How do I knit letters into garter stitch?

Hi - I’m a beginner knitter, and I’m ambitiously attempting to knit a lower-case “k” into a project in garter stitch and I’m having trouble.

The problem is that when I need to pick up the color I’m knitting the letter in, the yarn is not where I need it to be. Does this mean I need to start knitting with an entirely new thread? Can anyone point me in the direction of a tutorial/video that can help me?

Thanks so much!
-Katie

It may mean that you need to carry the yarn across the back of some sts. You could look at the Free Video, Advanced Techs on Stranded or Fair Isle knitting. If you don’t want to carry the yarn across like that, you might consider doing duplicate st to make the letter, depending on how large it is. Here is a how-to for duplicate on garter st.