How To Knit: Cast On

For the past few weeks I have started teaching a good friend of mine how to knit and refreshing old knitting skills she already had. I thought it would be helpful to do a How To Knit series on the blog for everyone. So here is my first installment on how to knit, along with my very first video for the blog (praying this works!).

Presenting my video tutorial on how to cast on your yarn:

(Below are step by step pictures to go along with the video)

Before beginning to cast on look to see how many stitches your project requires.
The first step is to make a slip knot.

I make a slip knot by first wrapping the yarn around two fingers...

Next I pull the back yarn through the yarn hole.

It will look something like this until tightened.
Pull the yarn on the right (the one not through the hole) to tighten.

After pulling the yarn to tighten it will look like this.

Next insert your knitting needle.

Pull the yarn that went through the hole to tighten this time.
Pull tight!

You'll notice there are two different yarns coming off the knitting needle.
The yarn on the left (which is attached to the ball of yarn) is called the working yarn.
The yarn on the right is called the tail.

Holding the knitting needle in your right hand, separate the two yarns
with your left thumb and index finger, wrapping a yarn around each finger.

Put the knitting needle first under the yarn that's around your thumb.

Then take the needle under the yarn around your index finger

and pull back through to the left.

It will look something like this before you pull tight.

There is the second stitch. Keep going until you have the amount you need!

Happy Crafting!