How to Knit
The necessary materials for knitting are either cotton, worsted, silk or thread, and knitting needles.
Stockings and all knitting worked in rounds require four knitting needles, three of which are used for holding the stitches of the work, and the fourth to knit with.
The casting on of stitches forms the beginning of knitting. It consists of loops formed around a knitting needle. Every loop will form a stitch. The number of stitches will determine the width of the object which is to be knitted.
There are five different ways of casting on stitches. For the casting on of stitches always unroll an end of the cotton long enough to work the stitches required, as this end is used in the formation of those stitches.
No. 1.—Illustration No. 1 shows the position of the cotton, ready to cast on the first stitch. Place the cotton over the thumb and first finger of the left hand, in such a way as to have the end of cotton, which must be sufficiently long for the required number of stitches, fall from the thumb toward the palm of the hand. Hold this end and the other part of the cotton with the remaining fingers of the left hand. This same position of the cotton is used in illustrations 2 and 3. Take the needle with the right hand, place it over the cotton, between the thumb and the first finger, pass it under the cotton resting around the thumb, bring it upward; then pass the needle downward, under the cotton resting on the first finger; pass this loop through the loop around the thumb, withdraw the thumb from the loop; pass the thumb under the end of the cotton, toward the palm of the hand; draw this end in order to close the stitch just formed.
No. 2—Casting on of Single Stitches.—Begin in the same manner as described in No. 1, and make 2 stitches. Then take up on the needle the loop which is around the thumb (see illustration 2), without withdrawing the thumb, insert the needle around the cotton marked b in illustration No. 2, from right to left, and draw it through loop a; close this stitch as already directed in No. 1, by withdrawing the thumb from loop a and drawing the end of cotton.
No. 3.—This casting on of stitches requires two needles. Form the first stitch in same manner as described in No. 1. Then, with the left hand, hold the needle on which this first stitch is formed, pass the cotton over the first finger of the left hand, take a needle with the right hand, and insert the point into the loop on the left needle, wind the cotton around the point of the right needle, draw it through the loop, *insert the point of the left needle into the loop just formed on the right needle, wind the cotton around the point of the right needle, draw it through the loop. Repeat from *. See illustration 3.
No. 4—The Casting on of a New Row of Stitches.—This casting on of stitches is generally employed in knitting with worsted, which requires a new casting on of stitches in the progress of the work. It is done by putting the worsted (see illustration No. 4) over the thumb of the left hand, holding the end between the second and third fingers, * take up the worsted around the thumb and lying toward the palm of the hand, by inserting the needle from under the worsted in an upward direction (see illustration No. 4), withdraw the thumb from the loop, pass the thumb under the end of worsted resting in the palm of the hand, and draw it to close the stitch. Repeat from *.
No. 5.—The casting on of stitches illustrated in cut No. 5 forms a narrow border after the first row has been knitted. In order to easily knit the first row, the casting on of stitches must be done on a pair of knitting needles. Unroll an end long enough for the required number of stitches. Double it. Fold this doubled end in half, insert the point of the needles into the fold, place on the first finger of the left hand the long end of the worsted which is among the short ends. Place the three short ends over the thumb. Hold all these ends with the second finger. Take on the needles the ends resting on the thumb (marked b in illustration), and insert them as shown in illustration No. 5. Then pass the needles through the loop on first finger, in the direction of the arrow, and pass this loop through the loop already formed on the needles, withdraw the thumb, close the stitch by drawing the three ends, which is done by passing the thumb under them.
No. 6—Double Casting on of Stitches.—The difference between this method of casting on and the preceding is, that every knot forms, each time, two loops instead of one, on the needle. The first knot must be formed in the same manner as described in No. 5. In order to work the second knot, insert once more the needle into the loop of three ends which rest on the thumb, marked a in illustration No. 6. The arrow, in same illustration, shows where to insert the needle and the direction it has to take. This done, insert the needle downward into loop b, and draw the latter through loop resting on the thumb, withdraw the thumb and close the knot. Every loop on the needle must be knitted separately at the first row.