HOW TO: SLIP THE FIRST STITCH

When knitting something flat in any of my patterns, I always advise to slip the first stitch without knitting it. I was recently asked how to do it. What a good question from someone who’s just starting to knit!!! So here I am, taking photos and writing a post 😀 

The idea behind my advise is to create a sturdier and more goodlooking border. See below the comparison:

Some people slip the first st knitwise, others do it purlwise, others vary between doing it purlwise or knitwise depending on how that stitch was worked on the first row… We could discuss each opinion later, but I will point out here how I do it when knitting in garter stitch.  

Let’s suppose we are knitting one block of my KAL (as we are doing today 😉 ). The pattern tells you to slip the first st each row. This is called “slip stitch edge” and, as I mentioned before, is done to create a neat border. 

HOW TO DO IT

1) Slip the first stitch from your left needle to your right needle, as if you were to knit it but without doing it (you won’t wrap your yarn around the right needle). This is often referred as “slip knitwise” because you insert the tip of your right needle in the left one in the same way you would do when knitting it.

2) You’ll get this:

3) Knit the second stitch normally, as the pattern calls for. Here is shown as being knitted:

Why don’t I do it in the first row??

I’ve found that, each time I tried, the result was to get a somewhat tight corner in my first row, with some shrinked appearance. But maybe is just me…

Overall, what I’m trying to say is that this is not a rule set in stone. Each one has to decide, according to her or his own experience, which tip turns out to be useful and which one doesn’t.

Happy knitting!