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fixing a mistake in lace knitting

This post is all about my recent confrontation with fixing a mistake in lace knitting. As you may have seen if you’re following me on Instagram or Facebook, I’ve been happily knitting along on my latest design using Nurturing Fibres Super Twist Sock in “Odette” and “humbug”. I got mine from Wol zo Eerlijk, a lovely store with lots of environmentally friendly and fair trade yarns. Anyway, there I was, in the home stretch, with only 10 more rows of edging to go before the bind off. It was then that I saw it: a mistake in my lace, 9 rows down!

When I found the mistake in the pink border of my Pink Monarda shawl pictured, I had about 320 stitches per row. So no, I was not going to rip out all that work! Instead, I dropped down only 8 stitches to the place where I made the mistake. After that was correcting the error, followed by knitting everything back up to the row I was on.

In this post, I’ll show you exactly what I did!

Helpful materials

To start, it is pretty handy to have some tools available to make fixing the mistake easier. I used the following:

A set of DPN’s (double pointed needles) in the same size as the needles used in your project, or smaller.
A crochet hook.
Some pins.
A pillow.

Fixing a mistake in lace knitting with La Visch Designs

The pillow and pins were used to make sure that your work stays exactly where you need it to be. Also, it helps to see the mistake better when pinned out, instead of all scrunched up like lace tends to be before blocking.

On to the fixing!

1. To start, I pinned out my knitting on the pillow. I did this in such a way that I could clearly see a repeat of the lace pattern that was knitted correctly, as well as the one with the mistake in it. I slipped some of the stitches on one of the DPN’s to help fixate the whole better on the pillow. Can you see in the picture below where the mistake is?

2. The mistake is in the left half of the repeat, near the 4th yarn over, counted from the needle. Can you see it? In the picture below, I have indicated it with the circle.

3. In this particular case, it wasn’t necessary to drop down the whole repeat. Instead, I only dropped the 8 stitches on the left half of the repeat. I dropped down until I reached the purl row exactly below the row with the mistake in it.

When approaching the row below the mistake, I stopped ripping back and started to carefully tink (tink = knit backward!) further back, catching the released stitches with another DPN. It is especially important to do it like this when working with very slippery yarn. If you don’t take care, the knitting may run deeper down than desired, thus increasing the amount of fixing to do.

The yarn from every row dropped, I pinned to the pillow, going from left to right. This made sure nothing got tangled, and I could easily count the number of dropped down rows. This, in turn, made it easier to see where to pick up the chart when knitting it back up.

4. Then it was a matter of knitting back in pattern. As you can see, you use the free loop of yarn, just as you would use the thread running to the ball of yarn. If you find it challenging to catch the thread correctly to pull it through a stitch, you can always use the crochet hook to assist with this.

5. Because of the way I manipulated the yarn through the stitches, some of the stitches got mounted twisted. In the picture below, you can see that the left leg of the stitch is in front of the needle, instead of at the back. This really is no problem, but it is something to pay attention to. To correct this, I knitted these twisted stitches through the back loop.

6. And here you see the result: all fixed! The loose stitches you can see next to the re-knitted stitches are because of the tension on those threads when manipulating the dropped down stitches. This should, however, correct itself during blocking. If it’s still a tad visible, you can redistribute the excess yarn a bit over the various stitches.

7. And this is how to go about fixing a mistake in lace knitting. Now on to knitting those final rows of this shawl…

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heuvel en dal

The Heuvel en Dal lacy chevron wrap is designed to give both texture and color to your outfit. Make it in greens or your favorite color combination. Heuvel en Dal is written for the size as pictured, however, the width and length are easily adjusted for further customization. This design is suitable for any lace weight or fingering weight yarn.

The instructions are both fully charted and written out. This pattern is written using American English crochet terminology.

Pay what you want: (minimum €6.50)

€

Difficulty level

Techniques used consist of foundation single crochet, sc in back loop only and various sc and dc decreases. Stitches used in this pattern: ch, sc and dc.
This pattern is suitable for the intermediate crocheter or the advanced beginner.

Size and finished measurements

One size (easily adjusted) – measurements after blocking: 50 cm (19 ¾ inches) wide and 143 cm (56 ¼ inches) long.

Pattern details

Gauge is not critical with this design, for the sample stole: 14.1 sts and 9.6 rows = 10 cm / 4 inches over pattern after blocking.
Pattern languages included: English and Dutch (Dit patroon omvat zowel een Nederlandse als een Engelse versie).
Digital PDF has 4 pages (letter size).

Materials

Ístex Einband [100% wool; 250 m (273 yds) / 50 g] in the following colors and amounts: C1: 250 m (273 yds) / 50 g in 1764 Vivid Green, C2: 250 m (273 yds) / 50 g in 1763 Green, C3: 250 m (273 yds) / 50 g in 9112 Dark Green.
A size 4 mm (US G/6) crochet hook.
Yarn needle
Removable stitch marker (optional)

Heuvel en Dal

Heuvel en Dal datapage

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how to work the knit and garter stitch

In this post, I’m going to show you how the knit and garter stitch is worked. The knit stitch is the basis of most knitting stitches and therefore often the first one beginning knitters start with. When knitting a flat piece in the knit stitch only, you get a fabric in what’s called “garter stitch”. Usually, a piece knit in garter stitch will be shorter and wider than the same amount of stitches and rows worked in other types of stitches. Garter stitch has a wonderful texture, is very squishy and elastic and best of all: it lies flat when knitted back and forth! Truly a wonderful stitch to have in you knitter’s tool box

In this post, I’ll show you how to work both the basic knit stitch and the ins and outs of garter stitch when worked back and forth (flat). Working garter stitch in the round also involves purling and will, therefore, be addressed in a different post.

Working the knit and garter stitch back and forth step by step

1. I’m starting with a number of stitches already cast on. What you see here, is done with the knitted on cast on.

2. To start, take your second needle and insert the tip into the stitch with the needle under your main needle. Insert at an angle so your needles cross as pictured.

3. Hold the crossed needles together, take the yarn connected to your ball and wrap it around the bottom needle. Begin by going around, and then over. Depending on your knitting style this can be done with either your left or your right hand. The end result is however always the yarn wrapped around the needle as pictured.

4. Take the bottom needle and bring it back through the stitch pulling the yarn with it.

5. Now slide of the original stitch you inserted your needle in (step 2) and tighten the yarn a bit. In the above picture, you see the original stitch on the right of the second needle. You have now knit a knit a stitch!

6. Repeat steps 2-5 until you’ve worked all stitches on your main needle. The second needle which now has all the stitches on it looks something like this:

7. Now switch the knitting needles around: the needle containing all the stitches becomes the main needle and the empty one becomes the second needle. I know I could also call them the left-hand and right-hand needles, but this could become confusing for those holding their needles differently.

8. Make sure your yarn is behind the needle and again follow steps 2-5 until you’ve worked all stitches on your main needle. The second needle now again has all the stitches on it:

9. When switching needles again, you can now see the characteristic ridges of garter stitch starting to emerge:

10. When I’ve knitted a couple of more rows we have a small swatch of garter stitch fabric! And this is how to work the knit and garter stitch.

Tips & tricks

Garter stitch comes out in ridges and each ridge is 2 rows. To know how many rows you’ve knit you can just count the ridges and then double the number.
Garter stitch looks the same on both right side (RS) and wrong side (WS) rows. There is, however, a trick to determine what side you are: Did you see in the picture with step 1 above where the yarn tail from casting on was? With the first row, I knit (which is usually called the RS) the yarn tail was on the bottom left. This means that every time I have my knitting on the main needle and the yarn tail is on the bottom left, I’m about to knit a RS row. You can of course also use a stitch marker or safety pin to see easily which side is what.
In this tutorial, I showed you how to work garter stitch by working knit stitches on every row. By purling every row, however, you also get garter stitch!
If you want to work in multiple colors, you should know that in garter stitch, if you switch colors on a right side row, there will be a line across the wrong side where you can see the loops of stitches connecting. This can, of course, be a design feature. If you don’t want this line visible, make sure to start the new color with the RS facing.

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the knitted on cast-on

The knitted on cast-on is a very strong and reasonably stretchy cast on to start your knitting project with. It’s the cast on I use most often because it is just so easy to do. Personally, I wouldn’t use it for a knitting project that would be blocked heavily. For all other applications, though, it makes a very nice edge. Think for example of edges of garments, non-lace blankets etc.

This particular method is also great for the beginner knitter because it is basically the knit stitch that is used to cast on. In this post, I’ll show you how to do it!

The knitted on cast-on step by step

1. Take a length of yarn from your ball of yarn.

2. Make a slip knot….

3. ….and insert the needle into the upper loop and tighten the slip knot onto the needle. This is the first stitch. Make sure to leave enough on the tail of the yarn to weave in later.

It is also possible not to use a slip knot and just loop the yarn around the needle for your first stitch, thus avoiding the knit in the corner of your work. For the sake of this tutorial, however, I’m going with the slip knot version.

4. Take your second needle and insert the tip into the stitch with the needle under your main needle. Insert at an angle so your needles cross as pictured.

5. Hold the crossed needles together, take the yarn connected to your ball and wrap it around the bottom needle: go around, and then over. Depending on your knitting style this can be done with either your left or your right hand. The end result is however always the yarn wrapped around the needle as pictured.

6. Take the bottom needle and bring it back through the stitch pulling the yarn with it in a loop.

7. Now transfer the new loop from the bottom needle to the other needle and tighten the yarn. You have now cast on a stitch!

8. Repeat steps 4-7 until you have reached the desired amount of stitches on your needle.

And that is all there is to it! The knitted on cast-on looks like this after a few more stitches have been cast on.

the knitted on cast-on Read More »

stip baby cardigan in ‘handwerken zonder grenzen’

The little two-tone Stip Baby Cardigan is a simple and elegant layering piece. Just the thing for when the weather is still cold and a little extra warmth is much appreciated. With its eye-catching dot yoke and soft A-line shape, it is bound to become a timeless favorite.

This cardigan is worked back and forth from the top down in one piece. Finish it with a reverse single crochet neck and hem finishing in a contrasting color.

I’m proud to tell you, that the Stip Baby Cardigan design has been published in issue 200 of Handwerken Zonder Grenzen. This is the special anniversary issue of the Dutch magazine Handwerken Zonder Grenzen! You can order this issue in Dutch here.

This pattern is also available in both English and Dutch through La Visch Designs!

Stip Baby Cardigan in Handwerken Zonder Grenzen 200

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zeezicht

Zeezicht: a semi-circle Pi shawl, filled with sea and beach lace patterns. Inspired by the colors in the lovely Eternity Ranch sock yarn used, this design is truly eye-catching. This design will also make solid colored yarns shine!

The Zeezicht shawl is worked from the top-down and is started with a garter stitch tab. The lace is patterned on the right side only. The instructions are both charted and written out.

Pay what you want: (minimum €6.50)

€