How to Knit a Blanket

Pull about a six-inch tail of yarn off the ball. Loop the yarn around two fingers to form a small cross, then pull the working yarn through the loop you just made. Tighten by pulling on both ends.

Slide the slip knot onto your knitting needle and pull snug - tight enough to stay on the hook, loose enough to slide along it. That's your first stitch.

Hold the working yarn in your hand and wrap it around your thumb so it forms a small loop sticking up like a pointer. Slide the empty needle under the loop, then lift the needle straight up to slip the loop onto the needle. That's one cast-on stitch.

Repeat 13 more times until you have 14 stitches on the needle. Fourteen makes a square about 7.5 inches wide; if you want bigger or smaller squares, adjust the count.

Hold the cast-on needle in your left hand and the empty needle in your right. Insert the right needle into the front of the first stitch on the left needle, going from front to back. The needles should cross like an X.

Wrap the working yarn under and over the right needle, then pull that loop through the stitch and slip the old stitch off the left needle. That's one knit stitch. Repeat across the whole row - 14 stitches total.

Turn the work, swap the needles between hands, and knit the next row exactly the same way. The fabric you're making is called garter stitch - every row is a knit row. The little bumps you see at the top of each row are the previous row's tops; knit into the V-shape below them, not into the bumps.

Keep going until your square measures about 20 cm (8 inches) tall. The fabric will look uneven for the first few rows but evens out as it grows.

Knit two stitches as normal so they sit on the right needle. Use the tip of the left needle to lift the first stitch up and over the second one and off the needle. You've cast off one stitch and one stitch remains on the right needle.

Knit one more so two stitches are on the right needle again, then lift the previous stitch over the new one. Continue across the row. When one stitch remains, cut the yarn six inches from the needle, pull the tail through that last loop, and tighten.

Lay two finished squares side by side. Rotate one of them 90 degrees so the garter ridges run vertical on one square and horizontal on the other. Alternating like this is what hides the seam.

Thread a long yarn tail onto a tapestry needle. Stitch through the small bumps along each square's edge, alternating between squares - one bump from the left square, one from the right, repeat. Tie off and weave the ends back through the fabric. Repeat for every seam in the blanket.