15 Mar How to pick up a dropped stitch (and not freak out)

A dropped stitch makes quite the dramatic statement – almost like your knitting is untangling in front of you! Actually, it’s one of the easiest and most fixable errors. You seldom need to rip out rows. Just halt it and build up again from there.

Step 1: Don’t pull the work

First, pause. Tugging will just cause the dropped stitch to run further down.

After examining the knitting, you should remember where that loose loop is on your flat knitting.

Step 2: Pick up the lost stitch as soon as possible

If you have one, pin a stitch marker or safety into the dropped loop. If not, a paperclip will do. This stops it slipping further. For information on Knitting Kit products, visit a site like www.woolcouturecompany.com/collections/knitting-kits

Step 3: Recognise what you see

Usually you will have a vertical ladder of loose horizontal strands indicating the rows which have unraveled caused by dropping a stitch.

If the ladder is only a few rows in height, this can easily be fixed with your needle.

A crochet hook will be easier for anything longer.

Step 4: Use a crochet hook to “ladder up”

The easy, stable way to do this.

Insert the hook from front to back through the dropped stitch loop.

Pull the bottom strand of horizontal yarn through (first step in your ladder)

Bring that loop through the strand  one stitch made.

Pull the next strand up one rung, and repeat until you reach the current row.

You will start to see the stitch neatly reform while you go along.

Step 5: Slip the stitch back onto needle

After you’ve ladder up the scale, pick up the stitch correctly with your left needle (the front leg of the stitch should rest in front of the needle).

Continue knitting as normal.

Step 6: Check for a twist

If a stitch looks tied shut or crossed, it’s probably twisted.

Easy Fix: lift it off the needle, and put it back on so that its twist gets a twist.

When you should undo instead

If you dropped a stitch in any kind of lace, cables or complex patterning it might be better to frog back to the lifeline.

If you want that for Stockinette fabric, mending a dropped stitch is the easy win… and it will do wonders to your morale.