KNITTING TUTORIAL: Magic loop

Casting on
Cast on using your preferred method – any standard cast-on will work. Once you’ve cast on all your stitches to the needle, slide them all onto the cord.

Pull out the cord
Pinch the ends of the cast-on together with your right hand. Use your left hand to identify the central stitch and pull out a loop of cord at this point. Aim for an equal number of stitches on each side of this cord loop, but it’s fine to be one stitch out if you have an odd number of stitches and it doesn’t matter which side of the loop the extra stitch falls. Use your LH to pull gently on the cord loop until both sets of stitches approach the needle tips.

Prepare to knit first round
Make sure that the needle with the working yarn attached is at the back and that the stitches aren’t twisted. Keeping the front needle in place with your LH, use your RH to pull on the back needle until the straight part of the needle comes out through the first stitch (all the back set of stitches are now on the cord).

Pull out working needle
LH holding cords together, RH holding back needle’s tip with join between tip and cord clearly shown to the right of first stitch on back needle.

Place marker and start knitting
Once you have pulled the cord through so that there are two similar length loops of cord, one at each side, place your marker on the empty back needle. Check that the working yarn is passing over the top of the back needle cord. Insert the tip of the RH needle into the first stitch on the LH needle and knit it. Continue to knit the rest of the stitches from the front needle.

First half of round finished
At this point you will have an empty needle in your LH and the stitches divided between the RH needle and the back cord. Turn the work over in a clockwise direction, keeping the working yarn at the back.

Knit second half of round
Slide the stitches on the cord onto the free needle at the front of the work. Keeping the LH needle in place with your LH, use your RH to pull on the back needle until the straight part of the needle comes out through the first stitch (all the back set of stitches are now on the cord) and the two cord loops are approximately equal in length.

Continue knitting
Repeat Step 6 and you have completed the first round of knitting Magic Loop style. Continue working as instructed in the pattern.