Tutorials >
Knit > Picking Up Stitches
When you pick up stitches, you are adding knit stitches to an existing work
in order to expand the work.
Why would you pick up stitches? A few good reasons:
- To lengthen or add embellishment to a knitted piece that has been
completed
- To add sleeves at an armhole
- To add a neckband
- To add a button hole
- To add edging or knitting to non-knitted items
- To work in a "mosaic knitting" technique
One thing you should consider when picking up stitches - especially when
following pattern instructions. There is a difference between the
instructions "Pick up stitches" and "Pick up and knit stitches".
- Picking up Stitches: Place existing loops onto your needle.
You will treat them as knit stitches and follow knitting instructions to work
them in a following row. These loops can be existing knitting stitches,
crochet stitches, hairpin lace loops - any loop that can fit on your knitting
needle.
- Picking up and Knitting Stitches: Bring a loop of yarn
through a hole as if to knit and place it on your needle so that you can knit
or purl it later. This hole can be an existing stitch somewhere within
your knitted work, at the bound-off edge of your work or along the side of
your knitted work. You are not limited to picking up stitches in
knitting: If you can pass a loop through it, you can pick up a stitch in
it.
To pick up and knit stitches along cast on / bind off edge of work:
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Step 1: Examine the structure of the fabric.
By picking up stitches, you will be extending the structure of the stitches
that are already there. This means, you are looking for the V's to
identify adjacent stitches, since when you create a stitch, the bottom of
the stitch is "V" in shape with the top being round. |
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Step 2: Stitches are typically picked up
from the RS (Right Side) of the work. Hold your yarn to the back of
the knitted fabric, insert your needle through the opening of the "V" of the
stitch in the row just below the bound-off or cast on edge, wrap your yarn
around the needle as if to knit and pull a loop through onto your needle. |
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Appearance of a completed row of picked up stitches along
the cast on/bound off edge of knitted work. |
To pick up and knit stitches along side of knitted
work...
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Note: When picking up stitches along the side of knitted
work, you must keep in mind that the row gauge and the stitch gauge are
different: A stitch is typically wider than it is high. Because
of this, you will typically not pick up a stitch in each row: You will
skip a row every so often. Unless your pattern specifies a gauge for
you to use when picking up stitches along the side, pick up stitches in 3
out of every 4 rows. |
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Step 1: With RS of the work facing, insert the
needle between 2 purl bars, one stitch from the edge. If working along
a straight edge, take care to pick up stitches in the same line of stitches
in order to keep a neat appearance. If picking up stitches along an
edge with decreases, such as a V-neck, take care to consistently pick up
stitches one stitch from the edge to hide the jagged shaped edge. |
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Appearance of a completed row of picked up stitches along
the side of knitted work. |
To pick up and knit stitches in
hairpin lace:
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Step 1: With the RS of the
hairpin lace work facing (strips do not have
a RS or WS, but once joined, the RS will be specified), insert your needle
in an untwisted loop. Hold yarn to
back of work. Wrap yarn around needle as if to knit and pull up a
loop. |
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Step 3: Appearance of a completed row of
picked up stitches in hairpin lace work. |
To pick up stitches along a row of knitted work:
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Step 1: Examine the structure of the fabric.
Identify adjacent stitches by searching for the "V", and then identify the
front of the stitch which lies to the right of the "V". |
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Step 2: Moving your needle from right to
left, slip the front of the stitch on to your needle. |