The Knit Stitch - Garter Stitch

 The knit stitch is the most fundamental stitch to learn. With this stitch you are knitting and can make many wonderful things with just the knit stitch, such as scarves, coasters and placemats.

How to do the Knit Stitch

1. Start by casting on as many stitches as you need, in whichever method you would like.

2. Hold your needle with the stitches in your left hand and using your right hand insert the other needle into the first stitch.

Continental

English

3. Wrap the yarn around the tip of the right needle in a count-clockwise direction.

Continental

English

4. Pull the yarn through the cast-on stitch.

Continental

English

5. Slip the cast-on stitch off the left needle, leaving the newly made stitch on the right.

Continental

English

6. Insert your right needle into the next stitch on the left and repeat steps 3-6 until you are at the end of the row, or till you have completed the number of stitches required for a pattern you are following.

Continental

English

Identifying the stitch

The knit stitch can be identified in the work by either looking at the reverse of the stitch which is a horizontal bump or the front of the work which looks like a little V.

The image above is of the garter stitch and I have highlighted a stitch.

Reading the Knit Stitch in patterns

In knitting patterns this stitch shows up in a couple of ways. You could either see it as ‘knit’ or abbreviated to ‘K’. normally you will see this with a number after it to show you how many of the stitch the pattern would like you to complete. Therefore K3 would mean the pattern would like you to perform 3 knit stitches. Sometimes a pattern will say ‘knit to the end of the row’ this means the pattern would like you to complete the row in knit stitches, other times the pattern could say ‘Row (no.): Knit’ this would mean the pattern wants you to knit the designated row solely in knit stitches.

Common Mistakes

Knitting through the back loop

It is very important to always insert your needle from the front and the left, otherwise you will twist the legs of your stitches. If you happen to do this you can twist the stitch back on the next row by slipping it off the needle and turning it around.

Dropping a stitch

This can happen for many reasons, the best way to avoid this is to secure your stitches with your fingers while knitting. However don't worry if this happens it can be fixed. If your work has not been pulled too tight you can often just pick the stitches back up. If the stitches have unraveled for a row or two you can use a crochet hook to knit them back together.

The Garter Stitch

The garter stitch is the most basic of knitting patterns that is the result of knitting standard knit stitches across all rows. It creates a very stretchy and fully reversible fabric that was once used for garters and similar hems that require a tight grip. The resulting texture looks a bit like little waves and is quite fluffy.

In knitting patterns, the garter stitch is sometimes abbreviated with g st.