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
Casting On
- How to Cast On in the Middle of your Work
- Provisional Cast On Two Step Method
- Turkish Cat On
my favourite cast on for sock knitting - Judy’s Magic Cast On for sock knitting
Increases
- 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
- Icelandic Bind-Off
Stretchy, perfect for garter stitch - Simple Stretchy Bind-Off (i.e. for socks)
Finishing
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
Fixing Things
- 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)
