How to: work knit stitch

Knit stitch is the most basic stitch in knitting, so it's a good one to get under your belt – you'll then be ready to combine it with other stitches for an endless variety of effects.

You can identify a knit stitch by the V shaped stitch it makes under the needle and on the right side in stocking stitch.

In our video, we have worked knit stitches as the first row from a cast on, but a knit stitch is the same wherever it appears in a pattern. The wonderful knit stitch is so widely used that it is often simply abbreviated to 'k' and you'll also see this abbreviation in combinations of stitches, too. Knit stitch is also what you use in garter stitch, where every row is made up of knit stitches. Stocking stitch is the name given to a pattern repeat where a row of knit stitches is followed by a row of purl stitches. There are also plenty of instances where knit and purl stitches are used together on the same row, so it's good to know your 'k' from your 'p'. You'll see that the yarn is held at the back for a knit stitch, so if you're combining stitches, make sure you have moved your yarn correctly to this position. So cast on and practise a bit of knit stitch, and you'll be raring to go!