you might have to unravel
a huge chunk of your work, which can be really frustrating. Of course, the best way to
avoid any issue is just to go slow to pay attention
to each individual stitch. Did it feel weird as
you were eating it? Does it look weird? Now, quicker you can
identify mistakes, the less you'll have to unravel. But since mistakes will be made, how do you unravel
your work safely? There are a few
different methods, but here is the one I would use. First, finish your row. If you're in the
middle of one, then lay a work flat in front of you and find your mistake
here I have my first hole, I want to unravel up
to just under it. What I'm going to do is pick a V row right under the hole,
like this one right here. Then if you have
thinner needles, then you five ones, like four or 31, thread it under the right leg of every single little v and back up the
middle of the stitch. If you don't have thinner
needles that fine, it just makes the
task a tad easier. You're going to have to
thread all the stitches. I know it's a lot, but
it's worth it. Okay. All right, let's
go. Why do we want to thread only the
right leg of the vs? It's so that we don't twist
the stitches basically, and they all stay nice and neat. A twisted stitch
looks like this. Instead of having a nice
open loop we get across, It's not a huge deal, but it's harder to
net a twisted stitch. It will create little
irregularities in your fabric as the stitch
will look slightly different. Feel free to practice this on a little swatch if you need, as it's a really useful trick. Okay, once I've threaded
all the stitches, I take off my main needle
and start unraveling. Who? Unravel. Unravel. Keep going. Keep going. Keep, okay. Now we're at the same level
as our second needle. And C, we can't unravel
any further now all we have to do is transfer our stitches back
onto a bigger needle. If we change size,
otherwise we're good to go. Okay. Now you're
equipped to deal with the classic beginner's mistake and fix your work on the go. I know it can be frustrating and demoralizing to run
into these issues. Remember, making mistakes is 100% normal when we
learn it's really, really rewarding to persevere. Soon, you'll be knitting without even looking at your hands. You'll see I have now needed 20 centimetres
of Garda stitch, which is the point
in the pattern where we split between colorway, which is continue as you wear, and call away B, which is
swap for your main color. If you're joining me with
the two tone pattern. I will see you in the
next lesson where we will learn how to
seamlessly change color. But if you want to keep on
working with only one color, keep knitting you good thing, and we'll meet again
for the final touches.
9. (Bonus) Changing Colour: Of course, you have seen
nets out there with stripes or pol cadots or
even elaborate pictures. But how do we add
these extra colors? Today, we won't be going
into ferrile knitting, but we'll simply look
at how to change color. With that technique,
you'll be able to create stripes or color blocks, and it's really easy. For this lesson, you
will need your scalf, your main color
yarn, your needles, of course, scissors
and a tapestry needle. First, let's pick up our work. Want to change color while the right side of the
work is facing up? Remember to tell
which side is which pick up the work as if you
were about to start knitting. If the cast on tail is hanging on the right
side of your work, then you are on the right side. If it's hanging on the left, then you are on the wrong side. Just need one more row.
I'll wait for you. In the meantime, let
me show you why you want the right side to be
up when you change color. Here is another of my
projects jumper in stock inet stitch where the right side and wrong
side are really obvious. You can see that when
I changed color here, I created a very
clear transition. I want this transition
to be hidden away. Therefore, I want it
on the wrong side, which will be the inside of the jumper, of
course, with a scarf. Both sides are
exposed to the world. The transition will be
visible regardless. But we do want it always on the wrong side for
consistency's sake. All right, let's do it. Pick up your main color and
leaving a generous tail. Secure it behind your work
with your index finger. Let the new tail hang and take hold of your
new working yarn, still holding it tight with your finger using the new color. Start knitting your row, just like we pretended to change ball of yarn in the
previous lesson. We're just going to keep
going in Garda stitch with this new color until the work
is 110 centimeters long. As per the pattern we are
working on a simple project, we're only changing color twice. But you could alternate every 20 centimetres
and create big stripes. Or you could even alternate every few rows and
make thin ones. The method is always the same. Once you complete your row, use your scissors to cut
your old working yard. For me, it's the red one. Then tie is simple, not too tight as we'll
need to undo it later. You can see here on
the wrong side that our transition has appeared
while on the right side, the color break is
clean and seamless. I will see you back
here once I have kitted the 410 centimeter. Hi again, I am back with my 110 centimeters
of Garda stitch. Here is my little
knot from earlier. And now I'm ready to go on
to our next color change. First, make sure the
right side of the work is facing up as we want all
our knots on the same side. Then tuck your old
working yarn away. Pick up your contrasting color, leave yourself a generous tail. Secure your new working yarn
to the back of the work with your finger and start
knitting with the new color. You've done it now, you can keep on knitting
with your contrasting color until the scarf is
130 centimeters long. All this new color block
is 20 centimetres long. As earlier, the transition
is appearing at the back, which is what we
want since we're currently working
on the right side. All right, now keep knitting. We're almost there. Well, done for knitting over
a meter of fabric. Let's meet in the next
lesson where we'll finish the scarf and we'll learn how to tie off all these loose ends.
10. Tying Loose Ends: By now your work is
over a metre long. How amazing is that? As all good things
come to an end, now is time to finish off the knitting portion
of the class. In this lesson, you will
bind off your stitches and learn how to weave your tail so they
become invisible. You will need your
work, your needles, scissors, and your
tapestry needle. All right, let's
bind off together, which means we're
going to create the top edge of our scarf. Do you remember how first
need two regular stitches? Here is one, two, then insert the tip of the left needle into the
first stitch from the back. The tip of the needle
is coming from the back through the
loop and towards you. Now you're going to slip
the left needle up, back, and over the right one. You can hold your
second stitch with your finger so it doesn't
come off the needle. Not quite sure about
that. Let's do it again. We already have a stitch. Let's knit another one, then insert the tip of the left needle into
the first stitch. Slip the left needle up back
and over the right one. Let the remaining stitch
slip onto the right needle. As you keep going,
you'll see that little braid appear at
the top edge of the work. This is your scarf
becoming free of the needles. We're almost there. Once you pull the
second last stitch over the last one like this, grab your working
yarn and cut it, leaving a decent tail. Pick up your tapestry needle, thread your tail through it, and guide it inside
the last loop. Pull it through,
slide the stitch off the needle, and
tighten the knot. That's it, your
scarf is complete. Look at that top edge. No risk of unraveling here, but what about all these
little tails hanging out? How do we get rid of them? Let me show you a way
to weave the tails into your work so they are both
secure and invisible. The technique I'm going to
show you is not the fanciest, but it is the easiest. First working on the wrong side, we're going to look
at the pattern of the thread as it travels
across the work. You can see that it
creates dig zags or a series of hairpin
turns on the road. What we're going to do is follow the thread exactly as
it travels through. Using our tail to
double it in a way, we dive down through
a little wave. Let's go with this one, We follow the thread
through the next one. Next you can see it goes back up and comes back exactly
where we started. That's the basic
move we're going to repeat until we
run out of tell. Next it dies back down
through the next wave, back all the way
where we started. Here we go. And we're just going to keep repeating and
repeating these steps, creating tight zigzags
all the way across back where we started. As you can see here,
this technique is really almost invisible. You can hardly see anything. It just looks like
the regular texture of the scarf may
be a tad thicker. Here I have arrived at
the end of my tail. All I need to do is
pick up my scissors and snip it as close
to the work as I can. That's one tail down. Let's have a look
at the other ones. Okay, let's go to your
first color transition. If you have one, once again, making sure the wrong side
is facing up so you can see the transitions first
under your not, then thread your main color tail into your tapestry needle. Now we are going to follow the exact same steps as before, but going up first
instead of down, following the thread
across up for first wave, then following the thread across and down back
where you started. I'm going to speed it up here, but you keep going
at your own pace. If you're still unsure
of the technique, you can watch the instructions a few times and even
slow the video down. Once you run out of tail,
you know what to do. Pick up your scissors and
cut it close to the work. Then you can repeat this step with a contrasting color thread. Okay, now let's go to our first transition
between two balls of yarn, making sure you're still
on the wrong side. And you can see
those transitions. First we are going
to untie the knot. This will reveal a little hole between both tails, just here. Before we can weave
the tails here, we need to close the hole. To do that, we need to
cross our tails and weave the left one to the right and
the right one to the left. Okay, let's thread our
needle with the right tail. Next we are going to
guide the thread to the wave at the bottom
left of the hole. Then back up just
above the hole. Then we just follow
the steps we learned previously until we
run out of tail. Here we go. Next we are going to thread our
left tail and follow the exact same steps but towards the right,
which is logical. Okay, so we're going
to guide the thread to the wave at the bottom
right of the hole, which we can't even see anymore. Then across towards the right, since we're waving the left
tail on the right side. Then we go back up
and start following our usual steps until
we run out of thread. If it went well, the
hole is now fully closed since we essentially crossed
our tails in front of it, which mimics the
pattern of knitting. And that's it. Look at that. You would never know there
was a transition here, right? Unless, of course you
looked very closely and notice that the texture
is slightly raised. All that's left now is to
cut these little tails snip. All you have to do is repeat this technique for
all your tails. Always weaving on the
wrong side of the work. And you will be done with the hardest part of the project. Once you have safely tucked
in all your loose ends, all that's left to do is make your pompoms arguably the
most fun part of the class. Join me in the next
lesson to find out how
11. 11 Make the Pompoms: I love pompoms. I'm always trying to
add them everywhere. They're just so fun
and so easy to make. It would be a shame not to, if you've never made pompoms, prepare to become addicted. For this project, we will
make six small pompoms, but feel free to make more
or less to suit your tastes. To make your pompoms, however many you end up with, you will need a template included in the resources
for this class, some light cardboard,
your scissors, and your leftover yarn. First, you need to print out your template and
cut the ring out. Then you will trace the shape twice on your
cardboard like this. It really doesn't
have to be perfect. Don't worry too much about it. Once you're done, cut out the
rings using a stunny knife. If you have one or scissors, you should end up with
two cardboard rings. Okay? Once you have
your two rings, you can make a mini
ball like this one. Your ball needs to be able to go through the hole
of your rings. Don't make it too big. Next, bring both rings together and start winding your
ball through the hole, through the around
the cardboard buck. Through and around,
and around and around, Slowly going around
the ring with yarn. You don't have to be
too neat about it, but you do want to keep
the yarn nice and tight. Your loops shouldn't be slack, so try to maintain some tension
in the yarn at all times. Once your little ball is
finished, make another one. I want my pompoms
to be speckled. My next ball will be
in my main color, making sure it goes
through the hole. A good let's keep winding to
achieve the speckled effect, I want my different
colored yarns to mix. If you keep them separated, you will get big color
blocks rather than speckles, which is fine too, it's
just a different look. We keep and winding until we have covered
the whole cardboard. If you want to super
fluffy pompom, you will want to keep on going until the yarn feels
nice and squishy. Almost like a little pilot
mind feels nice and plump. Now I'm going to part the yarn until I can
see the cardboard. If you maintained
tension throughout, it might be a bit hard, but that's a good sign. I'm going to
separate both rings. Pick up my scissors and insert the bottom blade in between
the two pieces of cardboard. Then you're going
to cut the yarn right down the middle,
all the way around. My scissors are a bit tired, so this is hard work. Okay? This is what it should
look like at the end. Next you're going
to cut a length of yarn, about 20 centimeters. Then you're going to separate your rings a bit more like this and tie a knot in between the
cardboard, just like that. Once the knot is secure,
remove the rings, but keep them handy, as you will use them for all six pompoms. Here is our first little guy. If he's looking a
bit disheveled, you can give him a little
fluff, a little pat, and then a trim just to
even everything out, making sure not to
touch the two pieces of yarn coming from the
knot we've just tied. The shorter you cut the strands, the denser your pompom will be. I'd like mine to be quite dense, so I'm going to give
this one a good trim. Okay? You can fluff it
up a bit and it's done. Now, repeat five times
and you have six pompoms. Now we need to see them. Onto the scalf, the
wrong side of the work facing you are going to find the left corner
of your scuff. Next thread, both of the tails from your knot
through the needle. Now you are going to
insert the needle into the cast on
edge of the scuff. About three stitches
from the left side edge, working from back to front, you want to leave a little
bit of yard between the pompom and the edge
of the scuff like this. Then you are going
to loop once around the tails before
tying a little knot. By inserting the needle up into the loop
you just created, tightening it by
pulling on the needle, then going through the work
again from front to back. Now flip your work and insert the needle
through the loop again. Once the knot is
nice and secure, punch the needle through
the center of the pompom. Inserting it right
next to the tails. Pull the needle through
and trim the tails. Now your pompom is attached. Attach the next pompom in the exact same way
and you're done. I'm having free pompoms on
each edge of the scarf, but you can add as many
or as few as you'd like. Go with what feels
right for you. That's all my pompoms, aren't they just the cutest, so fluffy, so fun look at
what we've made together. Doesn't it make you wish
for some snow so we can go out and all be
warm and cozy together? Honestly, I can't wait
to see your versions, what colors you chose, what yarns,
everything. Please do. Post some photos of your
scarves in the project gallery. Don't hesitate to share
about your process, your challenges, et cetera. In the meantime, join me in the final lesson where we
will talk about next steps.
12. 12 Were to From Here: Congratulations, you have made a scarf from start to finish. Not everyone can boast about making their own
garment from scratch. That's quite the achievement. Now you can rock out your scarf, gift it to a loved one, put it on Instagram. Show it off, honestly, You should be proud and toot
your own horn everywhere. Plus, you have learned and understood the basic
building blocks of knitting, from casting on to binding off, including the notions and the vocabulary needed
to get started. Now you can try your hand at
something more intricate. Maybe a new stitch
like stock in it, or ribbing or a new pattern. But before you embark on
your next meeting adventure, remember to tag the resources
from this class somewhere, safe as you are sure
to need them again. Once again, please share your scarf in the
project gallery. I so excited to see
what you've created. It's always a pleasure
to see students project roll in for
any of my classes, but I am particularly
excited for this one. In the meantime, if you
want to see more from me, you can follow me on Instagram, Sign up to my newsletter
or visit my website. Of course, follow me here on skill share so you can
check out my other classes. A series of empowering fun lessons designed to help you reconnect with
your creative self. That being said, I don't think
we're done eting together. If you've enjoyed your class, keep an eye out for more. I would also really
appreciate if you could leave a
review for this class. As feedback is so
valuable to us teachers, it really encourages
us to keep going and develop more content for
you. Lovely creators. Thank you again for coming
on this journey with me. I do hope that you had fun discovering or
rediscovering knitting, and I can't wait
to see where this takes you, happy knitting.
Amandine Thomas, Award-winning illustrator
