As a beginner knitter, finding good tutorials to help you get started is kinda hard. This is my personal “library” of good knitting tutorials for the most basic stitches, increases, decreases and some fancy things. Most of them are in video form.
Please note:
Despite being a continental knitter, I am listing both continental and English style tutorials. If you’re a rookie, it might take some rewatching in order to mentally translate from one style to the other, but I’m sure you’ll learn it in no time – it is not hard.
Basics
Basics that are often taken for granted
Swatching
Casting On
- How to Cast On in the Middle of your Work
- Provisional Cast On
- Turkish Cast On
my favourite cast on for sock knitting - Judy’s Magic Cast On for sock knitting
- The Alternating Cable Cast On for 1x1 rib
Increases
- Knit Left Loop (KLL)
- Make1, Make1Left and Make1Right
(M1, M1L and M1R) - Make1 Purl (M1P)
- Yarn Over (YO)
- Double yarn over (YO twice)
- German Short Rows
- Calculator – Even Stitch Increases
This is incredibly helpful if a pattern just tells you to »increase stitches evenly«
Decreases
Cast-Offs/Bind-Offs
- Comparison of 12 bind-off methods
compared by flare and stretchiness - Simple Stretchy Bind-Off (i.e. for socks)
- Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Sewn Bind-off
- Icelandic Bind-Off
- Stretchy, perfect for garter stitch
Finishing
Knitting Lace
Colourwork
Stabilizing
- Basic Crocheting for Knitters A roundup of the basic crochet stitches that can be used i.e. for stabilizing your knitting
- A neat little Edging for Garter Stitch
Fixing Things
- Brioche/Fisherman’s Rib: How to fix dropped stitches in Brioche and Fisherman’s Rib
- Sweater Rescue:
How to cut your knitting horizontally to fix things A great way to adjust a finished sweater without unraveling large parts of it (or the entire thing)
Sweaters/Cardigans
- The Best Way to Start a Knitting Project
Karen’s very wise insight on why you should always start a bigger project with the sleeves, if you can - Buttonholes and Buttonbands
A very detailed podcast episode on this topic - How to stop your hem from flipping up
- Top 5 Reasons Why a Sweater Goes Wrong
Socks
Hats
- How to Knit a Double Brim
I used this on my Oslo Hat where you’re supposed to pick up and knit stitches along the cast-on edge
In Between
Other Interesting Things
Crochet
- Magic Ring: How to crochet a flat circle
- Decrease: invisible sc2tog
