Debra wrote: "To add to Christy's great advice consider purchasing these http://www.knitklips.com/
I love them. I have arthritis in my hands and kept poking my fingers with pins when I was sewing garments toge..."

Thanks, Debra - I may give these a try.

Sandra wrote: "Claire,

I also recommend www.knittinghelp.com. However, I've been knitting for 3-4 years and I still can't fix dropped stitches. I plan to take a special class dedicated to just that at my loc..."


Sandra, thanks so much for these tips! They sound wonderful and I'll give them a try. I'm not a crafty person either, but kitting is something I've always wanted to learn. Hopefully one of the knit shops around me will have a class for fixing mistakes! LOL! I may need that for awhile. Thanks for your encouragement.

To add to Christy's great advice consider purchasing these http://www.knitklips.com/
I love them. I have arthritis in my hands and kept poking my fingers with pins when I was sewing garments together. Buy a couple of packs if you can, because you will need more than ten.

Thank you all so much for the helpful advice and suggestions.! I plan to preservere and keep at it. I really enjoy it and want to get better at it! I'll check out all of these sites and books.

Do you know how to purl yet? Once you can purl try doing a ribbed swatch, i.e. Knit 4,Purl 4. It is a lot easier to figure out if you dropped a stitch if you know you are so supposed to have, let's say, a total of 16 stitches and every rib is four stitches. You will need a crochet hook. Pick up the dropped stitch only on the knit row. Loop the dropped stitch up stitch by stitch with the hook until you get to the needle and then put it back on the needle.
I am also a self/internet taught knitter, with a little help from an older lady. When I learned purl I kept doing it wrong sort of a half-knit/half-purl thing. The woman said to practice purling and only purling for a whole weekend. (This long swatch-thingy eventually became a draft blocker for my Dad).
Once I could confidently do knit and purl, I made a ribbed scarf. The one thing that makes for beautiful knitting is consistent stitching so that each purl and knit stitch is like any other.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Claire,

Forgot to add that you should check out www.Ravelry.com (my fav knitting on-line group, with links to your local yarn shops {LYS}, etc.) and www.knitty.com, another great resource. Finding a LYS or a local knitting club with regular meetings is so helpful.

Claire,

I also recommend www.knittinghelp.com. However, I've been knitting for 3-4 years and I still can't fix dropped stitches. I plan to take a special class dedicated to just that at my local knitting store.

There is one trick that I've learned called "the lifeline." It comes in handy for a beginning knitter who has finished a long section without mistakes, or for an experienced knitter who has just completed a difficult section of lace or whatever. (I use it all the time.) After you have finished the last row, take a tapestry needle filled with a non-shedding yarn in a color much different from your work (i.e., if you're knitting a navy blue scarf, use hot pink) and thread the yarn through the loops just under your knitting needle. Leave about 3"-4" on each side and cut the remainder. Make sure when you start knitting again that you do not pick up the lifeline; knit only the loops. Thereafter, if you have to rip out, you can rip with abandon and the lifeline will automatically stop you, preserving all the knitting below it. As a beginning knitter, you might want to add lifelines every 10 rows or more. They are easy to put in and even easier to take out - - one pull will do it.

Another helpful suggestion is to learn how to use stitch markers and a row counter. I just did my first project using them about 3 mos. ago, and now can't imagine doing a pattern without them; they really keep you on track.

Hope this helps. My number one suggestion to you is to keep it up. Perserverance in knitting pays off handsomely. It is one of my favorite things to do, and I'm not a "crafty" person at all. Enjoy!

Sandra

Hi, Claire.

I would definitely recommend Debbie Stoller's first Stitch and Bitch book. I taught myself to knit from that book and found the illustrations helpful. This is a great website with videos in both English and Continental style knitting:

http://www.knittinghelp.com

If you look under the tab "View Videos" and click on "tips", there is a video on fixing dropped stitches.

Good luck!

I taught myself how to knit from 'How to Knit' by Debbie Bliss. I am sure that you will find this book helpful.

Hi! I'm new here and also a beginning knitter. I've taken one lesson on how to do the knit stitch and I'm pretty comfortable with that, and also with casting on. However, how in the world do you fix a dropped stitch and how do you even recognize a dropped stitch? I've been practicing and have ripped out my little project a zillion times because I think I've dropped a stitch.....something doesn't look right and/or the number of stitches on the needle aren't the same as when I started out. I bought the book Stitch 'n Bitch and I've looked on a few instructional websites and have even had someone show me how to pick up a dropped stitch, but I still don't know how to do it - or mainly even KNOW that I've dropped a stitch. Any suggestions on books or websites that I can go to for help? Thanks and sorry this is so long.

anytime ;)

Thanks Christy, that did help. I sure appreciate it!

Hiya Peggy,

Debbie Stoller's Stitch 'N Bitch has a great explaination on pg. 80 (complete with illustration)

"When you sew a sleeve to the body of a garment, you are connecting a bound-off edge (the top of the sleeve) to a side edge (the side of the front or the back of a sweater). The stitch you need for this is a special combo of the mattress stitch and the fake grafting you learned above.

Start by pinning the pieces together. Now, thread a needle with a nice long piece of yarn, and get ready to start stitchin'.

Lay the two pieces flat in front of you on a table, or on your lap with the sleeve at the right and the side piece at the left. Tack the yarn in place a the bottom left corner of your seam, just like always.

1. Now, draw the needle up through the center loop (or 'head') of the bottommost bound-off stitch on the sleeve piece.

2. Pass it under one or two running bars on the side piece.

3. Then, go back down into the center of the same stitch on the bound-off edge and come up in the center of the next stitch.

4. Push the needle through the same space you came out from on the side piece and pull it back up one (or two) bars later. Repeat until you're done. As you're sewing, take one or two bars from the side, as needed, to make the seam sew up flat."

Happy finishing Peggy, hope this helps!

Hey all. I've got a question. How do I sew a bound-off edge to a side edge (I'm attaching sleeves)so that it looks good? Can anyone explain it or direct me to a website that shows it? Thanks a bunch!