Picking Up Stitches Before Ripping Back

WEBS shares how to reduce the frustration of ripping a project back to fix a mistake.

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.

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Darn Those Socks!

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From HJS Studio: "If you've ever put the time into handknitting a pair of socks for yourself or someone else, only to find holes in the socks later on, this article might be useful. It took me a couple of tries to get the hang of darning socks, but it's a good skill to have if you want to prolong the life of your precious handknitting, particularly if you've also handspun the yarn.

Give it a try! Do it in the spring, before you put your clean wool socks away for the summer. Do it in the summer, on one of those lazy days as you bask in the sun. Do it in the fall, getting ready for blustery winter days. Do it in the winter, to keep your tootsies toasty during chores. Do it as soon as you see the first thin spot, or you'll be seeing holes shortly!"

Complete tutorial can be found here. 

Repairing Hand-knit Sock

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Does your favorite hand-knit sock have a hole?

You might want to try this repair technique.

Knit-in-place patch

Lace Shawl Repair

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Spending countless hours knitting a shawl and finding a error that endangers the whole project would bring even the most experienced knitter to tears.

Jackie (Heart Strings Fiber Arts) shows how she repaired the mess seen in the photo.

Her tutorial begins here

No-Tears Repair Heddle

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So you’ve warped the loom and you’ve started to weave. Uh-oh, something is not right. You check, and sure enough, one thread is on the wrong shaft.

The only solution (other than rethreading every warp thread between the selvedge and the error) is to create a new heddle for the correct shaft and rethread the errant warp end. Some manufacturers offer steel “repair” heddles that can be clipped to shaft bars, but it’s easy to make your own by following Interweave's tips.

Repairing Damaged Quilts

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Repairing a damaged quilt is possible, and these two sources give tips to follow.

Abracadabra Quilting - repairing a hole in a quilt

Right Sides Together - Holey Quilts, Batman!

Repairing Knits - Darning

Rips and tears happen in knits no matter how carefully they are treated. Very Pink shares a video tutorial on how to repair the damage by darning.

Re-sole Felted Clogs

felted clogs badly in need of repair
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When you go to the trouble of knitting a pair of felted clogs it is so sad when they wear out. Kriskrafter shares a tutorial on how she turned the well-worn clogs, shown above, into clogs with an extended life. 

felted clogs after being re-soled
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Her complete tutorial with step by step photos can be found here.