Astraknots
making love visible one stitch at a time
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If you are just learning to knit, we'll give you step by step instructions for how to do the knit and purl stitches.
Whether you hold your yarn in your right hand (English) or left (Continental), the stitches produced are the same!
beginning: knit and purl stitches
Knit English Style Knit Continental Style Purl English Style Purl Continental Style
the knit stitch
knit stitch - english style
knit stitch - continental style
the purl stitch
purl stitch - english style
purl stitch - continental style
knitting style
english style
English style knitting, a.k.a. "throwing" means that you wrap the working yarn with your right hand. The term "throwing" comes from the fact that you have to take your right hand off of the needle to wrap the yarn -- that is for right handed knitters, some left handed knitters knit continentally with their right hand --. If you naturally hold the working yarn in your right hand, you would be working English style.
continental style
Continental style, a.k.a. European style knitting means you wrap the working yarn with your left hand. This is often said to be the faster way of knitting because you do not remove your left hand from the needle to wrap the yarn. It can be a very effective technique if you are doing two-color or fair-isle knitting. If you naturally hold the working yarn in your left hand, then Continental knitting is probably your style.
more knitting videos
identifying knit vs. purl stitches
learn how to identify what purl and knit stitches look like
identifying garter st vs. stockinette st (St st)
learn what garter stitch and stockinette stitch are and how to tell the difference
cast on and bind off
watch videos of how to make a slip knot and long-tail cast on, how to bind off, how to add yarn, and identify knit stitches and purl stitches
basic shaping: the increase and decrease
watch videos the basic increase and decrease stitches
beyond beginner skills
watch videos of knitting in the round, other ways to cast on, cabling techniques and colorwork
