At the end of a knitting project, you will need to free your work from the ball by cutting the yarn. While there are several gadgets designed to clip yarn, scissors are the most versatile cutting tool to put in your knitting bag. “Sewing” or “precision tip” scissors work best to trim yarn, as they are small and easy to maneuver.

Be sure you choose very sharp scissors. Dull scissors tend to fray the yarn ends, making them difficult to thread through the eye of a darning needle. To help your scissors stay sharp for a long time, do not use them for anything other than snipping yarn and thread.

You can find my favorite precision tip scissors on Amazon.com at this affiliate link: Fiskars Scissor 5″ Micro Tip Fashion Berry.

After you have cut your project away from the ball, you will be left with dangling yarn tails. You will weave them into your project using a darning needle. These needles look just like a sewing needle but are much larger. They have blunted tips that will not snag your yarn. Sometimes, darning needles are sometimes referred to as “tapestry needles;” however, tapestry needles usually have bent tips. Whether the manufacturer calls it a “darning needle” or a “tapestry needle,” as a beginner, you will want to choose a straight, blunted needle with an eye large enough to thread your yarn through.

You can find a set of blunt-tipped darning needles on Amazon.com at this affiliate link: Hekisn Large-Eye Blunt Needles

Many knitting patterns you read will recommend you use a “stitch marker.” This is a small clip, ring, or piece of string used to keep track of your place while knitting. Stitch markers can be slipped onto your needles to mark an endpoint, or they can be clipped onto a specific stitch to keep track of it. Common stitch markers look like plastic safety pins. You also can find a variety of decorative stitch markers, some looking like small rings, others like lever-back earrings. Try to find stitch markers that clip open and closed, as this type of marker can be removed from your work more easily.

You can find a set of stitch markers on Amazon.com at this affiliate link: Locking Stitch Markers

Though they can be similarly shaped, stitch holders are much larger than stitch markers. Stitch holders are used to slide stitches off your knitting needles so that you can work them later. This technique is especially helpful in shaping thumbs on gloves and arms on sweaters.

When a stitch holder is not available, you can sometimes substitute a piece of yarn as a stitch holder. Using a darning needle, you can slip stitches onto a bit of leftover yarn, then tie the yarn ends together to secure the stitches in place temporarily.

You can find stitch holders on Amazon.com at this affiliate link: Stitch Holders Assorted Colors

• A darning needle
• Sharp sewing scissors

Once you’ve picked up your knitting supplies you can start learning to knit! The first step is to make a “slipknot” in your yarn. The next lesson will show you how.

There are a few kinds of knitting needles to choose from: straight needles, circular needles, and double point needles. Most knitting needles come in a variety of materials, including wood, bamboo, and metal. Try a few different types of needles to decide what feels the most comfortable to you.

When most people think of knitting needles, they think of straight needles. These are two matching rods, often pictured sticking out of a ball of yarn. One end of each needle has a sharpened tip. The other end has a knob, which keeps the yarn from slipping off. Straight needles come in varying lengths, which allow you to make larger or smaller items more comfortably, depending on the needs of your project. These needles are useful for making flat pieces of fabric. You can craft scarves, blankets, washcloths, and dishcloths with straight knitting needles. You can also knit flat pieces that can be sewn together to create a garment like a sweater.

More unusual looking, but also more versatile, are circular knitting needles. Most circular needles have a flexible cord that connects the sharp working points of the needles. You can use circular needles to knit flat pieces of fabric like washcloths and scarves. You can also create seamless knitted tubes to make things like hats, sweaters, mittens, and socks. Circular knitting needles are made in different lengths; the longer the needles, the more stitches you can knit. Shorter circular needles are perfect for hats and smaller accessories. Longer knitting needles are useful for projects like knit sweaters and blankets.

Double point needles (DPNs) are straight rods with sharpened points on either end. This allows you to knit with both sides of the needle. DPNs are mainly used for knitting smaller items that are tube-shaped, such as gloves, leg warmers, and baby hats. A package of DPNs typically comes with set of five identical needles. You will use at least three needles to hold your stitches and one needle to work into the yarn and make your next row. Often, especially in more simple patterns, the fifth needle is not used at all.

You can buy your needles in several different materials, most notable of which are metal, wood, and bamboo. Metal needles maintain their sharpness longer and are less prone to breakage than wooden and bamboo needles. On the other hand, wooden and bamboo needles are slightly less slippery than metal knitting needles; this means your knit stitches will not fall off them as easily as they might with a set of metal needles. Wooden and bamboo needles also make less noise as you work, minimizing the “clink” sound made as the needles come together. Bamboo weighs the least of the three materials, making these needles noticeably lighter, especially in larger sizes.

Metal needles, especially those of high quality, can last a lifetime and may never need to be replaced. Bamboo or wooden needles, on the other hand, can be easier for beginners to use, since they grip the yarn a bit better than a metal needle.

Circular needles are more versatile and can be used for many projects in the future since you can knit both flat and circular pieces with them.

Selecting a US No. 7 (4.5 mm) sized needle will allow you to make all the washcloth and face scrubby patterns in my Simple Washcloth Knitting Pattern Collection.

• A 36-inch (91 cm) long US No. 7 (4.5 mm) circular needle
• OR a pair of 9-inch (23 cm) long US No. 7 (4.5 mm) straight needles

*Bamboo or wooden needles may be easier than metal for beginners.

• A 36-inch (91 cm) long US No. 8 (5 mm) circular needle
• OR a pair of 9-inch (23 cm) long US No. 8 (5 mm) straight needles

*Bamboo or wooden needles may be easier than metal for beginners.

Finally, you will need a few tools. Learn about sewing scissors, darning needles, stitch markers, and stitch holders in the next lesson.

While picking out yarn can be one of the most exciting parts of knitting, it can also be intimidating. From basic wool to luxurious silk blends, there are countless types of yarn to choose from. Yarn strands can be thick, thin, and everywhere in between. And you can find yarn in almost every shade in the rainbow; some created in bulk by machines, and some handcrafted with natural and plant-based dyes. Learning about yarn sizing (“yarn weight”) and the materials from which yarn is made can help make choosing yarn much less overwhelming.   

To find out the weight of your yarn, start with the yarn label. Almost every yarn label has the yarn’s weight listed. Many packages note the weight by displaying a “yarn weight symbol.” Those symbols look like little balls of yarn with numbers on them; the number represents the thickness of the yarn.

Yarn price can also be affected by the amount of yarn that a company can produce at once. Less expensive yarns are generally made by larger companies, which can produce larger quantities of yarn. Each batch of yarn that is colored at the same time is called a “dye-lot.” Because “cheaper” yarns are often made in bulk, they can have large or no “dye-lots.” A bulk yarn maker can create more skeins of yarn that are perfectly matched than a smaller craft yarn maker would be able to make. As a result, yarn made in bulk with large dye-lots is usually much less expensive.

If you plan to make washcloths, towels, or anything else that should be absorbent, choose a cotton-based yarn. Keep in mind that cotton does not stretch like wool and acrylic, so do not expect the things you knit with a cotton yarn to have a huge amount of give.

• One skein of soft worsted weight yarn made of cotton (a 120-yard/2.5-ounce ball of Lily Sugar ‘n Cream 100% Cotton Yarn is pictured, but you can substitute brands)

• One skein of soft worsted weight yarn made of acrylic or soft wool (a 315 yard/6-ounce ball of Caron Simply Soft Yarn is pictured, but you can substitute brands)

Next, let’s choose the correct knitting needles for your first project.

Switch from Circular to Magic Loop, Step 1:

Work up to the point where you’d like to switch knitting methods (usually the end/beginning of a row/round is the best place to start). Set the needle in your right hand aside.

Divide the total number of live stitches on your circular needles by the number of needles to which you will be moving. Here, I will divide 48 stitches onto two needles, so my math is:

48 ÷ 2 = 24

This means you’ll need to place roughly 24 stitches on each double point needle. Because decreases are involved, this is an estimate not an exact number of stitches to be placed each needle.

Switch from Circular to Magic Loop, Step 2:

Pick up one tip of a long circular needle with your right hand.  

Switch from Circular to Magic Loop, Step 3:

Begin working the live stitches off the short circular needle and onto the long circular needle tip.

Switch from Circular to Magic Loop, Step 4:

Work roughly the number of stitches you calculated in Step 1 onto the long circular needle, except stop at a decrease. When the current row/round contains decreases, remember to count the live stitches coming from the left needle separately.

Switch from Circular to Magic Loop, Step 5:

Pull the long circular needle tip in your right hand toward your left, allowing the live stitches to slide from the needle onto the cord.

Switch from Circular to Magic Loop, Step 6:

While continuing to hold the same long circular needle tip in your right hand, rotate your work so that you can continue working off the short circular needle and onto the long circular needle tip.

Switch from Circular to Magic Loop, Step 7:

Work the remaining stitches from the short circular needle onto the long circular needle tip that is held in your right hand.

Switch from Circular to Magic Loop, Step 8:

The short circular needle will now be free of the work; set it aside.

Switch from Circular to Magic Loop, Step 9:

At this point, roughly half of your total stitches should be on one tip of the circular needle and the other half should be held by the cord.

Switch from Circular to Magic Loop, Step 10:

Turn your work, placing the live stitches in your left hand. Slide the empty circular needle tip into the live stitches and prepare to start knitting in the Magic Loop. (See this lesson on Knitting in the Magic Loop if you aren’t sure how this method works.)

Now that you can decrease, you can make a hat. Next, I’ll show you how to take that hat off your needles and weave in your loose ends. This guide will help you end mitten tips, as well.