6 Key Terms I've Learned from Knitting Blogs

I remember when I first started knitting (about two years ago), I remember how the basic terms were foreign to me.  So for those novice knitters, I wanted to give some basic terms that I learned and grew familiar with from reading knitting blogs just like this one!  Okay Fashion Knitters, the next time you are on your favorite knitting blog, looking at a snazzy knitwear pattern, or reading a fashion knit magazine, you will be a little be more in the know on the basics!

Cast on: This is the technical term for how you begin a knitting project. Casting on refers to getting the first row of stitches onto the needle. In a pattern, cast on will be marked as "CO."


Knit: When you are reading a pattern, knit refers to a type of stitch. This is also called the knit stitch and is marked in patterns as "k." The knit stitch is probably the first stitch you learned, but in case you forgot, or are new to the craft of knitting, here is a brief refresher. You make a knit stitch when you insert the right hand needle through the top stitch on the left hand needle, wrap the yarn around the right hand needle with the left in front, and push the right hand needle through the opening in the old stitch to create a new stitch.


Purl: Like knit, purl refers to a certain type of stitch. A purl is made when you insert the right hand needle into the first stitch on the left hand needle, but bring the right around to the front. With the yarn in front (instead of behind the needles), wrap the yarn around the right hand needle and push it through the opening in the stitch to create a new loop on the right hand needle. Purling feels just like knitting, but backwards. On a pattern, purl will be marked as "P."


Bind off: This is how you end a knitting project. If you think of knitting as making row after row of slip knots, binding off is how you tie the knots to keep your project from unraveling. Binding off is denoted as "BO" in a pattern.


Garter stitch: This is the knitting term for the pattern that a group of knit stitches makes. If you knit all knit stitches, you'll get horizontally ribbed rows called a garter stitch.


Stockinette stitch: This is a knitting term for the pattern created when you alternate knit stitch rows with purl stitch rows. The pattern looks like rows of "V's."
For more knitting definitions visit Life 123.