Knitting is one of the many ways to turn a single strand of fiber into fabric; when you knit, you do that using two knitting needles. If you’ve ever had a beloved aunt or uncle knit you a sweater, you know what knitting looks like: even though the fabric seems like a solid thing, when you look closely at it, you can see the rows and rows of little stitches that went into making it. You might be surprised to look closely at other finer, smoother knit fabrics — a T-shirt, for example — and see that those, too, are made up of teeny-tiny stitches that are actually knit on a huge machine!
Knitting is a bit like riding a bike: it’s a little tricky to learn, but once you do, you never forget how. (You might think you’ve forgotten, but once you have the knitting needles and yarn in your hands, it usually comes right back to you.) For us, the very best way to learn a skill like knitting is to find someone who knows how to knit.
But if you don’t have a grandmother, uncle, friend, or babysitter who can help you in person, we’ve done our best to give you pictures and instruction that will help you learn. After you study our examples, you might even check out some online videos for a tiny bit more help. And even if you can ask an experienced knitter for advice, our how-to directions will still help you remember what to do when.
Be patient when you’re learning, and try to remember that knitting takes time — even if you’re excited to see your finished project. We like knitting in the winter, when we’re cozy inside.
You’ll see throughout this chapter that we specify different types and weights of yarn, and different sizes and thicknesses of knitting needles. But honestly? We’ve done a lot of knitting with whatever yarn and needles we found around the house! The main thing is to use needles that aren’t too skinny, unless you want to spend a looong time on your knitting project. And use yarn you love, since you’re going to be spending a lot of time with it.
Yarn. When you’re just practicing, you can use any yarn at all. You may have some lying around from other craft projects, or you can ask your grandparents, uncle, or babysitter if they have any to spare. But for projects that are going to take a lot of time, it’s nice to get wool or cotton yarn, or a fun or crazy yarn that feels special to you. Yarn is sold in balls, looser skeins, and looped bundles called hanks. It’s also sold in different weights, which refers to the thickness of the strand and the size of the needle that you’d ideally use to knit it with. For each of the projects in this chapter, we’ll give you yarn weight suggestions.
Knitting needles. These look like sharpened pencils (double-pointed needles have tips on both ends), and they can be made of wood, plastic, or metal. They come in lots of sizes and thicknesses: the most common range from US 1 (2.25 mm), the slenderest, to US 17 (12 mm), the thickest. If you’re knitting with thinner yarn, ideally you’ll want to use thinner needles; if you’re using thicker yarn, pair it with thicker needles. As a rule, thicker needles will knit up your project more quickly than thinner ones will — so use thicker wool and needles if you’re craving a speedy finish. In a pinch, you can sharpen 1⁄4–inch dowels or chopsticks with a pencil sharpener and smooth them with sandpaper to make your own knitting needles.
Sharp wide-eyed sewing needle. Use a sharp needle with an eye that your yarn can fit through, for sewing up knitted projects that require it.
Blunt-tipped wide-eyed needle. Use a dull needle with an eye that your yarn can fit through for weaving in the ends of your yarn.
Scissors. You’ll need scissors for cutting your yarn, but it doesn’t matter too much what kind they are, since it’s not a lot of cutting.
Circular knitting needles. These look like a pair of short knitting needles connected with a plastic or wire cord. They’re for knitting around and around to create a tube shape, and we use them to knit the Cord-Slung Backpack and the I-Cord Jump Rope.
Straight knitting needles
Tape measure or ruler. You might need one for measuring your projects as you work on them.
This Egyptian sock from around 400 CE shows an early form of knitting.
Our word knit comes from the Old English word for “knot”: cnyttan. Long before the Middle Ages, though, people were knitting. For example, archaeologists in Egypt have found complicated knitted cotton socks that date back to 1000 CE — and they’re thought to be the earliest example of knitting that we have. Many of the socks have Arabic blessings knit into them, as well as symbols to ward off evil.
Some yarn comes in a ball or in a looser skein, which makes life very easy, because you can knit directly from it! And some yarn comes in a hank, where it has been looped into a loose twist. If you try to knit from a hank, the yarn can get tangled, which is super frustrating!
To turn your hank into a ball, untwist it so that it’s a big loop, and wrap it around the back of a chair, your own knees, or the outstretched arms of a patient friend. Where the yarn is tied together with little pieces of yarn, cut them.
Now find the end of the yarn and start winding it with one hand loosely around four fingers of your other hand. After you’ve made a little bundle of loops, slip it off your hand and keep winding so that you’re now wrapping the yarn around the middle of the bundle.
Rotate the ball as you wind so that it grows evenly; the bigger it gets, the easier it will be, and then you’ll run out of yarn and be done. You might want to keep the ball in a tote bag or even a bowl while you’re knitting, so it doesn’t roll away and turn into an accidental cat toy!
A slip knot is a very basic first step in most knitting and crocheting projects. It creates a loop that can be tightened around the knitting needle or crochet hook.
Casting on is making a first row of stitches on your needle, which will be the foundation of the rest of your knitting. There are many ways to cast on, and this is one of the easiest around. For this method, you will use only one knitting needle.
You’ve got your stitches cast on! Now it’s time to knit. This kind of basic back-and-forth knitting creates a pattern called garter stitch, which makes a thick, stretchy fabric. We love how it looks.
At the end of the row, all of the stitches will be on the right needle. Simply move that needle into your left hand and the empty needle into your right hand, and start knitting another row!
The first row is the hardest, even for experienced knitters. Cast-on stitches can feel too tight or too loose, and it can seem like the project is going to look terrible. Don’t worry! The second row will be much better.
. . . Pull the yarn too tight as you loop it, or it will get harder and harder to knit.
. . . Stop knitting in the middle of a row — to help with the dishes or to get another handful of tortilla chips — because it’s easy to get confused about where you left off. (Plus, now you have a handy procrastination technique! “In a minute!” you can yell. “As soon as I’m done with my row!”)
. . . Panic if all your stitches slide off the needle! Just thread the needle back through the dropped stitches as best you can and keep going.
Also called binding off, this is the way you get your knitting off the needles at the end of the project without everything unraveling.
. . . over the second stitch (closer to the needle tip) and then over the tip and off the needle completely. There will be only 1 stitch on the right needle.
Once you’re done knitting (or crocheting) — or when you change colors in the middle of your project — you’ll have loose ends of yarn dangling from your work.
Don’t simply cut these ends off, since that will make everything more inclined to unravel. Just thread the end of the yarn onto a blunt wide-eyed sewing needle and weave in and out of the back of 3 or 4 nearby stitches, weaving twice in the last stitch. If there’s still a little tail at that point, you can snip it off.
Stash your phone in a protective felted sleeve that’s cool to boot. Or make a bigger one for your tablet by simply increasing the number of stitches you cast on and knitting a longer rectangle. (And if you are having too much fun knitting to stop? Nobody but you will know that your long scarf was supposed to have been a little pouch for your phone!)
For a tablet about 71⁄2 × 91⁄2 inches, cast on 23 stitches and knit for 100 rows, or until the long side of your rectangle measures approximately 21 inches.
For a tablet about 51⁄2 × 8 inches, cast on 17 stitches and knit for 86 rows, or until your rectangle is approximately 18 inches long.
Our instructions make a phone sweater that should fit a device that’s about 3 x 51⁄2 inches. If you’re willing to experiment some, though, you can create a sleeve for any size phone or tablet (see our suggestions above).
Before you start, know that felting the fabric you knit can be nerve-racking — how small will it get? — and it’s never an exact science. If you’re knitting with thinner yarn or on bigger needles, it will shrink more. If it looks lacier or more open before you wash it, it will likely shrink more as it tightens up. If you’re a perfectionist, you’re going to have to breathe and let go a little bit. (Good practice, right?)
Just remember that ultimately, before felting, you want a knitted rectangle that, when you fold it in half, is about 1⁄2 inch wider and about 1 inch longer than your device. In our instructions for a phone sleeve, your knitting before felting will be about 4 inches wide by 13 inches long.
Lay the wet piece on a flat surface; arrange it into a nice, even rectangle; and let it air-dry. (This can take up to a day. Catherine just throws everything in the dryer, but this is not a recommended practice!)
When your felted fabric is completely dry, fold it in half with the short ends together. If the sleeve is still a little too big, just toss it back in the wash to tighten it up some more.
If your felted fabric is longer than you need, you can use the extra length to add a button (with or without a shank) for closing up the sleeve. When you fold the fabric before stitching the sides, just make sure you leave one side longer than the other, so that you can fold it down toward the button.
