Knitting for Beginners: Basic Knit Stitch & First Scarf Pattern | Sarah Carswell | Skillshare
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Knitting for Beginners: Basic Knit Stitch & First Scarf Pattern

teacher avatar Sarah Carswell, Fiber Artist

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Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
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Watch this class and thousands more

Get unlimited access to every class
Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Lessons in This Class

    • 1.

      00 Introduction

      1:12

    • 2.

      01 Project Materials

      1:03

    • 3.

      02 Long Tail Cast On

      3:08

    • 4.

      03 Knit Stitch & Scarf Pattern

      5:20

    • 5.

      04 Connecting Two Peices of Wool

      3:28

    • 6.

      05 Fixing Dropped Stitches

      2:36

    • 7.

      06 Binding Off

      2:18

    • 8.

      07 Weaving In Ends

      3:28

    • 9.

      08 Final Thoughts

      0:33

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About This Class

In this course, you will learn how to cast-on your stitches, how to do a basic knit stitch or Garter stitch, how to correct problems like running out of wool or dropping stitches, and how to bind off and weave in your ends to complete a project. By the end of the course, you will have completed your first scarf.

This course is for anyone who is just starting to learn about knitting and doesn't have any prior knowledge. Completing these lessons will give you an excellent foundation for getting into knitting with skills that you will need for every other knitting project you do in the future. 

For this course you will need:

  • Wool
  • One-sided knitting needles
  • Scissors
  • Flexible measuring tape
  • Tapestry needle
  • Crochet hook

Let's start your knitting journey!

Meet Your Teacher

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Sarah Carswell

Fiber Artist

Teacher
Level: Beginner

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Transcripts

1. 00 Introduction: Hi everyone, I'm Sara, and in this course I'm going to be teaching you how to knit your first scarp, just like this lovely scarf I'm wearing here. Now, don't worry if you don't know anything about knitting, you don't have to for this course because I'm going to teach you everything you need to know from a casting on your stitches, a basic knitting stitch or gutter stitch. I'm also going to go through what to do if you need to add two pieces of wool together. So if you run out of wool while you're trying to get through your scarf, you can attach another ball of wool and keep going. I'm also going to go through what to do if you drop any stitches, which is bound to happen when you were first getting started admitting. So I'm going to teach you how to pick those stitches up so you don't have to take apart your work and start the scarf all over again. And I'm going to show you how to bind off the ends of your scarf so that they sit nice and flat like this, along with binding in any end. So any strings that might be poking out that you don't want to show with your scarf. Be sure to add a picture of your scarf when you're all done in the project section of this course so that I can see and let me know if there are any questions that you have while we go through these steps so that I can help you along this journey as you start getting into knitting. And with that, let's get into the first lesson. 2. 01 Project Materials: Some of the basic things you're going to need for this scarf project are of course, some wool. You're going to need quite a bit of it because of how long scrubs can be. It will depend on how much length you want to include in it. You're going to need a pair of knitting needles, just a one-sided one. So they should have these little blockers on the end so that they can keep your stitches on that. I'll make it a lot easier for you once you start getting into knitting. And don't worry too much about the size of them. The ones that I'll be using our 5.5 millimeters, but it really just depends on what you want. You can use smaller ones, you can use bigger ones. Bigger ones tend to be a little bit easier to use, but you can use whatever you want. It will also need some scissors once we get into binding off, we also have a flexible measuring tape so that you can measure how long do you need your scarf to be? And you will also need a tapestry needle like this. So when we are binding off, you have something to help you with. So those are the basic materials you will need for this project. 3. 02 Long Tail Cast On: The first step of getting into knitting is to cast on your stitches. We're going to be doing a long tail cast on. This basically means that you are going to be knitting the first row as you're casting on the stitches. It's going to make that first row a little bit looser. So one of the big challenges when you're starting a project is that the first row is going to be the tightest row. So it makes a little bit difficult for you to start getting your stitches in. A long tail cast on is going to be a little bit looser and it's gonna make that easier for you, especially as a beginner, to measure your wool for your live telecast on, I like to use the whole length of my arm if I can get all add frame here. So you're going to be taking the end of your wool. You're one hand, measure it up to your shoulder. And then this is where we're going to start our first loop. So now that you have this loop where you are going to start your first stitch, you're going to put your index finger into that loop and you're going to twist twice. Look something like this, and take one of your knitting needles, stick through the loop. Now, this is the tricky part, so you want to make sure that you keep the end of your wall that has all the end as far out of your way as possible because you don't want to knit with that. So you want to take your working wool. So this is going to be the wall that is attached to the rest of your yarn. And you're going to put the wool over your needle. Take your original loop and pull it up and over and then tighten it, and that is going to be your first stitch. Now, here's where the tricky part of the long tail cast on comes in. You're going to take the wall with your end. So not the one connected to the rest of your will. And you're gonna make a little loop like that. A simple loop are under finger and put it onto your needle and you're going to take your working yarn. That's the one that is attached to the rest of your wool, rapid over your needle. And then pull that last loop up and over and tighten it and make sure you don't take it too hard because again, you want to be able to go into these stitches later to actually stitch your stitches. So one more time, repeat for how you cast your stitches on with the yarn on the side with your end. Make a loop over your finger. Secure needle into it so that it's on in need on now, take you're working on an attached to the rest of your wall, rapid over and then pull that loop over and off and make sure you don't take it too much. You are going to repeat that until you have enough stitches. I am going to be casting on 30 stitches, so that'll give you a place to start. But you can really just measure it with your flexible measuring tape so that you can get the right width for how wide you want your scarf to be. Just keep in mind that as we actually start to emit these stitches, your scarf is going to stretch out a little bit. So aim a little short of what you actually want. 4. 03 Knit Stitch & Scarf Pattern: Now you should have all of your stitches cast on like idea here on my needle. And that is basically our first row. Congratulations, you have the first row of your scarf debt. So now we have to actually get into learning a knit stitch, a simple knit stitch. This is the bare, bare basics, and this is the stitch you'll be using the entire time. So you won't be switching up in any way as you go through this scarf. That's why scarves are such a good beginner project because you can just use one stitch over and over and over again for a lot of rows to get your scarf done, you'll get lots of practice while going through this project. So make sure that the end of your wool, so this will end here, that doesn't lead anywhere. You want that as completely out of your way as possible because you won't be using it. Do not use it. You will run out of wool so quickly. So you want to make sure that you have a good hold of your working yarn, so that is attached to the rest of your yarn. You're going to want to make sure your stitches are close to the end of your needle, but not enough for them to slip off. You don't want to drop any stitches, but close enough so that you can start to work. So you're gonna take your empty needle and you're going to put it into the back of the stitch. Just like this. And then you're gonna make well X pattern with them. You're going to take your working yarn. Remember attached to the rest of your, well, I've had it before where I've tried to use the shorter end and it only ends in satis. You have to start the whole thing over again. You're gonna take your working yarn and you're going to put over your needle. So your needle where you don't have the rest of your stitches. We have it through one of our loops. And now we have this working yarn before working yarn looped over it. And then you're just going to slide the needle with all the rest of your stitches and keep a good firm hold on. You're working yarn. I like to put it in my hand that is holding this empty needle so it won't go anywhere. Then you're going to slide the one fogger stitches up and over. So the only thing left on your empty needle is that loop you made with your working yarn. And then you just slide the original stitch off. You can tighten it a little bit, make sure it's not too tight because again, you want to make sure that you can still stitch it nicely later on. It's gonna be weird for your first stitch. Don't worry if it's a little bit loose and stuff like that. It'll tighten up later. So let's go over that again. So take I always have it in my right hand because I'm right-handed. But if you're left-handed, it'll be in your left hand, whichever is your dominant hand with your new mostly empty needle will isolate our next stitch. So we're going to insert our needle so that we have our x. Take our working yarn attached to the rest of our yarn, wrap it over top, and then with a firm hold on, are working yarn, holding on to this empty needle, going to socialize with the other needle up over so that we hook that working yarn onto our needle. And then still with a firm hold on, are working yarn. We're going to slide it off of the rest of these stitches. And that is your basic knit stitch. You are just going to repeat that for this whole row. So let me do that really quick so I can show you how to do a turnaround to start your next row. So now you should have your first row done. Congratulations, it's going to be a bit of a learning curve. I know, but once you have done, it'll look something like this. So how do you turn around and do your second row? Pretty easy. I just take this needle that I had in my right hand but I was working on in which it to my left hand, take the now empty needle. I just had scooch all of my stitches so that they're close to the end but not pushing them off because we don't want to drop any stitches. And then I just start over again, just like we did with the other row. I insert my newly here to make my x. I take my working yarn attached to the rest of my wool. Or stupid over, keep a firm hold on both my needle and that working yarn. The other one up and over so that I have my loop and then push the other one off, just like that to go through the rest of my stitches. And that is all you need to do for a scarf. You will just repeat that stitch over and over again for rows upon rows upon rows until you get the length that you want. Make sure that you have your flexible measuring tape around so that you can figure out how long you want your garment to be, or he run out of Wo, whichever happens first. And in the next lessons I'm going to teach you how to pick up stitches that you've dropped which can happen, and also how to connect your wool. So this isn't going to be enough well for me, I'm going to need to use my second role of wool to fully get the length of the scarf correctly, which you might have to do too. So we will go through some of the things and issues that you might encounter with going through the process of your scarf. But if you don't face any of those, just keep doing the knit stitch over and over again until you finish your scarf, you're going to lots and lots of practice with this stitch. 5. 04 Connecting Two Peices of Wool: Chances are that at some point while you are getting into knitting, you're going to have to attach wool to the working yarn that you're using on your project. I suffered for years drying divide. The best way to bind two pieces of 6. 05 Fixing Dropped Stitches: The chances are that at some point while going through your first link project, you're going to drop some stitches. So that basically looks like this where you've got some stirrings going over the top of your work. Now the sooner you realize this the better. So you don't have to pick up those stitches. I'm going to teach you how to pick up those stitches and redo those rows so you don't have to take apart your project and start all over again. So to do this, you are going to need a crochet hook. You can use another knitting needle if you want. It's the, the easiest with a crochet hook. So that's what I'm gonna show you. If you've basically got two kinds of sets of strings, you've got strings that are gonna be closer to you sticking out at you and then ones that are behind your row. So the strings that are in front while you're doing your row, those you're going to want to Pearl. Don't think too much about exactly what that means. But what it means in this case is that you're going to want to take the strings. So this is my loop here for my dropped row. If you have a string that is pointing closest to you on your row, you're going to put it over the row. Here's my string, Here's my loop. I'm gonna put my hook through that loop facing towards the piece of wool and then hook it over my hook too so that we have, are dropped stitch and the piece of wool from that row. So I'm just going to pull that string through the loop and that is going to redo that row. Make sure that you pull pretty tight to you want to make sure that there's some good tension on it. If you have a row where the string in the back of your work, then you're going to put your hook through the facing towards that back string, and then you're just going to pick up that string. So here's my drop stitch. Here's the piece of wool from the dropped row. And I'm just going to pull that through just like that. And that is going to fix that road for me to make sure that you give it a good tug to tighten it up and to help with that tension. And again for the purlin rows, or when you have the string closest to you and go in the back of the loop towards that string, put that over your hook to my dropped stitch and then the wolf from the row that I dropped. And just pull that through the loop and try to pull it as tight as I can. And then you can put it back on to your needle to continue knitting. And just like that, it's like nothing ever happened. So keep that in mind. If you do drop any of your stitches, don't go bad if you have to take apart your work and start again. It just when you get to the end of a scarf, you don't want to have to redo the whole thing. So that's how you pick up your stitches. 7. 06 Binding Off: Now you have finished your scar, forgotten it to the length of that you want. It's time for us to bind off of the end. One of the tricks with this is that you're going to have to make sure you have enough leftover that you aren't going to only get partway through binding off the row and suddenly you don't have enough wall, so just be careful of that, especially if you are just kind of knitting until you run out of walls. So make sure you have enough. Now we need to bind off in this row. We need to do it in a way where it's still sits nice and flat so we don't want any kind of curling or anything like that. So make sure that you keep things loose while going through this. To bind off, all you need to do is knit the first couple of stitches just like you've been doing this whole time with your scarf. Just knit the first two so that you have two stitches on your working needle. Now that you have those two stitches, what we're going to do is we're going to pull the first stitch that we knit over the second stitch with our left needle or whichever needle you are transferring stitches from. So you're just going to slip your needle behind just like you would with normal knitting. And you're just going to pull that stitch off and over the end there, you've just started to bind off your stitches and that's all it is. You want to make sure you have two stitches on your working needle. So I'll knit the next stitch as well to transfer it over than just slip my needle into that back stitch and pull it over and off so that now we have this flat edge to our work. So you're just going to keep repeating that until you're done the entire row. So let me just do that really quick so you can get a look at it. Once you've bound off all of your stitches, you're going to have an edge that looks like this now you will also notice that you still have one stitch remaining on your needle. It's super easy to just tie this off. So I always just give myself a nice big loop to work with. And then I take the remaining wall that I have. Now if you still have your wool connected to the rest of your ball of wool, you'll need to cut it so that you have like an actual end to pull through. But you're going to make a nice big loop with your hand and you're just going to pull that remaining wool through, tighten it so that you have a nice little not there. And that is how you bind off your work. 8. 07 Weaving In Ends: You may have noticed when you first stopped your binding that you have this big long tail coming off of your scarf. And you really don't want these strings hanging down. You're gonna have one from when you started from the long tail cast on and then on the other end where you're just bound off your work, we are going to weave in all of those ends so that you can't see them at all. And that is what we want in this whole project because with a scarf, again, there isn't a back side to it. So someone who is going to see both size and you want the stitches to be as invisible as possible. So you're going to need your middle for this so that you can easily read those in. And you're just going to take the end that is coming off of your work and pull it through your needle. Just pulling it through so that you have a needle that it's a lot like if you've ever done any sewing, but just to give you a nice long overlap so that you can hold on to those strings so they don't slip out of your needle. I'm just going to flip this over so you want it so that your string is coming off of the left side of your work, just so that the pattern works out the best way. Now if you look closely at your work, you're going to notice these ridges. We've talked about that before when we were talking about how to pick up dropped stitches. So you really want to pay attention to these grooves. And they're going to be loops that go under and those that go over. So that's really important for this particular pattern. I like to stay as close to where my end is being bound off as possible. With your needle, you're going to go up through one of the over ridges in one of the rows and then into the under on the row above. So you're gonna have to that you're going through to pull this string up, make sure that you don't get all knotted, end tangled when doing that. Now, make sure when you're doing this pattern throughout the whole work that you're not pulling too tight because again, you don't want any curling. You don't want to have a bunched up area because then people are going to be able to see where you were weaving in your ends. Then you are going to go down route the under rich next to where you just came out and then into an overage down on the next row right next to it where you went up. I swear that this is the trickiest part because you have to start the pattern, but then it's going to get a lot easier. So now we're down here. You're going to go in through the overlook, the bottom, and into the overlap where you just put your needle. So you're going to go back to the loop you've already gone through, and you're going to go through the under loop right to the right of that, and back into the overlap from the underwrote. So you're always going to be doing the under rows for the top row that you're going through, these ridges and the overall for the bottom. And you're just going to continue that pattern until you run out of end. Now, I'm just going to go through this one more time, but I'm gonna get a contrasting colors so you can really see how this weaving pattern works. So hopefully you can see this weaving pattern a little bit better with the white wall contrasting. Basically you want to match up these little loops to match the ridges. So that's why you don't want to pull too tight because you want to make sure everything is lining up so that it's at the same kind of tension as close as you can get to the attention you are using while knitting. The best part about this, see how we have this contrasting color with the white. You can't see any of it on the opposite side. It's completely invisible. And that's what you want, even though we have this contrasting color, that should be pretty easy to see. So that is how you weave in your ends. 9. 08 Final Thoughts: Congratulations, you've made it through the course and you now have your first scarf along with being pretty good at the basic knit stitch. I hope you were able to follow those lessons fairly well. Let me see it. Your scarf that you've created in the project section of the course, along with any questions you might have of stuff that I didn't elaborate on as well as you would've liked me too. And I will be adding other courses to Skillshare so that you can continue to learn lots of other stuff with knitting. So be sure to check those out if you want to take on your next project and all the best in your knitting journey.