how do I undo a mistake in knitting?

Question

I am just learning how to knit (from a video) and they don't say anything about how to fix a mistake. I have kinda gotten the hang of knitting and purling but once in a while I screw up and get a big loop on one end. How can I fix it?

Okay, I guess I wasn't clear. I know I have to undo the rows, but how do I do that without undoing the whole thing? Do I take everything off the needle and pull on the thread attached to the skein? I know I probably sound dumb, but I started this like an hour ago and don't know ANYTHING except what I've seen on the video (which is rather less complete than I'd hoped).

Answer 1

OK, so people can tell you all about it, but the best way is really to watch. I don't know where you were learning, but the best place that I have found is http://knittinghelp.com for instruction with video.

On the basics miscellaneous tab ( http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/basic_techniques/misc.php ) the first video will show you how to avoid the loose side stitches you say you have. Also, about a third of the way down there are a whole bunch of videos on fixing stitches WITHOUT unraveling, fixing dropped stitches, reinserting needles, recognizing twisted stitches, etc. Also, when you get more advanced in your knitting you can come back for videos on how to do more advanced techniques. This is a knitting resource I have bookmarked even though I've been knitting for a while!

Best of luck with the knitting! I hope you enjoy it!

Answer 2

I have been knitting for many years and except for the basics my education in knitting has been sort of a "Learn by my mistakes" growth...Ths is what I do and it goes a lot faster than takaing out 1 stitch at a time. First I pull the whole needle out of the knitting piece and just keep pulling it out row by row until I get beyond where the mstake is, pulling out the complete row. Then I take a smaller needle for instance if your knitting with a size 8 use a size 6 or seven. this will make it a lot easier to get those stitched back on the needle. Now use the #8 to start knitting your pattern again. Seems kinda rustic but it works....Happy ripping!..

Answer 3

Often the big loop is a result of taking a break and/or not checking your tension before you moved on to the next row (you didnt add/lose a stitch). To avoid doing it, each time you start a row, after the 2nd stitch kinda tug on the yarn coming from the skein a bit to snug it up - but dont strangle your needle.

If your mistake is on an item that will be seamed and is truly at the edge, dont worry about it - no one will know once it is sewn up. If it will show, you will want to carefully take the work off your needles and GENTLY pull on the yarn coming from the skein to unravel your work. Take your time because it will take even longer if you have to start over. I often will go ahead and once I'm about a row above the mistake start putting the loops back on the needle as I unravel just to catch things before anything goes wrong and then I'll continue to tink - knit backwards, or unravel one stitch at a time always replacing the loop on the needle. After you've erased the "ugliness" return to following your pattern and dont forget to do the little tug for the 2nd completed stitch for every row.

Answer 4

If it is just one or two stitches that are wrong, a few rows down, you can repair without undoing the lot.
Knit till you are above the mistake, drop the stitch(es) straight above mistake, let those stitches ladder till the mistake. Now you work them up the right way again, easiest is with a crochett hook.
It the hook makes a knit where you need a purl, take it out and re-try from the other side of the work.

If you dropped more than one stitch, repair them at the same time, you might pull them up with the hook and park them on a knitting needle.

Dropping and hooking up stitches at the end of a row is harder, but it will be easier to just lock the one you had dropped, and make a new one at the end of the row.

If you find a stitch you have dropped a few rows below you can try to work it up the same way, but now you will need to make space for it between the stitches that are right, so they will get a little crowded. If there is no space, lock the droped stitch with a safety pin, and make a new stitch, if needed, in your current row. When you sew the parts of the sweater (or whatever) together you also sew the dropped stitch to the ones next to it, on the inside of your work.

If you find a mistake in a pattern, cable or difficult stitch, it is also posible to use the drop and hook-up method, but you will need a little more experience before you will do it with confidence.
Often it is better to judge if you will need to undo the whole pattern or cable, and re-knit the part.
Often it is better to just take out the needles and rip.
Or if it is a small mistake and you can live with it, make sure you have the right amount of stitches for the next part of the pattern.

In time you will learn to repair dropped stitched or mistakes a few rows down with just your knitting needles, if you make as many mistakes as I did, that is.

Answer 5

There are two general categories of un-doing knitting: frogging and tinking.

Frogging is when you take the needles out and rip-it rip-it rip-it.

TINK is KNIT spelled backwards. You undo the stitches ones by one, transferring from needle to needle.

I believe you need something between the two extremes. If you have a smaller needle, use it to pick up stitches on the last (furthest from the beginning) row believed to be correct. After you have the entire row secured, then you can Frog back to there without worry about over-ravelling.

If you don't have a smaller needle, use what you have available. It's easier with a smaller needle though.

Continue knitting with the correct needles, setting the smaller one aside.

Answer 6

It takes practice, it has to do with your tension

You can pull it back out and start the row again. But practice is the only thing that is going to help you make consistant rows.

a great place for videos on knitting is youtube do a search on knitting and there are some great videos to teach you how to knit and shows different stitches.

Answer 7

Knitting mistakes happen, both on small and grand scales. Minor mistakes are dropped stitches and miscrossed cables, and can be easily fixed or ignored, depending on your personal level of obsessive-compulsiveness. Major mistakes are errors in judgement, like choosing the wrong yarn, picking the wrong style for your body, or knitting the wrong size. They're a little harder to ignore.

Nobody's perfect, and even experienced knitters who claim to know better can still knit up a garment that looks better on the blocking board than the body. But with a little bit of thinking in advance, you can avoid disappointment by developing realistic expectations of your next major knitting project, and planning a garment that fits the way you expect it to fit. Some of that thinking involves choosing the right yarn for the right project, particularly if you're not using the same yarn recommended by the pattern. Some of the realistic expectations come from understanding the type of fabric you'll be creating, which you'll hopefully learn from a gauge swatch, and from understanding how different clothing styles look and fit. And of course, some of that planning involves picking the right pattern size for your body.

Answer 8

you're actually not on my own it happens and whilst it does I placed it down take a wreck and then pass lower back to it each and every from time to time I might desire to take the excellent element down purely for a million stitch , "prepare makes appropriate " on the 2nd i'm engaged on raglan sleeves I even have in no way accomplished those and that i had to take it down and knitted one throughout lower back i'm engaged on the 2nd now i wish that it seems ok or i might desire to take a wreck and initiate over . I additionally had a development that had a mistake in it I took it down 5 cases and each time that I reached the comparable length there it became lower back so I used yet another development .

Answer 9

Put a saftety pin on the stitch where you made the mistake.
Then FUN , you have to rip all the stitches out back to the
mistake. Don't worry, this is the hardest part of learning.
You soon learn not to make mistakes.

Answer 10

you have to pull the yarn back out.. you know, pull on the same end you are knitting from , just unravel it till its past the mess up and then start again.