Stitches - Knitting Question-Casting On?

Knitting Question-Casting On?

Hi! I just bought myself a pair of knitting needles, a crochet hook, and two balls of yarn. My needle size is size 8 US, 5.0 mm, my crochet hook size is H-8 US, 5 mm. I checked the label on my ball of yarn, and the sizes for both crochet hook and needles are correct. I am a beginning knitter. (I am 13). I checked out a book from my library on knitting. The book shows 10 steps, from making the basic slip knot loop to casting on one stitch. I am on step 8, 9, and. (Confused in between). The direction for directions 8 and 9 say, "Using the tip of your right hand needle, pull the yarn through the slipknot and put the new loop onto the needle into your left hand." Step 10 says, "To cast on the rest of your stitches, put your empty needle between the last two loops on the left hand needle instead of in the loop, as you did with the first stitch. Do not pull the new stitches too tightly. You should be able to slide them up and down your needle easily etc. I am really confused. My book is called "Kids Knit".

Public Comments

hmmm im confused. but in my learn to knit book it says if you have any trouble go to a knitting store and ask someone. "knitters are nice people"
follow the steps for making a knit stitch, extend the loop a little bit, and put the loop onto the needle, then tighten it until it sits on the needle, not too loose, not too tight. repeat the process until you have the required # of foundation stitches.
At age 13, it might not be easy to get into a knitting store to ask someone, but if you can, that is the best thing - to watch someone do it, and have them watch you and show you what you're doing wrong. In the meantime, though, here are some links that might help. You can search for more online.
Return that book. I reccommend Klutz. Go to your local Michael's store and ask them for Klutz. They should point you in the right direction. The knitting is a green book with a green box with things you'll need. The book is a book with words and a visual for you to understand the steps better. They also teach you projects. That's what I did and now I'm a 12 year old knitting. Klutz crochet is good too, you should try that out. Any questions, just email me.
Since I do not knit, I can only offer you other resources for help... www.lionbrandyarn.com www.howtoknit.com www.learntoknit.com Your local Senior Center. Call and ask if anyone there can help you learn to knit. There are tons of Seniors that would love to teach you to knit and it would give them a chance to share passing down an art that used to be passed down by generations. that could be very rewarding for both of you. How about you local community college? Someone is bound to offer non credit classes. Do you have a local Community Education department? It usually runs through your local Parks and Rec. Contact the local High School and seek out the Home Ec Teacher. Most would love to sit down and teach someone that wants to learn. If they are not knitters, they are bound to have some contacts and resources for you. How about your local Home Extension Office or the local 4-H office? they have people there who can teach you or the resources to locate a couple of them for you. I sure hope this helps! I learned to crochet with a CD that I purchased at Joann Fabrics called Crochet Made Easy that is put out by Red Heart Yarn. I think it cost $6.99 and they had one called Knitting made easy. This was the best crochet help I could find. Good luck with your newfound talent!
Go to JoAnn Fabric or Micheals or AC MOORE the have a program to help people do alll sorts of crafts including knitting ps I knit a lot! The program really helps
i would first suggest that the book that you bought to be returned. then i suggest that you take a look at this video and it will visually teach you how to cast on. http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/cast-on
Take a long piece of yarn and hold it in your right hand. With the ball of thread on your left side make a loop. Take your needle and put it through the loop and pull some of the thread from your right hand through the loop and that should make your first cast on. Do this with the rest of the cast on stitches you need. If you hae too much thread on your right left just cut it off. It is better to have too much than too little and have to start over again. I know how to do this and it is hard to explain but with some practice you should be able to do it. Lots of luck and if you have any further probleme check my avitar.
I agree with the fellow posters that learning with the teacher right by you would be the best method. However, as you can't drive to the LYS (local yarn store), perhaps an at-home method would be best. I learn visually and have found the videos by KnittingHelp to be the absolute best. They have a collection of about 150 free videos for all kinds of techniques. The most important ones for you at this time would be: *** Long-Tail Cast-On: http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/cast-on It's the first one on this page. *** Knit Stitch: http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/knit-stitch I absolutely advise that you learn and use the Continental method for knitting. It's easier to do, takes less time to switch between knit and purl and overall is a great method. :-) An excellent first project is a scarf. You can make it longer or shorter by adding (or not) more rows. You can knit every single row and still get a great looking scarf. (Purl stitches can come after you're comfortable with knit.) And, if you knit every row, your work won't curl in at the sides. Just cast on as many stitches as looks like a normal scarf width. You don't have to be exacting as it will look awesome in the end. Once you've cast on, count how many stitches are on your needle. You'll need to remember this number. Then, just follow the video and knit across the row. Now count again. Do you have the same number of stitches? Great! You didn't miss one. If you did miss one, you'll probably just want to start over since you're right at the beginning. At first, count your stitches at the end of each and every row. After you get the hang of it, you can count less often. If you get further in the project and discover that you've lost a stitch somewhere, check out the Fixing Mistakes video titled Fixing a Run/Drop Stitch. It's about midway down this page: http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/knitting-tips I wish you the best of luck in your new hobby. It can be tremendous fun! Also, feel free to ask more questions if you get stuck. I'll be happy to answer.
If you can't get to a knitting store to get someone to help you, see if you can find the book called "Kids Knit." It helped me a lot when I first started.
This is called the "cable cast-on". Basically you are are learning the knit stitch, and using that to cast on. Go to Knittinghelp.com, and watch the video of the basic knit stitch. now, imagine that, instead of completing the stitch and putting it on to your right hand needle, you spin the stitch around and put it back on to the left hand needle. now, instead of having one stitch on your left hand needle, you have 2. keep doing this until you have the number of stitches you need on the left hand needle, and then start knitting. have fun!
Ok, the needle with the slip knot should be in your left hand. Hold the yarn you will knit with in whichever hand you have chosen and then, take the point of the right needle. Put it through the slip knot from the left side of the part of the stitch on the front of the left needle so the tip of the right needle comes out the righthand side of the slip knot. Wrap the yarn around the tip of the right needle counter clockwise. Now the tricky part, point the tip of the right needle slightly upwards so you trap the wrap against it, now duck it back through the slip knot. You should now have loops on both needles. Point your right needle slightly to the right so the needle tips are parallel to each other, and slip the stitch on the right needle onto the left needle. Pull the right needle out and you now have two stitches on the left needle. Do not pull them up tight, the stitches should hug the needle, not strangle it. Now put the right needle tip between the stitches under the left needle, but over the yarn strands under it so it pokes out from front to back, wrap the yarn around the right needle again, duck it back out so there's a stitch on the right needle, swing that parallel and put it on the left needle--3 stitches on the left needle. From this point on you will repeat this with the right needle between the last two stitches made and put on the left needle until you have enough new stitches, including the slip knot, that your pattern requires. Again your stitches should hug the needles so that they can move back and forth on the needles easily (hugging) if they have to be tugged or pushed hard, you've pulled them too tightly (this often happens to novice knitters) and they are strangling the needles. This, btw, is called knitting on and/or cable cast on, depending on your source, and it is a really nice cast on method that has nice elasticity to it without being sloppy. It can be confusing to learn to do at first, but once you get the hang of it, it is quite easy. There are some videos on how to knit on on YouTube, btw.
To answer your question about casting on stitches when you do steps 8and 9 this gives you 2 stitches on your lefthand needle. Now you have a space between them where you can put the right hand needle between the two stitches to pick up another loop and tranfer it to the lefthand needle . Now you have 3 stitches on your lefthand needle . Continue picking up a loop between the last 2 stitches on the lefthand needle until you have the required amount of stitches .D.
http://www.wikihow.com/Knit I looked this over and it has both directions and pictures. You might also check out youtube.com because they tend to have videos on everything. If you cannot understand the directions in a particular book...get rid of the book! Best of luck... Michelle
I started knitting when I was about your age. I was lucky that my grandma taught me the basics. Since then I've learned that there are many different ways to cast on. Someone else already suggested some online videos to check out. That should get you through it pretty well. After a while you will be a knitting like a pro. Don't give up. Knitting is great fun and even more fun is having the finished piece. Good luck.