Knitting for Beginners – How to make a slip knot

I bet you are so anxious to get started and to actually feel that you are making knitting progress – let’s learn how to make a slip knot and get this party going!

Knitting for Beginners is a series of blog posts. 

The first post in the series covered a technical description of knitting, all the essentials you’ll need to get started and why knitting is good for you.  Read it here:

• Knitting for Beginners – How to start, essentials and free download
• In this post – How to Slip Knot and
• Then, How to cast on stitches for Knitting – the knit method
• How to knit the Basic Knit Stitch

Click through to any of the above posts with the links highlighted in pink.

Are you skimming through?  Scroll down for a quick video tutorial showing you how to make a slip knot.

the Slip Knot 

Slip knot is also referred to as a running knot, a slip loop or quick-release knot.

More about the slip knot:

What is a slip knot?

The Slip knot in knitting fastens the yarn to your knitting needle so that you can cast on the rest of your stitches. 

Your slip knot is = your first stitch.

Yes, you count it as a stitch, it is your base or anchor stitch.

how to make a slip knot – as per image above

1. Unwind a bit of yarn from the ball you are going to be knitting with. 
2. There is no need to have your tail end super long, just don’t keep it so short that it ends up close to your slip knot.
3. Take about 4-10 inches of yarn and make a loop, crossing the working end (ball end) of the yarn with the tail end (shorter/open end). 
4. Then, pull another loop of yarn from the tail (open) end of your strand through your first loop.
5. Insert one of your knitting needles through the loop of your knot and pull the strands of yarn on either side to tighten.  
6. As you can see from my image above – top right – I don’t necessarily pull a loop through the first loop, I just slip the tail end through and tighten.  I guess you call it a normal knot!

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THE PROPER SLIP KNOT

Ok, let’s try again:

1. Follow steps 1-3 above.
2. Use your thumb and index finger, pull the yarn through the first loop to form a knot.
3. Insert your needle through the loop and pull the end so that the loop snugs up nicely on the needle. Don’t pull it too tight.

MORE SLIP KNOTS

If you are looking for more resources to make different variations of the slip knot – visit WikiHow here.

The next lesson will be to cast on the rest of your knitting stitches.  Beware – there are many different methods. You can try all the cast on methods and stick with the one you like best.