DIY Network

Basics and a Beanbag Basics and a Beanbag From "Knitty Gritty" episode DKNG-106

You don't have to be a grownup to enjoy knitting! Knitting expert and author Melanie Falick joins Vickie Howell and the Junior Knitsters to demonstrate some great beginner projects that kids (and adults) will enjoy. It's fun to create beanbags, hats and scarves while you're learning to knit -- and it's a terrific way to practice new stitches and techniques.

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Casting On
With your palm facing you, wrap the yarn around two of your fingers so that the working yarn (the yarn coming out of the ball) crosses in front of the tail of the yarn (figure A).

With the fingers of your free hand, push the working yarn up through the loop formed on your fingers so that the working yarn forms a second loop (figure B).

Hold the second loop with one hand and pull down on the tail with the other to make a slipknot (figure C).

Figure A

Figure B

Figure C

Slide the slipknot onto a knitting needle (figure D) and tighten it enough to keep it from falling off (you should be able to move it with your fingers). Hold the needle with the slipknot in your right hand. Grab the working yarn with the fingers of your left hand, palm facing away from you (figure E).

Figure D

Figure E

Rotate your left wrist so that the working yarn wraps once around your thumb and the nails of the fingers holding the yarn are facing you (figure F).

Insert the tip of the needle in an upward direction through the center of the loop of yarn that has formed on your thumb (figure G).

Figure F

Figure G

Slide your thumb away so that a new stitch is added to the needle and pull the working yarn so that the new stitch is tight enough to stay on the needle if you turn the needle upside down but is still loose enough for you to move it with your fingers. Repeat until you have the number of stitches you want on your needle. Include the slipknot when you are counting your stitches.

The Knit Stitch
Here's a variation of a poem that has helped generations of children learn to knit.

In through the front door --
Run around the back --
Out through the window --
Off jumps Jack!

Let's put each line with its step so you can see what it means! (Be sure to do all four lines -- if you don't do the final one, you could very easily end up with too many stitches on your needle, which is a common mistake among beginning knitters).

Hold the needle with the stitches on it in your left hand with your ball of yarn behind the needle. Hold the other needle in your right hand.

	Figure H
	Figure I
	Figure J

In through the front door -- Insert the tip of the right needle up into the center of the top loop on the left needle so that the two needles cross each other to make an X shape and the right needle is in the back (figure H).

Hold the two needles in your right hand by placing your right thumb on top of the front needle and your right forefinger and middle finger underneath the needle in back so that your fingertips are holding (or pinching) the X shape.

Run around the back -- Pick up the working yarn (the yarn connected to the ball) with your left hand and wrap it around the back needle from back to front to back (figure I), ending by gently lifting your right forefinger so that the yarn can be placed underneath it. Hold the yarn in place with your right forefinger. Note that the yarn starts in the back and finishes in the back.

Out through the window -- Gently grasp the top needle with your left hand. Without letting go of the yarn under your right forefinger, insert the tip of the back needle (the needle in your right hand) down into the center of the stitch on the needle in your left hand, then toward your body (figure J).

Off jumps Jack! Pull the needle in your right hand up so that the stitch on the needle in your left hand slides off the tip of the left needle. You now have one stitch on the right-hand needle. This is your first knit stitch. Repeat with the remaining stitches on the left-hand needle.

Practice these steps until you feel comfortable (don't worry -- it feels strange at first, but with practice you'll get used to it.)

Now you're ready to start knitting a beanbag!

Doesn't this boxful of beanbags make you want to grab your knitting needles and get busy?

Basic Beanbag

Materials
1 skein Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted or Bulky yarn
Size 8 or 9 knitting needles (if you're using worsted-weight yarn)
Size 10 or 11 knitting needles (if you're using bulky yarn)
Yarn needle
A few handfuls dried beans
8" tube cut from thin nylon sock, stocking or tights

1. With yarn and knitting needles, cast on 20 stitches.

2. Work in garter stitch (knit every row) until you have a square.

3. Bind off. (To bind off, knit two stitches, then stick the point of the left-hand needle down into the bottom stitch and pass it up and over the top stitch -- hold the top stitch with your finger to help keep it on the needle. That leaves one stitch on your right-hand needle. Then knit another stitch and repeat the previous step until all the stitches are knitted off except the last one. Cut the yarn, leaving a tail at least 6" long, then carefully remove the stitch from the needle, pull the stitch to make the loop bigger and pass the end of the yarn through the loop. Pull the tail to tighten, and your knitting is secured so the stitches won't ravel!)

4. Repeat so that you have two squares the same size.

• The rest of the beanbag instructions are in the next section, "Finishing the Beanbag, Making a Hat." You'll also find instructions for knitting a tasseled hat in that section.

Knit Bit: Did you know that there are 150 yards of wool yarn inside every baseball? It's true!

RESOURCES :

Kids Knitting: Projects for Kids of All Ages
By Melanie Falick
Artisan, November 2003
Paperback
$12.95 (US)
ISBN: 1579652417
Artisan Books
A division of Workman Publishing
Website: artisanbooks.com

Lamb's Pride Bulky Wool
Suggested retail price: $6.50 (125-yd. skein)
Brown Sheep Company
Website: brownsheep.com

GUESTS :

Melanie Falick
Knitting expert, author
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