Easy Garter Stitch Coaster

On May 25, 2025 9 0

The joy of making something lovely and practical with your own hands! Just look at that gorgeous dark green knitted coaster in the picture – isn’t it charming? It’s the perfect little project to bring a handmade touch to your home, and guess what? We’re so excited to show you exactly how to make one just like it! If you’re just starting your knitting adventure, you’re in the perfect place because we’ll go through everything step-by-step, nice and easy.

Just picture it: your favorite warm drink, like the one you see, resting cozily on a coaster you fashioned all by yourself. It might seem like a small thing, but oh, the wonderful feeling of accomplishment it brings!

What You’ll Need

To assemble this charming drink coaster, you’ll want to gather these supplies:

🧶 Worsted Weight Cotton Yarn: The coaster in the image is made from a sturdy, absorbent yarn in a beautiful solid dark green color. Cotton is an excellent choice for coasters because it handles moisture well. One small ball will be plenty.
🥢 Knitting Needles: Size US 7 (4.5 mm) needles are a good match for worsted weight yarn and will help you achieve the texture seen.
✂️ Scissors: For snipping your yarn.
🧵 Tapestry Needle: This has a large eye and a blunt tip, perfect for weaving in the yarn ends neatly when you’re finished.

Understanding the Basics First

Before we dive into the rows, let’s talk about the fundamental techniques you’ll use. The coaster showcases a lovely, simple texture. This texture is known as Garter Stitch.

Casting On: Getting Started

Casting on is how you get your very first stitches onto one of your knitting needles. Think of it as building the foundation for your coaster.

Make a slip knot and place it on one needle. This is your first stitch!
Hold that needle in your left hand. Hold the other needle in your right hand.
Insert the tip of the right needle into the slip knot from front to back.
Wrap the yarn (coming from the ball) around the tip of the right needle counter-clockwise.
Use the right needle to pull that loop of yarn back through the slip knot.
You’ll have a new loop on your right needle. Transfer this new loop onto your left needle, placing it next to the slip knot. Don’t twist it! You’ve just formed your second stitch! Repeat steps 3-6 until you have the required number of stitches.

The Knit Stitch (k): The Heart of Your Coaster

The Knit Stitch is one of the two most basic stitches in knitting. For this coaster, it’s the only stitch you need to know after casting on!

With the needle holding your cast-on stitches in your left hand, and the empty needle in your right, insert the tip of the right-hand needle into the first stitch on the left-hand needle. Go from front to back, with the right needle behind the left.
With your right index finger, wrap the yarn (from the ball) counter-clockwise around the tip of the right-hand needle.
Carefully draw the right-hand needle back, bringing the wrapped yarn with it, through the original stitch on the left-hand needle.
Let the original stitch slip off the left-hand needle. You’ve now worked one knit stitch, and it’s sitting on your right-hand needle! Repeat this for every stitch across the row.

What is Garter Stitch?

Garter Stitch is the beautiful, bumpy fabric you see on the dark green coaster in the image. It has distinct horizontal ridges. The wonderful news for beginners is that Garter Stitch is simply produced by knitting every single stitch, of every single row. No complicated counting, no switching between stitches. Just pure, simple knitting. This stitch also gives the coaster its neat, non-curling edges, just like the ones visible in the photograph.

Let’s Make Your Drink Coaster!

The coaster in the image is a perfect square. We’ll aim to replicate this shape.

Finished Size: Approximately 4 inches x 4 inches (10 cm x 10 cm), like a standard drink coaster.

Instructions:

Cast On 18 stitches.
- Tip: Try to keep your cast-on stitches not too tight and not too loose. Aim for an even tension. If they’re too tight, your first row will be tricky.
Row 1: Knit all 18 stitches.
- Once you’ve knitted the last stitch, all your stitches will have moved from the left needle to the right needle. Swap the needles: place the needle with all the stitches into your left hand, and the now-empty needle into your right. You’re ready for the next row!
Row 2: Knit all 18 stitches.
Repeat Row 2 until your piece measures approximately 4 inches (10 cm) from the cast-on edge, or until it looks like a square.
- The coaster in the image is perfectly square. The easiest way to check if your piece is square is to gently fold one bottom corner up to meet the stitches currently on your needle along the top edge. If the side edge matches the length of the rows you’ve knitted, it’s a square!
- Troubleshooting: Count your stitches at the end of every few rows. It’s easy for beginners to accidentally add or lose a stitch. If you have more or less than 18, try to see where you might have gone wrong. It’s often a yarn over (making a stitch) or knitting two together (losing a stitch) by mistake. It’s okay to unravel a bit (this is called ‘frogging’ because you ‘rip-it, rip-it’!) and try again.

Binding Off: Finishing Touches

Binding off (also called casting off) secures your live stitches so your knitting doesn’t unravel. This completes the edge.

Knit the first two stitches of the row as normal. You’ll have two stitches on your right-hand needle.
Insert the tip of your left-hand needle into the first stitch you knitted (the one further down the right needle, towards the tip).
Lift this first stitch up and over the second stitch, and completely off the tip of the right-hand needle. You’ve bound off one stitch! You’ll have one stitch remaining on your right-hand needle.
Knit one more stitch from the left-hand needle. You’ll again have two stitches on your right-hand needle.
Repeat steps 2-4 across the entire row until only one stitch remains on your right-hand needle.
Cut your yarn, leaving about a 6-inch tail.
Draw this yarn tail through the final loop on your needle and pull it tight to secure.

Weaving in Ends

You’ll have two yarn tails: one from casting on and one from binding off.

Thread one yarn tail onto your tapestry needle.
Weave the needle back and forth through the bumps on the back of your garter stitch rows for about an inch or two. Change direction a couple of times to make sure it’s secure.
Snip any remaining yarn close to the fabric.
Repeat with the other yarn tail.

Your Beautiful Handmade Coaster!

And there you have it! A charming, functional drink coaster, brought into being by your own two hands. See how the garter stitch provides that lovely texture and sturdiness, just like the one in the picture? That dark green really gives it a classic, cozy look.

Don’t you just love the feeling of turning a simple string of yarn into something so tangible? This little square is a testament to your growing skills. Why not make a set? They’re quick, satisfying, and build confidence for bigger projects.

We’d be thrilled to see your finished coasters! Feel free to share photos of your new pieces online. Happy knitting, and enjoy every stitch of your crafting journey!