How to knit
6 Rows
How to Knit: Easy for Beginners
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hey guys it's Ryan in this video I'm
gonna be teaching you how to knit I'm
gonna go over all of the basics and keep
it pretty simple because contrary to
popular belief knitting is actually
pretty easy it can seem intimidating at
first but we're gonna keep it simple so
you can hit the ground running all
you're gonna need is yarn and two
knitting needles and then you're ready
to go so getting started first thing we
need to do is we actually need to get
the yarn onto the needles in the first
place so you want to take the tail end
of the yarn the tail end of the yarn is
the end of the yarn and the rest of the
yarn is gonna be connected to this ball
you can just kind of let that be and
just pull out enough yarn to be
comfortable to work with I always end up
with like a pile of loose yarn here and
it sometimes becomes a tangled mess and
that's totally fine
so take the tail end of your yarn and we
can put our needles aside for now what
we're gonna do is we need to make a slip
knot on the end of this yarn so to make
a slipknot you want to take the yarn
like this and with the tail end flip it
over the part that's connected to the
rest of the yarn just like this so you
make a little loop here we're gonna take
two fingers and put it through this loop
like this and what we're going to do is
grab the yarn that's connected to the
rest of the yarn so this end of the yarn
we're gonna grab it with the two fingers
and pull it through this loop that we
created so if you come up you grab that
part of the yarn and then just gently
pull everything a little tight but not
too tight just so it's snug so you
should end up with this nice little
noose here that you can make tighter and
loose you're depending on which end of
the yarn you're pulling on so with this
loop this is actually gonna be your
first stitch that you put on your
needles so take your needle put it
through the loop that you just made and
if you pull the end of the yarn that's
connected to the rest of the yarn
everything should gently tighten so the
loop is gonna tighten up on the needle
and you want to just give everything a
little bit of a tug so it's nice and
snug
not too tight because you're gonna be
working with this we want it to remain a
little loose it's okay if it moves
around a little bit but just make sure
that it's closed up on the needle so
this first loop is actually going to be
the first stitch on our project and the
number of stitches that we put on this
first needle is going to determine the
width of whatever it is you're knitting
so if it's a scarf and you have maybe
about 20 or so stitches then you're
looking at a scarf that's gonna be about
this wide and it'll kind of just grow
out from there and these needles that
I'm using here are pretty short just
because they're easy to maneuver for me
for the video but most in any new
knitting needles are gonna give you a
lot of space to create a pretty large
project to cast on more stitches you
don't need to make another Slipknot it's
actually much easier than that all you
have to do is make more loops and we're
gonna put those loops onto this needle
important note that I should have
mentioned at the beginning also is that
I am right-handed so all of my
instructions are gonna kind of cater
towards right-handed people if you're a
left-handed hopefully you can make it
work so it's comfortable for you or
maybe I don't know watch the video in a
mirror or something but hopefully it's
easy to follow along as well so to get
more stitches onto the needle what we're
going to do is just gently wrap the yarn
around your index finger like this
you're holding the yarn in your left
hand wrap the yarn like this and it
naturally is going to create a little
loop around your index finger like this
and what we're gonna do with this loop
because we're gonna slip it on to this
needle or we're gonna use the needle and
scoop the loop off of our finger so you
have the yarn you kind of turn it a
little bit so it creates a loop and then
just take the needle and scoop the loop
up through the bottom and pull it off
like this and then just kind of gently
pull it tight it's not too tight you
just want it to be snug on the needle so
to do that again you just wrap the yarn
around your left index finger take the
needle come up through the bottom and
scoop the loop off onto the needle just
like that you keep going doing a couple
more
so each one of these is going to make
your project wider and wider as you go
about this you'll notice that you're
forming a kind of Ridge here where all
the loops are kind of lined up so right
here there's a nice little uniform edge
of where all the loops are kind of
looping over each other you have this
nice little Ridge feel free to space
everything out to give yourself more
room and it's okay if you grab it but
just make sure that that Ridge doesn't
get twisted a lot of times if you're
gripping the needle or something that
Ridge is going to get twisted around so
just make sure that you keep that Ridge
as straight and uniform as possible so
you don't get anything mixed up or
twisted so I've casted on 18 stitches
onto this needle and that's about as
much as I can comfortably fit onto this
needle and I'm gonna kind of space them
all out a little bit just so they can
have a nice little room to breathe
between the stitches once you have the
number of stitches cast it on that you
want what we're going to do is we're
going to turn the needle around just
like this so we're on the back side of
it so we've got the front here turn it
around here so it's a yarn the tail end
of the yarn is on the back or the left
side of the needle and the rest of the
yarn here is right at the front of the
needle with your needle in this position
you can hold on to it with your left
hand it's okay if you touch the stitches
that you just cast it on just make sure
you're not gripping it too tightly so if
anything gets twisted or messed up or
anything like that just lightly hold it
and now we're going to start knitting so
this is the most complicated part but
this is the bread and butter of knitting
I mean this is the actual knitting that
we're gonna do so take your second
needle that we have and right away we're
gonna get into this first loop or this
first stitch and we're gonna start
knitting this entire row of stitches so
to knit this is how you do it so you
want to take
your first stitch here in the row we've
got this is the yarn that's connected to
the rest of it make sure you're not
using the tail end of the yarn because
that's not going to give you anything to
work with on the front of your needle
you've got the rest of the yarn and
you've got this first stitch here slide
the stitch up to the end of the needle
it doesn't need to be too close but
don't worry about it falling off or
flying away or anything like that it's
okay
and what we're going to do is this we're
going to take you the second needle and
take it through this loop up through the
backside of the left handed needle so
take your needle and put it to the left
side of this first stitch and scoop it
through the loop along the backside of
the left needle just like this so you're
creating kind of an X with the two
needles so I'll do that again just real
quick so you can see you've got the loop
here take the needle take it along the
left side of the loop stick it up
through the loop and come up along the
backside of the two needles and then
once you have that X you're going to
take the yarn here this is the yarn
that's connected to everything else the
rest of the ball of yarn and we're going
to loop it around the back right needle
just like this so slip it around the
back right needle that's along the back
side and pull it not too tight but give
it a nice little tug and it's going to
be pulled between these two needles so
between the X its gonna come up through
the middle of them come down here like
through the bottom and then you're gonna
take the right needle the one that's in
the right hand we're gonna come down and
scoop off this remaining loop so come
down through the loop come up along the
left side like this and pull it off the
left needle completely and if you pull
everything a little tight it should look
alright so that is
knitting it's kind of crazy it can be
really weird and intimidating and this
does not especially since this is just
our first row it does not look like we
did anything but I promise you it's
gonna get much clearer and easier as we
go along so moving right along we're
gonna do the second stitch now so we've
got the second stitch up to the edge of
this up to the end of this second needle
on the Left take the right handed needle
come up through the loop along the
backside so you form a kind of X here
and then take your yarn wrap it around
the right needle in the back and go
through the two needles so it's falling
between the X and then take your right
needle go down through that loop and
we're just gonna scoop it off so we've
got the right needle here you're just
gonna go through the loop again and
scoop it off like this so one more time
on the third stitch here you go through
the loop along the backside like this
take your yarn and it's sometimes it's
easy if you pinch I've got my thumb and
my middle finger holding the right
needle as well so part of this is so I
can easily show you but I mean you can
hold your needles however is comfortable
for you eventually you'll kind of find a
way that's works best for you but take
the needle in the right hand wrap it
around the back needle there go through
the two needles and then with the right
needle scoop off this remaining loop
just like this okay so this is knitting
you want to do this to every single
stitch on your row you're going through
that first loop you're wrapping the yarn
around and then you're going down and
looping pulling off that
OOP off the left needle all knitting is
is just a series of loops we're
basically scooping the loop off the left
needle wrapping the yarn around taking
the loop off so you're taking the loop
off and in the process you're creating
or adding one new loop onto the loop so
it's a bunch of loops basically so you
want to do this to the end of the row
hopefully it's clear what you're doing
feel free to pause and yell at me or
rewind and watch it again but hopefully
those first examples was clear but
you're just gonna do this to the very
end of the row and eventually you're
gonna have a nice little build up of
rows and once we get a couple more rows
in it'll be a lot more clearer what it
is we're actually doing here when you
reach the end of the row you'll have one
last stitch so here I am at the end of
the row I've got one last stitch here on
my left handed needle all you do is
you're just gonna knit it just like you
did with the other one so come up
through the loop along go from the left
hand side go up through the bottom up
along the back side and then wrap the
yarn around the needle and scoop the
loop off just like you would any of the
normal ones when you're finished with
that row like I just did you can kind of
separate everything out nice and even
and take a look at what we've done
so we've knit that first the first
stitches that we cast it on we've knit
those so we've added an extra layer of
loops onto those initial stitches that
we cast it on so it's slightly thicker
it's slightly longer and knitting is
just growing this out so if this is a
scarf we're just going to keep repeating
this over and over again until it grows
longer and longer so with that first row
finished make sure that you have this
nice you know
form edge again if you have a twist or
something from holding it it's gonna
cause you some problems so make sure
that you find the edge and all of your
loops are nice and uniform and going in
the same direction you've got this nice
hard edge here on the end here what
we're gonna do now is jump right into
the next row so flip your work around
like we did before so now you've got
your working yarn or the yarn that's
connected to the rest of the ball of
yarn here and this is what we're gonna
use make sure you don't use the tail
ends of the yarn on accident that would
cause you some problems so we're gonna
hold the work again with our left hand
and we're gonna jump right into this new
stitch here that's on the end so once
again we're gonna do the same exact
thing that I showed you before take the
right needle put it through the first
loop and come up along the back side
then take the yarn wrap it around the
right needle and it's gonna be pulled
through the two needles between the X
and then take the right needle and we're
gonna scoop this loop off of the left
needle so come down through the loop and
pull it off once again take the right
needle put it to the left of the loop on
your left needle put it through the loop
and come up along the backside to create
the X and then take the yarn wrap it
around at the right needle pull it
through between the X and scoop off the
loop go down and scoop it off and then
as you're going along you can kind of
slowly push the rest of the stitches up
towards the end of the needle that
should kind of naturally happen but in
case it doesn't you can give them a
little nudge but we're doing the exact
same thing that I showed you on the
first row we're just putting the needle
through wrapping the yarn around going
down and scooping the yarn off go
through the loop wrap it around
and then go down and scoop it off go
through along the backside wrap around
go down and through the loop so
hopefully this is becoming clear to you
if this is your first time attempting to
knit it can be confusing it can feel
very uncomfortable in your hands and
like you might be getting kind of sweaty
and then like the needles and the yarn
starts to do that squeaky thing that's
like really uncomfortable but I promise
eventually you'll find a way that's most
comfortable for you for holding your
yarn and holding your needles and
eventually you'll just be knitting your
own socks but it's soon I mean this is
really it this is knitting this is all
you really need to know if you want to
knit something this video is actually I
guess technically a reboot I guess you
could say of my first video on this
channel or I did a how to knit video and
that was back in 2014 so a long time ago
and I wanted to do a new video just
because that video was my first video
and so I kind of didn't know what I was
really doing and I feel like now I can
maybe explain things a little better
hopefully and that first video had like
an annoying background soundtrack that a
lot of people didn't like and so
hopefully this new video is at least
slightly a better explanation but the
cool thing is is that the the technique
doesn't change I mean I'm showing you
the exact same thing that I showed you
in that video from a long time ago so
you can go back and watch that video I'm
showing you the exact same pattern of
scooping off the loops and adding new
loops to it so when you're finished with
that second row now you can see a little
bit more of what we're doing we've built
up the row a little bit more so we've
got more stitches we've got two layers
of stitches now
and I'm just gonna keep going so I'm
gonna flip my work over again
so you always want the working yarn or
the yarn that's attached to the ball of
yarn you always want that part of the
yarn at the very start of your needle so
you can dive right into it and start
knitting the third row yeah the third
row and I'm going to now do not be
alarmed I'm not like super fast knitting
I have pressed fast forward and what I'm
gonna do is I'm gonna just speed through
a couple more rows just so I can grow
this out a little bit more and you can
get a better idea of what your project
should look like as you go along so this
is what I have after knitting a few more
rows I think I did maybe five or six
more rows here and hopefully this gives
you a clearer picture of what it is
we're doing here so you're basically
building up these rows of loops and you
should have this kind of nice uniform
fabric of little bumps that are all in
these nice little rows and it should
look the same on either side so you've
got the same pretty much the same look
on either side it's okay obviously if
you've messed up or if you've got a
little bit of gap here or there even
mine's not perfect here like at the
beginning and on the edges it's not as
clean as it totally could be but that's
totally fine it's knitting it's not the
end of the world it's supposed to be
just a fun meditative thing that you're
doing really so from here I'm just gonna
keep doing what I was doing I'm going to
go right into my rows and keep knitting
and making it longer and longer and the
more rows you do the more this is gonna
grow out and at least from mine this
could be a very skinny scarf but it
could be a scarf if I make it long
enough so you can do that your other
option would be to finish it up if you
want to learn how to cast off
and actually learn how to get the
project off of these needles I've got
another video up that I'll show you
where I actually walk you through how to
cast off the stitches so how to end the
project you don't just slip the needles
off obviously there is a certain way of
getting the project off of your needle
so in that video I cover that so feel
free to check that out if you want to
learn how to finish up your knitting
project the other option is to learn the
second stitch in knitting so knitting is
basically two stitches this first stitch
that you've just learned now in this
video is called the knit stitch so
knitting the second stitch to learning
is called the purl stitch pyou r-l and
that stitch is kind of mm not quite the
opposite of the knit stitch but it works
the yarn a different way and when you
combine that purl stitch with the knit
stitch you can create different types of
fabrics so that's how you get like a
ribbed sweater or how you can make
what's kind of how you can make cables
or the stockinette stitch that you see
in like normal t-shirts and that kind of
thing that is the combination of
knitting and purling so if you want to
learn how to do that second stitch it is
a little bit more complicated than the
knit stitch but it's basically the same
principles it's just a different
movement of the needles if you want to
learn the purl stitch check out that
video if you want to learn how to finish
casting off your project check out my
video on how to cast off your knitting
otherwise just keep on knitting
until this grows into a named enormous
scarf hopefully that was helpful and now
you are a knitting master well on your
way to knitting your own pair of socks
or hat remember to Like and subscribe if
you found this to be particularly
helpful and also definitely check out my
videos that I have that kind of build
off the basics of knitting if you want
to learn how to knit socks or not I've
got videos for that too otherwise I will
see you next time
