The slip knot is the first stitch of your knitting projects. Crochet too has the slip knot. The knot on your knitting needle is the same no matter how you make it in different ways. Slip knots are counted as the first cast-on stitch on the knitting needle unless mentioned otherwise by a pattern designer. You anchor the yarn to the knitting needle with the knot and then begin the other steps of knitting. In this tutorial, you will know how to tie a slip knot. With practice and with the completion of projects, you won’t even notice your slip knot as you will know to make one intuitively! So, let’s get started.
Gather your knitting needles and of course yarn. The slip knot is the same, whether you work on a pair of single-pointed or circular knitting needles. Even for working on a pattern in the round of double-pointed needles, you need to make a slip knot on one of the five needles of the set. Most importantly the slip knot is the same even for a crochet hook.
Remember for slip knots, you don't need to measure the yarn precisely, but it is always recommended to keep enough extra yarn to work with. You can later cut it short. But many times, especially for the long tail cast method, this extra length will assist with casting on the stitches.
Make a slip knot following these steps
Step 1 - Pick up the yarn roughly 10 - 12cm from the end. Pinch it between your fingers and let it drop down into a U-shape also known as bight.
Step 2 - Twist your fingers clockwise or in a way to make the yarn cross over and form a loop.
Step 3 – Place two fingers inside the loop and expand while keeping the shape of the loop intact.
Step 4 - Grab the working yarn (the one leading to your yarn ball or skein) and pull a few inches of yarn partially through the loop. The yarn you pulled must now form a bight (the U-shaped bend). One end of the yarn is shorter and is called the tail while the one leading to the ball or skein will take you through the next steps.
Step 5 - The loop now looks like a knot. Make sure to tighten by pulling both ends of the yarn. Do not cinch the whole thing down yet. Just make sure that the loop is looking a bit like a noose.
Step 6 - Now slide the loop onto your knitting needle. Now pull both ends of the yarn tight.
You can follow these steps or try the method of feeding a loop into a loop or then tightening it on the knitting needle. Another method that knitters use is making a loop and then pushing it on the needle.
A slip knot easily tightens and loosens. For your beginner projects try and make the slip knot on two knitting needles of the same size or different sizes for a stretchy cast-on.
While the steps may seem difficult when you are reading it, when you are making your slip knot on your knitting needles, you get it done within seconds.
