The first thing that you will need to do after you have purchased your supplies is to search for instructions for the thing that you want to make. This could be anything that you want to make but it is recommended that you start with something as simple as a placemat. This is because you will be able to practice casting on stitches, doing the simple stitches and then casting them off too.

Casting on is the foundation of knitting. There are various kinds of methods that you can use to cast on stitches. While some may work for you, others may find some other method easier and simpler. It basically comes down to what you learnt initially and the one that you are most comfortable with. The first stitch that you cast on is called the slipknot. This can be made by holding the yarn in the left hand and making a loop. Hold the place where the yarn intersects in order to keep the circle from slipping away. Keep the working yarn behind the needle and insert the needle through the loop that you have made from the front. Use the working yarn to pull and tighten the loop with both ends of the strings.

There are other methods of casting on stitches like the cable cast on, the long tail cast on, the knitted cast on and the simple cast on (also called the backward loop cast on). There are different benefits and advantages of using different methods to cast on stitches.