10 more knitting tips for beginners and advanced
knitters. Hi everyone, my name is Norman, I run the blog nimble-needles.com, and I want you
to become a better knitter, and that's why I want to show you 10 more knitting tips and tricks I
haven't had the chance to mention in my previous video. So many people commented and watched
that video and told me how helpful it was. And I really want to thank you. So, I spent the
past couple of days going through my old knitting journals and notes looking for those juicy
little tips and tricks that helped me become the knitter that I am today. Because I did
realize that this is something that only really gets addressed. You will find tons of excellent
tutorials here on youtube that will show you a certain technique. And you will find quite a lot
of tutorials that will show you... I don't know... how to turn a binder into a cheap and really smart
needle case for your circular knitting needles. But how do you really get better at knitting? What
are those little things you can change that will make a huge difference in the long run? So, if you
liked my last video, then I'm very sure you will like this video as well because it's loaded with
10 additional tips. And again do me a favor! Like this video right now to support my work. It really
makes a big difference. Or better yet, comment if I was able to help you, or if you have a knitting
tip that I didn't mention. And of course, feel free to share this video with your knitting
friends online or offline. I'm really sure they will appreciate it. Anyway let's head over to my
desk and I will show you 10 more knitting tips. Knitting tip number one: Knitting neater edges.
This was probably the number one question I received after my last video: Norman, my
edges... they look somewhat weird. How do I make them look neater? Well, there are two
major reasons why your edges may not look all that pretty. Let me show you! First of all, a
normal knit stitch is connected to a stitch on the left and on the right. And these two adjacent
stitches anchor it. Obviously, for an edge stitch, the second stitch is missing. There is just one
to the right or the left side. And that's why the stockinette stitch edge sort of leans towards one
side - even if you're an experienced knitter. And garter stitch will have these little bumps here.
And the second reason: Because there's nothing to anchor these stitches, every tiny little way
you stretch out the stitches as you knit will be twice as bad. Often, I see beginners using the
stitches as a kind of pivot to get some leverage. And this will stretch out the stitches and
create these wonky edges. Here's how to fix that! First of all, work around your knitting needle
and only your knitting needle. Don't pull the stitches to the side, or upwards, or worse,
let your work hang on that single stitch. Because this will stretch things out on this row
and one row below, and there's nothing you can do to fix that later on. So even I, as a continental
knitter, I usually knit like this. Like this. But this stretches this stitch out to the right. So
for the very first stitch, I revert back to the textbook method and knit it like this. Obviously,
I tighten up the stitch after I knit it. But if you loosen up this stitch one row below,
and you stretched out those stitches, and then you tighten up... what will happen
is, you will create a very tight stitch followed by a very loose stitch. And this will
look even more unbalanced. However, even if you're super careful, your edge still might look
like this. So the only true solution is finding a good selvage stitch. Most self-finishing
edges involve either slipping the first or the last stitch of a row so you don't end
up knitting that stitch twice. Because every time you go through it, there's a chance you
may stretch it out. Let me show you. So you knit your row as normal to the end. Be careful
with the very last stitch. Don't stretch it out too much. Then turn your work around, and now you
need to slip that first stitch without knitting. If the rest of your row has purl stitches, then
the yarn is held in front for the slipping, and if the rest of the row has knit stitches....
like in this case.... the yarn is held in back. And then you just slip it, and continue knitting.
And then, do the same on this side. So knit all the way to the end, be careful with that very
last stitch so you don't stretch it out, and since this is a purl row the yarn is held in front.
And then you slip that very first stitch, and start purling. And if you slip the first stitch
of every row, you create this beautiful little edge. And I really like this version - especially
for beginners. Because you slip the first stitch, and you don't end up fiddling around with it so
there's no chance you accidentally stretch it out too much. Now, there are many other ways to create
a salvage. This just happens to be the easiest and most versatile, But please, comment below if you
want me to record a full video on this topic. I already have a video on how to prevent knitting
from curling that already addresses a couple of nice selvage options. So I'll link it to
you up in here in case you want to watch it. Knitting tip number two: Pass over instead
of a decrease. You probably know how to do a standard bind-off and you know how to knit two
stitches together. Well, most books and tutorials won't tell you that both result in the exact same
stitch. So, let's knit two together. So knit two together. This is how it looks like. Now, Let's
knit one stitch, slip it back to the left needle, pass over that stitch, and slip it back to the
left needle. And as you can see, the result is the same right-leaning decrease. Often, the
pass-over version looks a bit neater because you don't stretch out the stitches as much. Still. you
might ask why is this important? Well, knit two together is often rather easy to knit but other
decreases are much harder. You can do the same for a left-leaning decrease. So slip one stitch, knit
one stitch, and then pass over. And the result will be almost an SSK. Why did I pass over the
stitch like this? If you want the right-leaning decrease. you need to pass over the stitch that
is on the left. and if you want a left-leaning decrease, like in this case, you need to pass over
the stitch that is on the right. I think it's a super helpful technique for a lot of complicated
decreases.... like.... let me....let like purl two together through back loop. So, you purl one
stitch through back loop, and then you pass over that stitch, and there is your left-leaning purl
decrease. It's much easier to knit. And sometimes you have many decreases next to each other and
even your knit two together is difficult, or uh you are knitting with a very fuzzy yarn that
splits easily - in all of these cases you can pass over instead of working the decrease the
standard way. So, it's really really helpful. Knitting tip number three: Cheat a bit to enter
difficult stitches. Sometimes it's difficult to enter a stitch. A very common example is make one
left, where you pick up the strand between two stitches like this, and then you need to knit
it through the back loop. Often your knitting needle will slip past as you try to enter, or you
split it, or you can't make it work at all. So in these cases, here is a super simple trick. So, I
enter my knitting needle through the front loop, and then I use the left needle as a guide and
slide my needle past it... or around it... and there I am in the back loop, and then I can
knit it through the back loop. One more time. So, I insert, and then I guide my knitting needle
around, and I knitted through the back loop. Sometimes, even knit two together or
knit three together is very difficult to knit, and in these cases, you can loosen up
the second stitch a bit like this. And then, it will be much easier to knit two together.
Or most mostly the problem occurs with knit three together. It's even more difficult.
So you can loosen up the stitches like this, and then it will be much easier to knit three
stitches together. Now be careful. Don't stretch out the stitches too much. Just so much so you
can enter. And you can use this technique for any other stitch as well. If it's too
difficult to enter, just loosen things up. Knitting tip number four: Tighten up after
every stitch. Very often people ask me how I maintain such a nice tension and how
my stockinette stitch looks so regular. Well, this is a somewhat difficult topic because
it involves just so many factors. But here's one thing I do. So if you see me knitting,
then most people will focus on the stitches. You probably won't focus on my left index finger.
And why should you? It's just holding the yarn, isn't it? Well here's what I do after
every stitch. So, I insert, pull through, and then my left index finger... I am exaggerating
now... will pull this stitch tight. And that way, I ensure that all stitches are the exact same
size because the circumference of my right needle will act as a sort of standard measure. So after
every stitch, my left index finger will pull the stitch tight. So I knit, and then it's just a tiny
tiny little motion. I don't know if you can see it... but every time I tighten up. And this serves
two functions. First of all, it carries more yarn to the front, and it tightens up that stitch.
So it's a really really nice technique for me to maintain an even tension and a very very smooth
knitting experience. Now, I do have to mention two things here. I'm a really tight knitter and I
feel comfortable with that. I do try to hold my needles as lightly as possible. But still, there
are some advantages to knitting loosely as well. So, I guess this tip is not for everyone,
and of course, this technique sort of really doesn't work if you are an English thrower. In
these cases, you would have to learn... oops sorry like this... flicking to make it work.
Knitting tip number five: Unleash the power of lifted stitches. I love lifted stitches and there
is barely a knitting problem you cannot fix with it. You can use a lifted stitch to increase
stockinette stitch in a super invisible way by knitting KLL - knit left loop. My favorite
increase ever. So you lift this loop onto your left needle, and then you knit it through the
back loop. Let me... so this is the increase... let me knit a couple of rows across so you can
see how it will look. So, I knitted a couple of rows across, and can you even spot where the
increase is? Here it is. So it is just so utterly invisible and I love it. You can also use lifted
stitches to knit jogless stripes in the round. So knit one full row in the new color without
any special technique. And as you come across the color change, lift that loop here onto the left
needle, and knit it together with the next stitch, and as you'll see in a second, this will create a
super smooth transition. See how perfectly smooth this transition is? There is no jog or a step or
anything. So really really neat. And of course, in my last video, I showed you how to neaten the
last stitch of a bind-off with a lifted decrease. So if you are interested, I have a full tutorial
on how to knit one together right loop and left loop here on my channel. I'll link it to you up
in here because there are some stunning things you can do with this decrease. For example, close
any sort of holes around the neckline and so on. So, it's really worth watching.
Knitting tip number six: When knitting in the round, close the
bind-off gap by grafting one stitch. So you've probably seen this before. You knit a
project in the round, you bound off all stitches, and then there is this ugly little gap here. It
looks really terrible. But there's a super easy way to fix it and it actually feels like magic.
So, thread the tail on a tapestry needle, and then find the very first stitch. See this V here?
Go underneath it, pull the tail through. And then, find the last bind-off stitch. There's a v here
as well. Go underneath that coming from the top, pull tight, and then you only need to hide
the tail on the back side, and weave it in. And see how seamless the transition
is? Before, it looked terrible, and now it looks like you are a magician!
Knitting tip number seven: Don't knit complicated stitches as the last stitches on
your needle. No matter if you're knitting in the round on double-pointed needles or using
magic loop - try to avoid knitting complicated stitches into these two last stitches. Because
here's the thing: When you're knitting an SSK or knit two together, you often stretch
out these stitches quite a bit. And if you do this for the last two stitches, there's
just so much more yarn they can stretch out. Also, sometimes the whole weight of your work
rests on these two stitches, stretching them out even further. So don't do this because here's a
really common problem. When you're knitting socks, a lot of people end up.... here around the gusset
where they decrease it.... they end up with holes here. And that often is caused by knitting
an SSK or a knit two together as the last two stitches. So to avoid this and similar problems,
simply shuffle stitches around by knitting two or more stitches from the new needle before
changing needles. So, I finished this needle, and normally I would pick up the fifth
needle, and continue knitting. instead, I knit two more stitches, and only then do I
pick up my new needle. And then, I... oops... then I knit all these stitches here, this
frees this needle, I set it to the side, and then I knit two more stitches from
this needle, pick up the new needle, and so on. And thereby you can shuffle stitches
around so you don't end up knitting an SSK, or a cable, or a color change when knitting
intarsia in around into these last two stitches because it will look wonky. And trust
me, the difference will be so noticeable. Knitting tip number eight: Use a
stitch marker to mark the right side. This tip won't make you better at
knitting but it's still super helpful. Sometimes you are knitting a reversible
pattern, like garter stitch or ribbings, but your pattern still asks you to do certain
things only on the right side. For example, increasing. Now, if you're knitting flat and
you used the long tail cast-on, then you can always use the tail as orientation. If it's on
the right side the tail is on the right side, then you are on the right side. And if the
tail is on the left side, you are on the wrong side. So that's kind of easy to remember.
But sometimes you are using a different cast-on, or the tail is so far below it's very hard to
spot, or you're knitting, for example, a bottom-up shawl and the trick with the tail really doesn't
work because they're just two stitches here. Well, in these cases you can simply attach a
little stitch marker on the wrong side, and you will instantly see which side you are on. Stitch
marker - wrong side, no stitch marker - right side (or the other way around).... whatever you
prefer. And I feel, it's just so very helpful. Knitting tip number nine push your needles the
right way. Here's a tip for all those of you who are constantly pushing the needles against their
fingertips. If you do this very often - especially when you're using really sharp needles - things
can get painful. Now, I could spend the next half hour or so trying to show you how to avoid doing
that altogether. See? I never push my stitches forward with my fingers. However, there's a
really simple trick. Use your knitting needle as a surface instead of your fingertips. So hold
your knitting needles like this, and then push against the knitting needles. So when you want to
push your knitting needles do it like this. See? I mean this is really difficult to see because
it's hidden. But push like this! And that way you stop hurting your fingertips. Push like this!
And we are back in my living room for knitting tip number 10: Which is practice! I wanted to
conclude this video with a very important tip that might sound like a filler but is anything but
that. Your brain and your muscles, need time to learn a new technique. For example, if you watch
my video here on youtube on how to knit faster, things might feel awkward at first. And
that is normal! You will probably need 10.000 stitches or sometimes even more
until things feel even remotely natural. So why do I feel this is so important? Here's
the thing, when you started knitting, you know, your first little coaster or pot holder in garter
stitch, it probably took you four or eight hours. And well, let's say it looked charming and it
had a lot of personality. But you succeeded and you were proud. And you definitely should be
because you just mastered a couple of totally new techniques! But here's the problem: Once you know
how to knit, your frustration tolerance is so much slower. No matter if it's knitting in the round on
double-pointed knitting needles, trying out a new way to tension your yarn, or even switching from
English throwing to continental knitting - there will always be this thought lurking in your mind
saying: Well this is rubbish! It doesn't work! It's so slow. I switch back to my old way of
knitting. It's so much better. And of course, why change the running system? But the thing
is, if you don't persist, if you don't practice, you will never give your brain and your muscles
the time to get accustomed to the new technique. So you will never know if it really is better!
Of course, if after practicing it for a couple of hours, you notice... well this still feels a
bit awkward. Well, then you learned an important lesson and you know which version is better for
you. But if you just throw those double-pointed knitting needles into a corner and never look
back after just trying it out for 20 minutes... well... that would be a mistake! Anyway, I really
hope you enjoyed watching and I was able to show you a couple of things you didn't know before.
Please, like this video to support my work, comment with your questions and your feedback,
and of course, consider subscribing to my channel in case you don't want to miss any new videos.
Happy knitting and enjoy the rest of your day!
