Stitch · Texture · First project
Knit stitch (k): what the little V is made of
Every knit fabric is a wall of interlocking Vs, and the knit stitch is one V. Working out which leg goes where is the difference between a tidy fabric and a ladder, so this entry takes the stitch apart and puts it back together with a 20-stitch swatch.
Published Abbreviation k
- Vknit
At a glance
- SymbolV
- Abbreviationk
- TypeStitch
- FamilyTexture
- LevelFirst project
Working chart
| Step | Round / row | Stitches |
|---|---|---|
| Cast on 20 sts with the long-tail method Leave a tail about 4x the width of the cast-on row. | - | 20 |
| Row 1 (RS): knit every stitch The yarn sits behind the work the whole row. | 1 | 20 |
| Row 2 (WS): knit every stitch Knitting both sides gives garter stitch. | 2 | 20 |
| Row 3: knit every stitch, then repeat rows 1-2 Garter fabric is about 15% shorter than stocking stitch at the same gauge. | 3 | 20 |
| Bind off after 10 rows First swatch: 20 sts x 10 rows should measure roughly 9 x 3.5 cm in worsted. | 10 | 0 |
Measurements
| Needle (mm) | Sts / 10 cm | Rows / 10 cm |
|---|---|---|
| 3.25 | 26 | 36 |
| 4.00 | 22 | 30 |
| 4.50 | 20 | 28 |
| 5.50 | 16 | 22 |
Yarn and yardage
| Yarn weight | Metres / 100 g | Swatch mass for 10 x 10 cm |
|---|---|---|
| Fingering (4-ply) | 400 | 1.8 |
| DK | 220 | 3.4 |
| Worsted | 190 | 4.2 |
| Chunky | 130 | 6.5 |
The shape you are making
A knit stitch is a loop of yarn pulled through an existing loop from front to back. Once the row above is worked, the loop is trapped and reads on the front of the fabric as a flattened V, with its two legs slanting down and out.
The loop that sits behind that V, on the back of the fabric, is a horizontal bump. That bump is the purl side of the same stitch, which is why stockinette has a smooth front and a ridged back rather than two unrelated surfaces.
Working a knit stitch
Hold the yarn at the back of the work. Insert the right needle into the front of the next stitch on the left needle, entering left to right and pointing away from you, so the right needle sits behind the left one.
Wrap the working yarn around the right needle counter-clockwise, then draw that wrap back through the old loop. Slide the old loop off the left needle. The new loop is now on the right needle, and the stitch count has not changed.
Why the legs matter
Each stitch has a front leg (closer to you) and a back leg. Standard knitting works into the front leg, which twists the loop so it sits open and flat. Working into the back leg twists it the other way and the resulting stitch is noticeably tighter and smaller.
That is not a defect: it is exactly the mechanism behind k1tbl, used in twisted-rib hems where the columns need to sit closer together so the rib does not gape.
Gauge and fabric behaviour
Stocking stitch at a typical DK gauge of 22 stitches and 30 rows per 10 cm means one stitch is about 4.5 mm wide and one row about 3.3 mm tall. Rows are always shorter than stitches, which is why a pattern telling you to work 'until the piece measures 18 cm' is safer than 'work 55 rows'.
Garter stitch in the same yarn and needle measures roughly 20 stitches and 40 rows per 10 cm - wider per stitch and much shorter per row - because every second row is a ridge. Substituting one for the other without re-swatching shortens a garment by about a fifth.
Where beginners go wrong
The most common fault is an accidental yarn over: the yarn crosses over the top of the right needle instead of between the needles, adding a stitch that shows up as a loose hole. Count your stitches at the end of every wrong-side row for the first few projects, and the error is caught within two rows instead of twenty.
The second is splitting the yarn with the needle tip, which produces a tight, doubled stitch that is nearly impossible to knit on the next row. If the tip does not slide in cleanly, back it out and re-enter under the loop.