Glossary

Slipknot

2012-01-04T22:13:00Z

A slipknot is a knot that tightens up easily once you place it on the needle.

1. With the tail end of the yarn in your palm, wrap the working yarn around your index and middle fingers, and lay the working yarn across the tail end, forming an X.

2. Spread your fingers slightly and push the working yarn through your fingers from the back of your hand.

3. Pull this loop up slightly while holding the tail end of the yarn to form a knot.

4. Place the loop onto the knitting needle and pull working yarn to adjust the tension.

Purl Stitch: English Method

2012-01-04T22:08:00Z

Step 1: As with the knit stitch, start by holding the needle with the stitches in your left hand and the empty needle in your right. (This tutorial demonstrates the English method of purling.)

Step 2: Pull the working yarn in front of the needles. Insert the tip of the right needle into the front of the first stitch on the left needle, from right to left (Figure 1).

Step 3: With the yarn in front of the needles, travel around the tip of right needle in a counterclockwise movement, passing between the needles from right to left and back around to the front again (Figure 2).

Step 4: Pull the right needle, with the loop of working yarn around it, down and back (moving away from you) through the stitch on the left needle (Figure 3). Slip the old stitch off the left needle and tighten the new stitch on the right needle. You have your first purl stitch.

Repeat this process through the end of the row. When you have purled every stitch on the row, you will have an empty needle in your left hand. Swap needles so that the "full" needle is in your left hand and the empty one in your right, and you're ready to begin the next row.

Knit Stitch: English Method

2012-01-03T21:40:00Z

1. Cast on 20 stitches (or enough to practice several stitches).

2. Hold the needle with the cast-on stitches in your left hand, the empty needle in your right hand. Hold the needles a few inches from the tips, between your thumb and first couple of fingers.

3. With the working yarn in back of the needle, insert the right needle into the front of the first stitch (the one closest to the tip) from left to right (Figure 1, below).

4. Now with your right index finger, bring the yarn between the needles from back to front (Figure 2).

5. With your right hand, pull the right needle-which now has a loop of yarn around it-toward you and through the stitch (Figure 3).

You now have a stitch on the right needle. All you need to do to finish the stitch is to slip the old stitch off the left needle. Tug gently on the working yarn to secure the new stitch. Repeat this process through the end of the row! When you have knitted every stitch on the row, you will have an empty needle in your left hand. Swap needles so that the "full" needle is in your left hand and the empty one is in your right hand, and do it all over again!

Abbreviations

2010-08-17T21:37:00Z

Download a handy PDF file of commonly used abbreviations found in Interweave Knits and Knitscene. Click here to download.

Slip Stitch Colorwork

2010-02-18T19:07:00Z