By E. Sullivan

Knitted garments are very attractive and comfortable to wear. Many people who are not familiar with knitting may be intimidated by the process of knitting or impatient because of the process. The key to making a successful piece is having a good start and this can be done very easily if you know how. If you are able to start successfully you will see that the process if very easy because of its repetition. Many people find that knitting is relaxing because it is repetitive and because of the knowledge that some things are worth the amount of time put into them.

So, the first step is to start and this is called Casting On. This can be done with any kind of yarn and any gauge needle.

Step One: Unwind the yarn from skein. Make a loop and knot it. Make sure the looped knot is close to the end. This is your first cast-on and it is also the beginning of your garment. The purpose of the knot is to make sure your garment does not unravel. Make sure that the size of the loop is close to the size of your needle’s gauge.

Step Two: Insert the needle into the loop. Depending on how many cast ons you have to do, place the first cast on towards the base of the needle. If it is two tight do not worry, it will adjust to the size of the needle.

Step Three: Take the yarn between your fingers and make a loop. Put it onto the needle so that it is locked into place. If the loop can be unraveled, it has been done incorrectly. Also, depending upon how tight you want your stitches to be, make sure that there is no excess amount of yarn in between your cast-ons.

Step Four: Look at how many cast-ons your knitting pattern calls for and then repeat step three. When you are done casting on, you can start knitting from your last cast-on.

Emily is a knitting enthusiast who loves to shop with the friendly people at Knitch for all of her knitting items, especially Lantern Moon Circular Rosewood Needle and great yarns.

Article Source: E. Sullivan == A How-To – Casting on Knitting Needles

By E. Sullivan

Knitting with circular needles may seem confusing if you’ve never used them before, but it’s not as difficult as it looks. Joining the stitches into a round is the hardest part, but all it takes is a careful eye and a little practice.

Once you have your gauge established and have cast on as many stitches on your circular needle as you need (making sure to double-check the gauge and the number of stitches, especially if you’re following a pattern, because who wants to have to rip out all that hard work and start over again?), you will need to make sure the stitches are not twisted.

Grasp the ends of the needle in your hands and gently stretch the needle out, so that it lies in a straight line rather than bending into its default circular position. Doing this makes it a bit easier to see the stitches, particularly if you hold the needle down against a flat surface. Often, when you’re knitting something with more than fifty stitches or so and the stitches are all bunched up, they will twist around the needle, so that the bottoms of several stitches are on the same side of the needle as the tops of some other stitches. If this is the case, get a friend or something heavy to hold down the other end of the needle while you carefully turn the stitches so that all of them line up.

You can make sure the stitches aren’t twisted without stretching the needle out so that it lies flat, but it’s harder to see all the stitches at once this way. Experienced knitters, if they aren’t paying careful attention at this stage, often find after they have joined the stitches into a round that their stitches are twisted. And unless you’re knitting a moëbius loop or feel like ripping out your work and starting again, twisted stitches should be avoided.

Once all your stitches are aligned-and you should keep a close eye on them until they’re joined in a round-take up the needle in your hands. Insert the end of the needle that the yarn attached to the skein is coming from into the top stitch at the other end of the needle and knit or purl that stitch, turning the work if need be. Your stitches are now joined into a round and you’re ready to knit!

Emily is a knitting enthusiast who loves to get her Artyarns yarn and circular knitting needles from the great people at Knitch Knitting.

Article Source: E. Sullivan == Joining Stitches on a Circular Knitting Needle Into a Round