in this episode of be hooked knitting we're going to knit the garter stitch my name is Brittany and I'll be your guide throughout this tutorial for recommended supplies and written instructions please visit knitting dot be hooked crochet dot-com slash garter stitch let's go ahead and begin to begin the garter stitch we of course have to cast on any number of stitches so the garter stitch doesn't have a specific multiple you can cast on however many stitches you would like and you can do so in whatever method you like now I personally like to use the longtail cast on for the garter stitch and that's what I'm going to demonstrate here but just know that you can use any type of casting on method that you prefer now if this is your first knitting video and you're unfamiliar with the longtail cast on I recommend that you check out my previous tutorial on how to do the longtail cast on that is knitting be hooked crochet comm slash longtail and I'll leave that link in the description so what I've done is just created a longtail I'm going to cast on twelve stitches for the purpose of this tutorial again you can cast on any number of stitches and I'm just going to secure the two ends in my fingers down here and open them up and hold on to this piece right here on the top then I'll just go down and around catch that loop on my thumb and then go back and catch the loop on my finger and I'm going to pull it through the loops that are on my thumb and release and tighten now once you have your stitches cast on your needle then we're just going to turn it around and we're gonna begin the first row by knitting every single one of our stitches the Garter stitch is so simple all we're going to do is knit the stitches so there is just one single repeat we're going to knit every stitch for every row and it's going to create a really cool texture so we'll just insert our needle knit wise so from front to back and then we'll pick up our working yarn and just wrap it around the needle work it underneath and then off so insert our needle from front to back wrap the yarn bring it down and then off the needle there are a couple of different ways of working the knit stitch as far as holding them right now you see me working in the american knitting style then once you've made it to the end of your row you're just simply going to knit that last stitch then turn your work and knit every stitch in this row and that is our very simple repeat for this stitch we're just going to knit every stitch for every single row that's why this is one of the greatest beginner stitch patterns you don't have to really do any counting or anything like that just practice your knit stitch it's great for learning and practicing tension holding on to the needles getting a feel for these strange new movements so after you've knit a few rows you'll really start to see the great texture come from this pattern and it really couldn't be more simple but it is one of those stitches that is used so frequently for so many different patterns that's why it's one of the greatest stitches to learn for your first knitting stitch and it's really just as simple as that you'll just knit every single stitch on every single row this was actually one of my first projects that I ever did was I knitted a garter stitch cowl so I just bought myself some chunky weight yarn and just cast on I think it was about 20 stitches or so and just worked the Garter stitch just knit every single row and it's one of my favorite scarfs even to this day I still use it and and love it quite a bit my mention there are a couple of different ways of working the knit stitch and I do have some other resources available so that you can see the different methods like I said here I'm demonstrating using the American style but there is another style called continental knitting and that's where you hold the yarn in your non-dominant hand now if you want to have a look at that video that demonstrates the different ways of working the knit stitch you'll want to check out knitting be hooked crochet dot-com slash knitting styles and I'll show you the to knitting style is the one that you saw here and the continental knitting which I tend to like both of them so it's definitely worth a look if you haven't seen it already I'll also leave a link to that video in the description so that's all there is to the Garter stitch you're just going to work one knit stitch for every single stitch on every row and you're gonna have a really great texture really stretchy fabric come from that really soft so it's very soft and even a little bit thick