Fix the Top 10 Common Knitting Mistakes

Fix the Top 10 Common Knitting Mistakes

Fixing a Dropped Knit Stitch

Fixing a Dropped Purl Stitch

Fix a Dropped Knit Stitch 10 Rows Down

Fixing a Dropped Purl Stitch (Free Video)

Knitting Too Tight

Knitting too tight can plague even the most accomplished knitters.

Though some will attest that they are used to it and that it doesn’t bother them, I see their hunched shoulders and white knuckles as they try to knit into stitches that barely fit around their needles.

This video demonstrates two of the most common reasons knitters knit too tight, for both Continental- and American-style knitters.

Twisted Purl Stitches/Wrapping the Yarn the Wrong Way

While working at my LYS, I never made any friends by doing this, but I couldn’t help pointing out to people that (in addition to whatever mistake they had come to ask me about) they were accidentally twisting their stitches.

Most people don’t even realize they are doing this!

Twisted stitches usually happen when you wrap the yarn the wrong way around your needle when you are purling. I show you how to do it the right way, both American and Continental style.

Put Dropped Stitches Back on Your Needle

Taking out stitches to undo a mistake is great. But what if you put them back on your needle facing the wrong way?

Here I show you the right way to put stitches back on your needle, and also that it really doesn’t matter – here’s a fast way to turn them around if you’ve got them wrong.

Loop Not Pulled All The Way Through Stitch

If you ever find something that looks really funny, it might be a loop that didn’t get pulled through all the way.

It’s a funny-looking double-stitch where there should be just one and it almost always happens when your loop of yarn doesn’t get pulled all the way through the stitch. Here’s how to tell.

Getting Turned Around – Going the Wrong Way on Knitting

Mistakes in Ribbing

Knitting where you should purl and purling where you should knit makes a really obvious-looking mistake in ribbing.

Learning to recognize knit and purl stitches can help you fix this problem.

Also, forgetting to move your yarn to the front or back when ribbing American-style can result in an accidental yarnover on your needle.

Here’s how to fix both problems.

Casting On or Binding Off Too Tight

A too-tight cast-on can, at best, make your project look a little funny. At worst, you won’t be able to put the garment on.

Socks with a too-tight cast on will not go on your feet, and this usually isn’t something that blocking can fix. If you have trouble with this, you have two choices: you can cast on using a bigger needle, or use two needles held together, as in this video.

Binding off too tightly can have the same frustrating results. Use a bigger needle in your right hand to alleviate this problem.