Spin-A-Yarn | Knit Stitch and a Free Pattern

After posting about my slouchy beanie here, I was so excited to hear that several of you would like to learn to knit and crochet. Well guess what? I can totally deliver! 

I am going to start the Spin-a-Yarn Knitting and Crocheting School, and YOU can be enrolled!All you have to do is check my blog every week on Wednesdays to learn something cool and new about working with yarn. I would love it so much if you were vocal and let me know specific things you're interested in learning. For example, go "Hey, I saw this cool sweater- how do they do this pattern?" or "Holy cow, how do I know if I want to knit a project or crochet it?" Speak your minds, friends! 

Today, I'm going to teach you the most basic of all knitting techniques- the knit stitch! Before you get knitting, though, you need to "cast on". Let me show you how to begin any, any, any project you will ever complete. I'm not quite a pro at creating how-to videos, so please excuse me as I experiment in this medium. For extra help, try visiting this website. 

How to cast on:

Now to create a knit stitch:

In most patterns, you'll need a combination of this stitch and a purl stitch (which I'll teach you about next week), and possibly some other interesting twists. For right now, though, I want to show you how much you can accomplish with this stitch. Since the weather finally decided to be winter-y in Utah (and hopefully in other parts of the country as well), a scarf may be very fitting and fun.  

SIMPLE KNIT SCARF PATTERN

This is the first pattern I ever knitted, and I still wear this scarf on occasion. (I actually learned this stitch from the super-cool aunt of my friend, Ashley, from Sloanbook.) The great thing here is that you can use any yarn you want. Pick your needle size based on the yarn you have chosen. 

• Cast on 15 stitches. 
• Knit across the entire row. 
• Continue to knit across each row until you have reached a desired length. (This could be anywhere from 30" long to 100" long based on your preference.) 
• Bind off and you're done (following this tutorial, I'll give you my version of binding off next week)! 
• You can even add fringe by cutting several sections of 10" long yarn. Gather 5 or 6 pieces of yarn, fold them in half, push the fold through any hole at the end of your scarf, and loop the ends through the loop. 

Now wear your awesome scarf with pride, and send me lots of pictures so I can post them next week!