How do I start knitting and what do I actually need?

Knitting has only two stitches. Everything else is those two in different orders, plus adding and removing stitches. The gap between beginner and competent is almost entirely about consistency of tension.

What you'll need

• A pair of 5mm needles, bamboo or wood rather than metal
• One ball of smooth double knitting yarn in a light colour
• Scissors and a blunt darning needle

Step by step

1. Buy smooth, light, plain yarn.Double knitting weight in a pale solid colour. Dark, fluffy, textured or variegated yarn hides your stitches, and being unable to see what you have done is the main reason beginners give up.
2. Start with 5mm bamboo or wooden needles.Large enough to see and to progress quickly, and wood grips the yarn so stitches do not slide off. Metal needles are slippery and unforgiving early on.
3. Learn to cast on.The long-tail cast on is the usual first choice — it gives a neat, elastic edge. Twenty to thirty stitches is plenty to practise on.
4. Learn the knit stitch.Needle in from front to left, yarn round, pull through, slip the old stitch off. Repeat until you stop having to think about it — that repetition is the actual learning.
5. Knit every row to make garter stitch.Ridged, flat, and very forgiving. It is the traditional first fabric because it does not curl at the edges the way stocking stitch does.
6. Then learn the purl stitch.The same stitch worked from the other side. Knit one row and purl the next and you have stocking stitch, which is the smooth fabric almost all jumpers are made from.
7. Watch a video as well as reading.Hand movements are much easier to copy than to describe. A short video of the specific stitch, watched a few times, is worth more than any written description.
8. Make a dishcloth, not a scarf.A scarf is a beginner classic and a bad idea — it is a hundred rows of the same thing, and most are abandoned. A dishcloth is finished in an evening and genuinely useful.
9. Expect your tension to be uneven at first.The first few rows will be tight and the later ones looser. This is entirely normal and it evens out with practice rather than with effort.
10. Learn to cast off.Knit two, lift the first over the second, repeat. Cast off loosely — a tight cast-off edge is the commonest finishing fault.
11. Practise a little and often.Twenty minutes most days builds the muscle memory far faster than a long session at the weekend.

Tips

• Light, smooth, plain yarn. Being able to see your stitches is most of learning to knit.
• Make a dishcloth first. Scarves are where beginner knitting goes to be abandoned.
• Bamboo needles grip the yarn. Metal ones drop stitches while you are still learning.

Common mistakes

• Starting with dark, fluffy or novelty yarn — You cannot see the structure of the stitches, so you cannot see what you did wrong or spot a dropped stitch until rows later.
• Choosing a scarf as a first project — It is hundreds of identical rows with no new skill and no visible progress, which is why so many are abandoned half-finished in a bag.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask