Wednesday Question: How to Pick Up Dropped Stitches

All knitters have questions about the best way to do things, why different things happen while they are knitting, how to fix knitting mistakes and more. Here is this weeks questions posed by several knitters.
 Question : Can you explain how to pick up a dropped stitch? 





Answer:No matter how careful you are when knitting, invariably you’re going to drop a stitch. Sometimes you’ll notice this right away and catch it within a row or two. Other times, you’ll see it hiding several rows below where you’re working. Either way, relax. It is fixable. Here’s how you do it.

Picking Up a Dropped Stitch Down a Row—Knitwise

It always happens—you put down your knitting only to come back to dropped stitches that have loosened back a row or two. Never fear. Here’s how you pick them up again.

Insert your left needle through the front of the dropped stitch so it won’t travel any farther.

Insert the left needle under the loose strand directly above the dropped stitch.

With the right needle, pull the dropped stitch over the strand and tip of the needle.

Now knit the stitch on the left needle, and continue on.

Picking Up a Dropped Stitch Down a Row—Purlwise

Sometimes dropped stitches are more obvious on the purl side in stockinette stitch. It just pops out at you, and you can see the horizontal line from each row very clearly.

Insert the left needle into the purl st.

Insert the left needle under the loose strand. It should now be to the right of the dropped stitch on the left needle.

With the right needle, lift the dropped stitch over the strand and the point of the needle.

Pull the strand through the stitch.

Transfer the stitch back to the left needle and purl it.

Picking Up Dropped Stitches Several Rows Down.

This is where a crochet hook really becomes your best friend. When you notice a dropped stitch several rows down, first things first, stick a crochet hook into the stitch. You want to be sure the stitch doesn’t fall any farther.

1. Position your work so you’re above and at the same vertical point as the dropped stitch on the knit side of your work. Pull the needles apart very gently, exposing the horizontal lines from each of the rows missing the stitch.

2. Look at your work carefully, and assess how many rows the stitch has fallen. The sample shows 4 loose strands, representing 4 rows.
3. With the crochet hook inserted into the dropped stitch, hook the strand right above the stitch and pull it through.
   
   
   
   
   

4.Pull next strand through, and repeat until all the stitches are picked up from the previous rows.

5.Repeat this process until you’re at the same row as the needles. Place the last stitch on the left needle, and continue in the stitch pattern.

Just remember, any glitch in your knitting project is fixable.

                             Have fun, and happy knitting!

If you have a knitting question for Knitting Galore, please email it to : dbjones5559@hotmail.co.uk  or  Please  post it as a comment here.  All questions will be answered, and many are selected and answered each wednesday here on the Blog. 

Wednesday Question: What Is A Provisional Cast On?

All knitters have questions about the best way to do things, why different things happen while they are knitting, how to fix knitting mistakes and more. Here is this weeks questions posed by several knitters.
 Question : I have  pattern I would love to try but it says to start wth a provisional cast on. Can you explain what that is and how to do it? Thanks.






Answer:  A provisional cast-on keeps cast-on stitches "live" so that they can be knit later. It's a very useful technique when you're not sure what kind of edging you'll want or how long to make something. With a provisional cast-on, you can make these decisions at the end of a project. There are a few ways to make a provisional cast-on. This is my favorite...

1: Make a crochet chain using waste yarn -- preferably, something smooth and in color which is readily visible against your working yarn, in approximatley the same weight. To make your chain, just grab the strand of yarn with your hook...

and bring it through the loop. Always make the chain several chains longer than the number of stitches you need to pick up, so you have some room for error.

2: When you're done making the chain as long as you need it to be (plus a few extra) cut the yarn, bring it through the last loop, tug gently to close (gently! You're going to have to undo that later) and tie a knot in that end, to remind yourself that this is the end you'll be "unzipping" from later on. Now flip your chain over and take a look at the bumps -- they  look a little like purl bumps,  -- on the back side (assuming the front side is the "v's" you see as you are working the chain.) You are going to pick up stitches through these bumps.

3: Start picking up stitches through the bumps. I "pick" at stitches to pick them up, wrapping each one around the needle..

4: ...and bringing it through. (Leave a long tail so you can weave that end in later.)

5: Now you have picked up your stitches. Follow your pattern's directions.

6: for this demonstration I just knit a few rows of stockinette and cast off.

7: Remember how I mentioned in Step 2 that you should make a little knot so you will know from which end to unzip your cast on?

8:Take the end with the knot in it and bring it back out through the loop you drew it through to close your chain, this will re-opening your chain. Now give that end a tug (a gentle tug, just in case there was some snaggage when you picked up your stitches.)

9: Now your stitches are free, place them on a needle, ready to work.

I hope you find this useful!

If you have a knitting question for Knitting Galore, please email it to : dbjones5559@hotmail.co.uk  or  Please  post it as a comment here.  All questions will be answered, and many are selected and answered each wednesday here on the Blog.