Knitting Pattern Tutorials

When you put it simply, knitting is the art of making fabric using 2 pointed sticks and a piece of string! Well, maybe that is simplifying things a little too much. But the truth is, only 2 stitches are needed to make knitted fabric. It's what we do with these 2 stitches that create texture and pattern in knitted items.

Most people start to knit using the "plain" or "garter" stitch. This stitch when used alone, makes a ridged fabric, with the stitches looking a little like a row of arches.

The other stitch used to make a smoother fabric is the "purl" stitch. One row is knit using garter stitch and the next is knitted using purl stitch. Repeating these 2 rows makes a fabric that looks like rows of "v"s on one side (sometimes referred to as the right side) and rows of arches on the other (sometimes referred to as the wrong side).

It is almost impossible to describe in words how to work these stitches, but there are thousands of helpful videos on the Internet at sites such as YouTube. Just search for" how to knit videos" to see what is available.

Once you are comfortable with the basic stitches, it's time to see how to use them to make a more interesting fabric. Three popular types of knitting are Fairisle, Aran and Lace. Let's have a look at what is involved in these knitting styles.

Fairisle combines different coloured yarns to create a pattern. The main fabric is knitted using 1 colour and the patterned areas are knitted with additional colours. The yarn that is not being used is carried or stranded across the wrong side of the fabric until needed. Fairisle jumpers are extremely warm, as the strands of yarn on the wrong side of the garment provide an extra layer of yarn.

Aran knitting is created by twisting and moving stitches to make raised textures in the fabric. Stitch patterns such as cables (they look a little like rope or chain loops) are made by holding a small number of stitches on a spare needle - double pointed cable needles will do the trick, then knitting the following stitches before coming back to knit the stitches held on the cable needle. For instance, to knit an 8 stitch cable you slip 4 stitches onto the cable needle and hold at the back or front of your work, knit the next 4 stitches, then go back to the cable needle and knit those 4 stitches. This creates a twist in the 8 stitches. You can also create knitted diamonds etc by progressively moving a number of stitches to the left or right to make a diagonal raised line on the knitted fabric.

Lace knitting uses a combination of plain and purl stitches along with a series of holes tomake a lacy pattern. To make the hole you simply move the yarn in front of the needle just before you knit the next stitch. This creates an extra loose stitch. To make sure you don't end up with too many stitches you then knit 2 stitches together ) to bring the stitch count back to the original. The combination of holes and stitches knit together are what makes the flowing lacy patterns that are so popular for baby clothes, shawls and vintage style homewares.