I decided that my loved ones would all receive a hand-made Christmas present last year (along with some regular pressies of course!) as a special and personal touch. And so began my first attempt at knitting and a new challenge...
From never having knitted before, I created my first neck gaiter in 2 evenings - great looking and warm for my family, and extremely satisfying for me! And since the pressies were received with smiles all round, I feel I can pass my recipe for success onto you with some confidence!
First of all, you will need a ball of either King Cole Magnum Chunky Multi or Wendy Viva and 8mm 50cm circular needles.
The next mission is to cast on. When using King Cole Magnum Chunky Multi I casted on 65 stitches and when using Wendy Viva I casted on 62 stitches. I used the Double Cast On Method (also known as the Long Tail Cast On) since this method is an entirely different technique to knitting and allows you to master casting on without first having to be able to knit.
Once you have created the required number of stitches, you will need to join to knit in the round. To do this, distribute your stitches evenly around the needle. Hold the needle with the first stitch you cast on in your left hand and the needle with the last stitch you cast on in you right hand. Your working yarn (the yarn connected to the ball) should be attached to the stitch on your right needle. Ensure the cast on edges of all stitches are facing in the same direction. This prevents the stitches from "twisting". Next, slip the first stitch on the right needle to the left needle. Then slip the second stitch on the left needle up and over the first stitch and onto the right needle. Now place a stitch marker on the right needle to indicate the beginning of a new round.
You will now start knitting into the first stitch on the left needle. Once you have mastered this, you just need to keep going! Continuing to knit every round in this way creates stockinette stitch. (On straight needles you would need to knit and purl alternate rows to create stockinette stitch. This difference is because when you are working in the round you will always be knitting on the right side of the fabric).
Continue knitting until the neck gaiter is about 12 inches long. I simply used the entire ball of wool (remembering to leave enough wool to cast off of course).
When it comes to casting off, following these instructions will give you an acceptable result. There will be a gap between the first and large stitches bound off, but since the neck gaiter will roll at the top and bottom (something which naturally occurs with stockinette stitch) this matters very little. However, I'm a perfectionist and for a jogless join I used "Method 2" from the TECHknitting blog.
All you have to do now is weave in the ends. And... ta-da! You're done! :-)
Since Christmas I have become rather addicted to knitting and you can find me on Ravelry, a social network for knitters.
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