Tusday’s Knitting Tip – Picking Up Stitches Before Ripping Back
If you make a mistake in your project and you need to rip back, it can be tricky to grab the live stitches and put them back on your needle
In stockinette stitch, identify the row below the row you will want to start re-knitting. Insert your needle under the first strand of yarn in the V that makes up the first stitch of the row on the right side. Continue this down the row, picking up the first strand of yarn in the V and skipping the second leg of the V. You’ll be picking up every other strand of yarn.without dropping any. This week’s tip shows us how to pick up stitches before ripping back so your don’t have to worry about the live stitches unraveling.
In garter stitch, you’ll be doing the same thing. If you stretch your knitting a bit, you can see the same V’s under the bumps of the garter stitch. Insert your needle into the first leg of the V in the garter stitch as well.
Once you have your needle inserted all the way along the row, you can pull the working yarn to rip back the rows above the needle. The stitches will be sitting on your needle ready to go.
It’s best to use a needle smaller than your working needle to pick up your stitches, but remember to switch back to the original size needle when you start knitting again!
- Tuesday’s Tip – Keeping Track of Alternate Increase Rounds - March 25, 2014
- Tuesday’s Crochet Tip – Finger Crochet - March 18, 2014
- Tuesday’s Crochet Tip – Turn a Doily Pattern into a Rug - March 11, 2014
Tags: knitting tip, Tuesday's Tip
June 4th, 2013 at 1:42 pm
BRILLIANT! Thanks for the tip!
June 4th, 2013 at 2:33 pm
Thank you! this will come in handy 🙂
June 4th, 2013 at 3:23 pm
Brilliant! Why did I never know this before? 🙂
June 4th, 2013 at 4:12 pm
I had exactly the same thought Knitgirl!
June 4th, 2013 at 4:38 pm
Absolutely cool…I will remember this!
June 4th, 2013 at 5:27 pm
This will definitely come in handy for me. I am forever dropping stitches or have to many stitches on the needle.
June 9th, 2013 at 7:12 pm
Thanks, you saved what’s left of my sanity.
June 10th, 2013 at 3:20 am
This will save so much time. I wish I knew this years ago!
June 11th, 2013 at 8:36 am
I’ve never seen such a clear illustrations. This is awesome.
June 11th, 2013 at 5:59 pm
I’ve been doing this for a project. But my problem is that I need the top part and not the bottom, so have to tink the bottom part. It’s really a pain!
June 26th, 2013 at 1:25 pm
Whoa, so cool! Thanks!
June 26th, 2013 at 11:23 pm
The details are well-explained and very concise.
July 21st, 2014 at 10:43 pm
I’m making a washcloth using a Celtic-inspired cable stitch that looks like intertwined ropes. Is it possible to do this with all those cable stitches? I’m concerned, as I have to go about 12 rows back!
July 21st, 2014 at 10:46 pm
This is the washcloth I’m making: http://www.yarnspirations.com/pattern/knitting/celtic-cables-dishcloth
Apparently on row 4 of the pattern I lost track of the order of stitches. Can this project be saved?
July 29th, 2014 at 9:14 am
It is possible to do this with cables, you’ll just want to be extra careful. Depending on the error and how far along you are, you could try dropping down the stitches one at a time and fixing them that way, or you could pull out the stitches to the row where you noticed the mistake and start again from there.
March 20th, 2017 at 11:20 am
Wish I had seen this last week!!! It really is so simple and soooo brilliant. Thanks for sharing!!
September 26th, 2018 at 1:19 pm
Would love to see this as a video!
September 28th, 2018 at 8:46 am
Hi Joyce! I love that idea! I’m going to pass this along to our multimedia team!
Marykate
June 16th, 2020 at 3:16 pm
As the Queen of Rip Outs, I love this tip. I could have used the Internet 60 years ago when I learned to knit.