Confused First-Timer

How-to Questions
1

Hello! I decided that I wanted to learn how to knit because it seemed like a soothing activity. I have been watching Youtube tutorials and decided I was going to knit a square or a scarf or something, I just wanted to practice.

So, I did the casting on with a slip knot and I have a long 15" tail because that is what the video says to do - but they never explain what to do with it, or if you are supposed to incorporate it into your knitting and if so why only 15"? I was just practicing my first row and I kept using up my tail and then pulling it apart to do it again.

I was just doing a basic knit stitch. In the video they showed how to knit stitch with one needle and your hand, and I was following along and doing the stitch but they did not show which side the tail was on vs. the working yarn (so what side goes behind your thumb, and the other behind index finger).

I hope this is making sense. :frowning:

Will all of the stitches I learn use the tail? Should I just pull out a bunch of yarn so I have a super long tail and that way I will never run out?

So, what is the deal with the tail? I need to know before I venture on to trying my second row.

Thanks.

2

Hi and welcome to both the forum and to knitting.

The tail isn’t used to knit, you always knit with the yarn from the ball or skein that you have. If you make a garment you can leave the tail long and use it to seam two pieces together, otherwise, when you’re finished with your scarf or square, you would just weave in the start and end tails. If you’re making something flat, like a scarf, I generally wouldn’t leave the tail as long as 15".

Something really good to make to practise stitches on and have something usable at the end is dish cloths. They’re usually about 6" square and are quick to make and useful too, I started this way. Cotton is best for them. Or you could just keep practising a few rows and them pull it out and do it again until you’re comfortable.

There are some great free videos on this forum too, well worth looking at. And we’re happy to answer questions and offer encouragement too. :muah:

3

Thanks so much. :slight_smile:

Okay, so I am glad ot hear that you don’t knit with the tail, however I don’t understand how you do the knit stitch after casting on without it? You separate the 2 threads after putting the slip knot on the needle, and you do the knit stitch in order to build that first row on the one needle. How do you do that with just one end of the thread? Why does every tutorial video seem to always knit with the tail?

I wish I knew somebody who knits, this is very hard to learn online, much more confusing than I expected. I will try the videos in the forum you suggested, I hope they can clear things up. I really can’t practice without understanding where to take the wool from.

4

Let’s start with your last question about knitting with the tail. My guess is that what you’re seeing is the long tail cast on, a very common cast on which does use that long tail. It sounds like youre working a knitted on cast on which is different from the long tail co.

After the cast on, regardless of which you use, the tail piece is dropped and you knit with the end coming from the ball of yarn. Every knitted piece is one long strand of yarn interlooped in regular intervals.

So with your cast on, you’re just starting the process of working with just the ball end of the yarn a bit earlier.

5

It sounds like you may still be casting on? In that case, you’ve probably seen a video for long tail cast on, which is the first video on this page. If that’s where you’re at, then you use both the tail and the wool from the ball to do the cast on stitches, after that you only use the wool from the ball.

Is this the stage you’re at, or have you successfully cast on a number of stitches?

6

Thanks for the fast responses. I really want to get to actually knitting something rather than practicing and unravelling over and over. I know I will feel so silly about this when I become a knitting expert, but I actually thought all of the Casting On stitches I was doing was the actual knitting part. I am starting to practice my KS and PS right now.

I was using a long-tail cast on for my first attempts, the few videos a friend recommended all used this method so I assumed that was just the way you do it. These videos all began with a long tail, forming a slip knot, and then continuing to do the casting on stitches with the remainder of the tail. Now that I have watched some of the beginner videos from this website it makes much more sense and I realized that the entire first row on the needle was all casting on and I would not begin my knit stitch until I began my rows… Have I got that right?

I just have a couple questions in regards to the video.

For the KH videos she did not bother to do a slip knot to begin at all, she just immediately started her casting on stitches with her hand and a needle - but every other random youtube video I had watched previously usually showed people doing the knot before they continued to cast on. Why would you use the slip knot, or not use the slip knot? I am going to try it the KH way this time around, but I can’t help but wonder.

Even though she used up most of her tail there was a piece hanging out and she said that it would just be cut off later and I haven’t gotten to that point in the videos (watching through the first time, then knitting along the second time, haven’t reached the end yet) so I am not sure if this is just a very obvious point I am missing, or if I will get to it later. I am just confused as to how you cut off what is left of the tail, the little bit hanging out of the beginning of your casting on row, without everything unravelling?

I think that I want to get in the habit of slipping the first stitch as the KH video shows in order to keep my edges neat, but some of the things I have read have said that you always slip as Purl, and then you end the row with Knit. Is that always true? If that is true, can you slip the first stitch as Purl and only use the Knit for the rest of every row?

I am sorry if these questions have obvious answers. I have done more reading about knitting in the past few days than I have actually practising.

I actually picked up knitting because I thought it would be relaxing and EASY. Ha! I am very surprised by how challenging it is to start on your own, but I think that it will be something I will find enjoyable and relaxing - eventually - so I want to stick with it. :stuck_out_tongue:

7

Welcome!
Casting on gets you started and it is part of the knitting but you’ll continue with knit or purl sts that are usually different from the cast on. You’ve got it right, after the cast on, you’ll start whatever pattern stitch you want, knit, purl or some variation of these two.
Long tail gives a very nice edge but there are other cast ons that work well too.
Either starting the cast on with a slip knit or a loop over the needle works. It depends on which you think gives a neater edge stitch. Often in knitting a sweater, that edge stitch becomes part of the seam.
About that left over tail. You don’t want to cut it off close to the cast on. Weave it into the cast on edge by threading it through a tapestry needle. You’ll only need about 6inches to do this. Weave in for about 4-6sts in one direction and then back in the opposite direction. Then cut the end. This’ll hide the tail and secure it so that it can’t pull out of the knitting.
Knitting isn’t the same if you try to unravel from the top, near the needle down to the cast on or from the cast on up to the working needle. Try it out on a practice swatch and you’ll see.

Slipping the first stitch and knitting the last is one way to get a neat chain edge. You can do whatever stitch you want between the first and the last. The chain edge just requires using that first and last stitch.
There’s always something new to learn in knitting. That’s the fun of every day. You’re questions are all good ones. Keep asking and keep practicing. It isn’t so easy in the beginning but it becomes more enjoyable as you get over the first steps.

8

I have been knitting for a few hours now. I can do the long tail Cast On very quickly and surprisingly neatly. I have been working on my Knit Stitch and have done a few rows before pulling the yarn off and starting from scratch a few times now, and it is hard.

At first I thought I should try Continental because I’ve seen a few posts here saying that long-time English knitters have a hard time making the switch and warned newbies to start early but I absolutely could not get it to work. What kind of sorcery is this? Haha. So I switched to the Knit Stitch and practiced that for awhile.

I can do it, it is just sort of hard to keep everything neat and even and every few stitches I get a loose sort of bulge and I am not quite sure why. I would knit the stitch and then have to press the back of the needle against my belly to balance it so I could grope at the loop to pry off the left needle in order to complete the stitch. I am getting a bit better at using the needle to budge it up though. I am not sure if my Cast On stitched are too tight, it is easy to pull through, it’s just getting that loop off without making it look like a tangled mess between the needles I need to fix. The next stitch tightens the one before it up most of the time, but am I supposed to pull on the working yarn to tighten it up before moving on to the next stitch?

The left over tail is 4-6" and it gets in the way, I am not sure where to put it to keep it out of the way of my knit stitch. Maybe I just have too many stitches I am trying to move over, but I can’t really weave it in very well with one row, and I don’t quite understand what you are saying by going in the other direction, but I will do more reading.

I would like to make a swatch or a washcloth but I am not sure how many stitches to make and I have always been terrible and hated math. I looked at some patterns for washcloths but a lot were saying to Cast On 3 stitches and then move on to the next row, and that sounds like it would be a super tiny washcloth. I am not quite sure how that works exactly. There are probably knit-a-long videos on Youtube that will have people doing a whole project and saying exactly how many stitches to do until the end and once I see how the proportions are supposed to work I am sure it will click and all make sense. I can’t wrap my head around it right now, but it is 4am so I am sure I am just tired.

My hands are sore. Once I master these stitches the motions will be much more smoothe and probably easier on my hands, right? Again, I would do Continental (I read that it was easier on your wrists) but my hands are just not steady enough. All of you Cont knitter out there, wow, I am impressed because it is hard!

I am a bit frustrated but I feel like I made actual progress today and I am having fun, even if it is challenging. I found myself looking forward to having my boyfriend go to bed so I could have some time alone to practice. :smiley:

9

Don’t pull on the working yarn to tighten up the previous stitch. You should find a comfortable way to tension the yarn by looping it over a finger or in and out of a couple of fingers. That will keep an even tension on the yarn so that you won’t need an extra step to tighten each stitch

Yes, with only one row, it’s difficult to weave in the tail. Usually, I wait until the end of the entire piece to weave in but you could do it after a few rows. Weave in one directions for several sts and then come back in the reverse direction along the next row, sort of a U-shape.

The washcloths that start with 3 sts increase so that you’re knitting a triangle from one corner. At the widest point you’ll decrease to form approximately a diamond shape by the end.

10

Try this as a simple pattern for a wash cloth:

Cast on 32 stitches

Row 1: Knit 4, purl 4, repeat between *s to end of row.
Row 2: Repeat row 1.

Row 3: Purl 4, knit 4, repeat between *s to end of row.
Row 4: Repeat row 3.

Repeat rows 1 - 4 until cloth is the desired size.

I’ll try and find a photo to add.

Here you go, not the best picture because of the striping of the cotton I used, but this is a lovely, soft cloth for either doing dishes or for yourself.

11

The slip knot or not, is literally a matter of preference. Either works equally well.

Oddly enough, the only time I use a slip knot in a cast on is for socks. The rest of the time I use Amy’s method. Maybe the sock videos I watched when learning how to make them used a slip knot? I’m all about using the method thats most comfortable and easy, both for myself and others. :wink:

You mentioned some discomfort in another post. Your hands may well be sore, they’re doing work they’re not used to doing yet. Stretching your fingers and wrists can help, as can taking more frequent breaks while you’re learning.

It sounds like you’re moving along your learning curve quite nicely. :cheering:

ETA: the simplest dish/washcloth is done in all knits, also called garter stitch. cast on about 35 stitches (more if you like) and just knit every row, until the piece is as long as your cast on. Then you get to bind off!

12

Thank you so much! I’m going to work on that pattern tonight! :smiley:

13

Which is better?

The one that works better for you!

I think you said Continental knitting is harder for your to manage. I find English much more difficult than Continental. My way is not the right way, except for me, and I’m always looking for little ways to do things better. If you’re more comfortable with English style then knit English style! The important thing to focus on is that you’ve made great progress, you have learned to knit!!! :woot: It does get easier and I find that it is very therapeutic, helps me clear my mind and think things through, and I just feel better.

PS: There are other styles of knitting you can explore later.

14

Does anyone else have very shaky hands? I do. Having the burst shot option on my camera phone is the only reason I can take pictures at all, I can’t keep my hands steady, and it has been a bit challenging with the knitting. Pushing the loop off the left needle once I’ve done the stitch has been the biggest issue so far. I’ve dropped a few stitches while fiddling.Did knitting help with your shakiness or was it just something you have to adapt to?

I find that I have to “warm up” my hands before I start knitting, is anyone else like that? My first few stitches are a few clumsy and then I get into the rhythm and it gets easier. I did a few practice Cast On sets before stopping and I realized I could not do the Purl Stitch and was watching a show with my boyfriend so I couldn’t watch the tutorial at that moment so I stopped. I’ve now decided to do one whole washcloth as just a knit stitch, and the next one I will do with only Purl (if that is okay?) and then I should be proficient in both to move on to something more challenging - hopefully. However, I definitely need more washcloths so it is productive no matter what! :woot:

I realized as I was trying to get started with my knit stitch that I was doing it the Continental way. I can do it, but I am so slow and clumsy because I haven’t really felt my way into regulating my tension just yet, and indeed English has been much easier since I switched. I’ll stick with English until I am used to knitting and will come back to give Continental a go a bit later.

Ultimately, my goal is to knit a black and yellow striped scarf for my Dad, who is a big Boston fan. I’m home for Christmas this year, so I am hoping that I can complete one scarf by Christmas? Is that doable, do you think?

15

Warming up your hands with a few exercises may help with flexibility and with the soreness, as JPC mentioned. Holding the needles very tightly contributes to soreness too. If you’re doing this you might try relaxing your hold on the needles.
Your idea of doing the washcloths in all knit and all purl is a good one. Either one will give you a garter stitch pattern and be good practice.
The idea of the black and yellow scarf for your Dad is very thoughtful. Getting it done depends on how much time you have for knitting (and keeping in mind that you do want to add in frequesnt breaks to help relax your hands). If you don’t finish, give him the promise of the scarf next month or whenever it is finished. Don’t add the pressure of a deadline to everything else that you have going on as a new knitter.
Do you know why your hands are shakey? It could be muscle tension from the tight grip on the needles or it could be something else. You might consider consulting a doctor about it.

16

That’s a thoughtful gift for your Dad. :heart: I’ll have to agree with salmonmac about time to completion because it varies from person to person. And a tight deadline can make a project feel like work, especially when the goal of learning to knit is to relax.

Shaky hands! Oh yes! My mom and I both inherited a persistent hand tremor from my grandmothers family. It’s most obvious with slow smooth movements, and it made learning to knit more difficult. But once I got the knack of knitting and gained a little speed it was much easier. Now, I hardly notice it when knitting.

Warming up is never a bad idea.

Regardless of whichever method you decide to learn, I think learning how to hold(tension) the yarn is the part that takes the longest. Not to confuse, but there are people who knit English, but purl Continental for stockinette. The point is that there is no one right way to knit or to hold yarn, as long as the stitches work up true, and what you do works for you! There are no knitting police. :wink:

Have fun with your knit stitch cloth! They’re quite durable…

17

I actually decided to learn how to knit as therapy and something to help with pain management. I’m 25 and a student, and a guy ran a red light and hit me head on last February and my right leg got pretty messed up. I have a lot of nerve damage, constant pain, and I’ve lost a lot of function. I walk with a cane now after several months of physio therapy to get from a wheelchair to crutches to a cane now. I wear two braces on my right leg but I can walk so that is what matters, just not for very long. It’s been an ordeal, but the thing I am most worried about is the pain management.

I’ve been taking oxycodone (Percoset) every single day since last February and I know that it is not a long term solution and I don’t want to become a pill junkie, yeah? I’m getting to the point where I need more or something stronger and one narcotic leads to another and another and it snowballs from there. Knitting is a distraction, it is a repetitive motion that requires dexterity and therefore attention. So my plan is that whenever my leg gets to be too painful I am going to try and knit and put off the painkillers as long as I can. If I take less I will knit while I am waiting for it to kick in and keep me occupied because I would have only taken enough to take the edge off. I need something that will distract me so I am not just watching the clock and thinking about the pain. Not only will knitting be relaxing and fun, it can be that distraction. That is why I am so motivated to learn. I am trying to be proactive before I start a pain management therapy program in January.

Sorry for the personal essay. My hands have always been shaky, but I am taking tons of medication, 20+ pills a day to deal with neuropathic pain and so far it is making me shaky, worse than I was. So that’s my shaky hand sob story! :aww:

I was doing well on my first knit stitch washcloth last night but when I was moving over the last stitch from the left needle to complete a row I dropped it and then it was all tangled and falling apart and I did not know how to fix it. Starting again right now. :slight_smile:

18

If you live anywhere a knitting/yarn shop, the staff will be happy to assist you in person with difficulties. (Sometimes, describing a knitting problem on the Internet gets pretty difficult. :slight_smile: ) I am, of course, assuming that you have help on transportation or can get help occasionally. (fingers crossed on that score…)

Chronic pain here, too, from a combination of sports injuries, a bicycle accident (1984), and a car accident (1995), compounded by several years of no orthopedic attention after the car accident b/c the leading orthopedic practice in the East Bay (S.F. Bay Area) said my MRI was “negative” and my health insurer’s “second opinion” was from someone else in the same practice. :wall:

By the time I finally found an ortho who actually thought to take an [B]X-ray[/B] (January 2007), there was no cartilage left in either knee, and I had been bone-on-bone for several years. :shock: Cold sweat each step, each day.

As long as you’re conscientious about the meds, take them: [B]restorative sleep [/B]is the most important part of rehab, followed only by physical therapy and follow-through on PT exercises. As you no doubt have discovered (and congratulations on your progress!). :cheering:

So. I know about distracting oneself with a low-key, repetitive, physical activity! Mine started off as machine-piecing for quilts, since at that time I was on a long-term hiatus from yarn/handwork due to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Now that I’ve been released from the hiatus, I’ve resumed crochet and learned to knit (May 2011).

Keep it up! The videos on this site are helpful, too; I watched some of them [B]several[/B] times. The videos are endlessly patient. :slight_smile:

Best wishes to you for an ultimately complete recovery.

19

Oh my, that’s quite the series of events…:hug:

Congratulations on your incredible recovery so far, and your stick-to-itiveness with PhysicalTerrorism!:thumbsup:

20

You’ve already overcome so much. You have what it takes to succeed. :thumbsup: