Materials

• Yarn choice plays a critical role in how the finished knitted fabric looks. Yarn for knitting comes in materials from wool to bamboo, silk to cotton, and an almost endless spectrum of colors. Some types of yarn are colorfast, but others may bleed dye when wet. The only way to be sure which is which is to check the yarn's care label or, better yet, wash a test swatch.
  
  

A Word About Wool

• Knitted wool is of particular note, because if the wool is untreated it will full. In other words, the fibers will bind together if subjected to a washing-day combination of water, agitation and heat. Wash untreated wool by hand with as little agitation and movement as possible, then lay it flat to dry. Treated wool, on the other hand, is usually machine washable. A smart crafter will include the yarn care label with any gifts or sale products, so you have a way to be sure what kind of knit fabric you're dealing with.
  
  

Stitch Pattern

• The stitch pattern is as critical to the finished product as yarn choice. All knitting patterns build on two basic stitches, the knit and the purl. Alternate groups of knit and purl stitches in evenly spaced, vertical columns, working back and forth across the fabric, to create stretchy ribbing. Or alternate rows of knit and purl stitches to create stockinette stitch, with its trademark row of nesting "V's", on one side. Garter stitch, done by simply knitting every stitch, is also very common. More advanced knitting techniques include intentionally twisting the stitches, often used to create twisted-textured, raised columns over the main body of the fabric.
  
  

Feel

• Your choice of stitch pattern not only determines how the garment looks, but how it feels. Textured embellishments aside, you can count on a garter stitch swatch to be symmetrically ridged on both sides. Seed stitch and moss stitch produce the feel of tiny cobblestones beneath your fingers, and a tightly knit stockinette can be smooth as silk on the "right" side while garter-stitch-rough on the "wrong" side.
  
  Knitted fabric almost always has a pleasant sense of give to it, although an overly tight bind-off can create an inflexible edge. Be careful when pulling and tugging on knitted fabric, however, because some types of yarn -- particularly wool -- are flexible enough to stretch, but not elastic enough to spring back to shape when released.
  
  

Embellishments

• Often, a simple stitch like stockinette or garter is used as the background for in-pattern embellishments like cables, the raised patternwork most commonly associated with patterns from Ireland's Aran Islands. Creativity is the only limit when it comes to embellishing knit fabric; other common touches include fringe, knitted bobbles, buttons, "wrapping" stitches to create a pinched look in the middle of a row, large loops left hanging deliberately off the fabric as a type of fringe, or beads tucked into the knitting. No matter how it's embellished, the discrete stitches, as opposed to the single-piece look of woven fabric, will always give knitted fabric away.