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Special thanks to Mark Rougeux for this knitting tutorial.
Fixing a stitch, whether it be twisted, dropped, knitted instead of purled, or just plain old sloppy tension, doesn’t always work out as nicely as you might hope, especially if you discover it several rows later. Sometimes when knitting becomes rather mechanical, my mind tends to wander. I hold up 20 minutes of knitting to admire my work, and I notice an irregularity about 10 rows back. Veteran and rookie knitters alike have done this at one time or another and, usually, a lot more frequently than they will admit.
I have to study the mistake to find the best way to fix it. For my sample, I intentionally dropped a stitch. The first thing I do is get a stitch marker and grab the stitch so it won’t unravel any more than it already has. Then, I count my stitches to see if I did indeed drop a stitch. Yep. I now have 19 stitches.
Stockinette stitch is perhaps the easiest to fix. Simply unknitting, or tinking, might do the trick. Tinking back 10 rows can be an exasperating task especially if you have 200 stitches in a row, which is not uncommon in things like shawls and sweaters.
You can instead knit the next row up to where you dropped the stitch. Then go fishing, as I like to call it. Get your crochet hook, remove the stitch marker, and insert the crochet hook into the dropped stitch. Knit the ladders back up to the current row and slip the stitch on the needle. There are many videos on the Internet that really do a nice job of showing you how to do this.
When fixing stitches many rows back, the stitches may become very tight because there is no extra yarn between stitches once you have closed the gap. In this case, I knit about 10 rows beyond the mistake, so the tension between the stitches has returned to normal even though one is missing. You may have to tug a good bit on the yarn to get it to ease up. Be careful not to break the yarn.
Because I didn’t like the way my first attempt turned out, I let the stitch unravel again back to the error, then tried two more times. If you do that, the yarn may show signs of fatigue and become droopy. If you look at the purl side, you can see the fatigue there as well.
When that happens, I just shrug and begin to rip.First, I grab that trusty stitch marker and insert it at the spot I want to stop, usually one or two rows below the original error.
That way, when you reach that spot, you won’t be able to rip anymore.
At this point, gently reinsert your needles, check for stitch orientation, then begin knitting. You will find that your stitches are now even.
Sometimes ripping is just the easiest way to fix some knitting errors, even though it may not be the fastest. Just make sure you study your situation, so you make the right decision as to the most effective way to fix your knitting.
Bonus!
Today marks the start of our Katy Yarn Giveaway!
We are giving away 3 Skeins of Katy Yarn to one lucky winner. The deadline to enter is September 24, 2014 at 11:59:59 PM Eastern Time.
You have to get your hands on a skein of this magnificent yarn! Made from 70% baby alpaca and 30% silk, this yarn has a soft, silky texture that’ll make all of your knits simply dreamy. Inspired by the beautiful colors of the clematis climbing vine, this skein has a unique mix of earthy greens, rich purples, deep plums. This is the luxury yarn that can’t be beat. I’m sure you’ll fall in love with it in just one stitch.
What other knitting tutorials would you like to see?
AllFreeKnitting
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How to keep the tension in the cast on & off row even so that one side is not tighter than the other.
How to fix a cable that got twisted the wrong way. So far the only thing I know how to do is tink it back to the mistake – PLEASE tell me there’s an easier way!