Essentials: Knitting

When a teen hears the word "knitting," images coming to mind might be of grandmas sitting in a big circle making fuzzy hats as Christmas gifts.

Knitting is not just for grandmas, though. I knit, and I learned how from my grandmother, Carla Noziglia, who belongs to a group that knits hats, sweaters and blankets for premature babies. Here's how to knit a basic scarf or belt:

Supplies: You need size 6 or 7 knitting needles. Look at the bottom of the needle for its size. You also need yarn, but stay away from fuzzy yarns, because they are difficult to work with.

Starting out: First, measure out about 30 inches of yarn on a hard surface, but do not cut it. You will want to have two tails coming off of it: one that is about 8 inches long and the other that is still attached to the ball of yarn.

Tie a knot that resembles a pretzel and slide one needle through the center of it and tighten it, but leave enough slack for the yarn to slide up and down the needle.

Now, take the needle in your right hand and the tail of yarn in the left hand. Keep some tension on the short end and wrap the long tail around your thumb.

Take the needle and slide it up your thumb so that it goes under the yarn and forms a loop. Then bring the needle back through the loop. You will have a knot if you did this correctly.

Repeat these steps for about 28 stitches on your needle. This is called casting.

After you have cast the 28 stitches, take the needle with the first knots on it in your left hand and the other needle in your right.

Guide the needle with no castings through the first knot on the opposite needle. Wrap the long tail around both needles and create a loop. You will then bring the loop down and onto the next needle. You have just created your first stitch!

Continue with that until the end of the row. Then switch needles. Repeat what you did.

Finishing up: After you have created your scarf or belt at desired length, you are ready to bind the knot. Take the needle in your right hand to make stitches, then slide the left-hand needle through the first stitch on the other needle. Bring the loop up over the right-hand needle and you have a bound-off stitch.

Repeat until only one stitch is left on the right-hand needle.

Put the yarn a few inches from the needle and pull the tail through the last stitch to lock it.

Brie Cook is a freshman at Aquinas High School.