How to Knit the Knit Stitch

The knit stitch is the one stitch all of knitting stands on: a loop pulled through a loop, from the back, that makes the smooth little V you see on the front of every knitted thing. Our Craft-Night packs teach it in their Stitch Schools as the first stitch of all — before the purl, before the patterns — because once your hands know this one, every other stitch is a variation on it.

Step by step

Start with stitches cast on (see our How to Cast On page) and hold the needle with the stitches in your left hand, the empty needle in your right, and the working yarn hanging behind the work. Behind is the important word — the knit stitch is always made with the yarn at the back.
Push the right needle into the first stitch on the left needle, going in from the left side of the stitch so the right needle sits behind the left one, tips crossed like scissors about to close.
Wrap the working yarn around the tip of the right needle, taking it under the needle and up over the top — from behind, anticlockwise as you look down at the needle tip.
Draw that wrapped loop back through the stitch towards you. A brand-new loop now sits on the right needle, pulled through the old stitch.
Slip the old stitch off the left needle and let it go. One knit stitch made: one V added to the front of the fabric, one stitch moved from the left needle to the right.
Repeat into the next stitch, and keep going to the end of the row. Whether you hold the yarn in your right hand (English style, “throwing”) or your left (continental style, “picking”), the stitch itself is identical — use whichever grip your hands prefer.
Knit every stitch of every row, back and forth, and you get garter stitch — the squishy, ridged fabric that lies flat and never curls, and the practice piece every beginner should make first.
Keep the yarn’s journey identical for every stitch: in from the left, wrap the same way, draw through, slip off. A stitch wrapped the other way sits twisted on the needle and knits up with its legs crossed — visible in smooth fabric, and worth unpicking back to fix while you’re learning.
Judge your tension by the slide: finished stitches should glide along the needle with a fingertip push, neither strangled nor sloppy. Even, relaxed stitches are the whole secret — speed arrives on its own after a few evenings, and every pattern in the shop is just this stitch, its purl partner, and patience.

Patterns that use it

Beginner Craft-Night Knit Pack Vol 1 | 12 Easy Knitted Christmas Patterns PDF

Beginner Craft-Night Knit Pack Vol 2 | 12 Easy Aussie Christmas Patterns PDF

Beginner Craft-Night Knit Pack Vol 3 | 12 Easy Ornament & Bauble Patterns PDF

Only these 3 products in the live catalogue name and teach the knit stitch explicitly in their listing copy (the Craft-Night packs’ Stitch Schools). Every knitted pattern in the shop is worked in knit stitch, but the rest of the catalogue’s copy takes the stitch as read and never singles it out — so only the three honest, verifiable matches are linked.

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Common mistakes

Starting with the yarn in front of the work instead of behind it. Every stitch then picks up an extra loop, and you gain stitches you never meant to make — behind is the important word.
Wrapping the yarn around the needle the wrong way. The stitch sits twisted on the needle and knits up with its legs crossed, which shows plainly in smooth fabric.
Leaving the old stitch on the left needle after drawing the new loop through. One stitch becomes two, the row grows, and the count puzzles you at the end.

Tina’s tips

Murmur the rhythm to yourself for the first few evenings: in, around, through, off. It sounds silly and works beautifully — your hands learn the chant and then they don’t need it.
Judge your tension by the slide, not by how the stitches look. If a finished stitch glides along the needle with a fingertip push, it’s right; strangled or sloppy both show up in the slide first.