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28 comments on “Correcting a Dropped Stitch”

  1. Do you have one for picking up a dropped garter stitch? I’ve dropped stitches, discovered them, picked them up but did it wrong, so it looks like a stockinette patch vs a garter repair. By the time I realized I was wrong, I was past the spot and unwilling to fix my bad repair.

  2. You can correct garter stitch dropped stitches by how you pull each ladder through the loop. Pull it from the back on the Ks, and from the front (to the back) on the Ps. You have to keep alternating to get it to match the rest of the stitches.

    Hope that helps!

  3. Where did you get the wooden straight pin I see you use in your videos? They appear as if they wouldn’t snag the yarn like metal straight pin do. Also, I need to thank-you so much for your incredible website. I used to knit all the time and took several years off to go to grad school. Your website has given me the inspiration to be the crazy knitter I used to be!

  5. Staci — Is there a way to drop stitches and pick them back up to correct an error several rows down where the vertical row has decreases in it? I’m talking about the raglan “seam” in a one piece cardigan. I notice that I have 2 purl stitches in a row where they should be knit stitches about 10 rows back from where I am. There are somewhere between 3 to 5 decreases in those vertical rows. Am I stuck with either frogging back or living with the error?

  6. Hi Libby – yes, it can be done, but it can also be tricky. You’ll start by dropping one stitch, then when you drop down to the decrease, you’ll have to live stitches. (Hopefully those are the exact two purl stitches you need to correct.)

    It is worth a try, since the other option is to rip all of the work back. If you’re unable to make the work look good with the correction, you’ll just have to rip back – so you’re no worse off.

    Good luck! It can be done!
    🙂
    S t a c i

  7. Hi Staci,

    I have a disaster I dont think is repairable, I have made a sweater, and sewed in the shoulders, but found the seam created a big lump and when I went to take it appart to fix it, I ended up pulling out more than the yarn I used for connecting the front and back shoulder, and Now cannot fix what I thought was a dropped stitch, I have yarn hanging all over the place, is this fixable? I will try to send a picture or a video

  8. Liz – oh no! I’m afraid that’s more than I can help you with here in email. I suggest you visit your local yarn shop for help. Most yarn shops have a resident teacher who can give you a private lesson to help.

    Good luck!
    S t a c i

  9. Can you show us how to pick up a dropped(one)stitch with our knitting needles please. I really need to know how to do that and I don’t have that little crochet hook/knitting needle that you have. Thanks.

  10. That little tool with the crochet hook on one end and the point on the other.

    I actually had one just like it (except it was a little smaller and gray) and I JUST lost it and I miss it.

    I don’t remember what make it was (MAYBE it was Susan Bates, but not sure)

    Would you look on your own and confirm that your’s is “Susan Bates” and perhaps what size it is?

    I’m dying to find another one and I’m having trouble finding one, even online.

  13. Hi Staci,

    Some of the videos on the website don’t play … They look like a blank white rectangle. 🙁 What should I do?
    -Shay

  15. Hi Staci,

    First of all, thank you so much for your tutorials! Over the years, I have learned so much from you!

    Ok, so here’s the problem I have. I knitted this beautiful color work shawl. It’s taken me four months to finish. In the process of blocking it, I noticed a dropped stitch. I immediately snagged it with a crochet hook, and brought it up to where it should be. However, I am now stuck with a loop of a crochet hook and no where to put it. Do you have any suggestions on how to fix this teeny tiny problem before I take a pair of scissors to the dang thing?

    Thank you soooooo much in advance for any advice you can give me!

    Sincerely,
    *brokenhearted*
    Jenny

  16. Jenny – you said that you caught it, and pulled it back up to where it should be. If that means that you brought it all the way up to the bind-off row, you might want to undo your BO up to that point and bind it off with the rest of the stitches. Otherwise, you’re going to need to take a piece of extra yarn, thread it on a tapestry needle, string it through that stitch, and secure it. If your yarn is really “sticky”, you can just weave the ends of the extra yarn to secure the loop. If your yarn is slippery at all, you probably want to secure it with a little knot.

    S t a c i

  17. Hi Staci!!

    I just wanted to say thank you! I had already bound the entire piece off, so I used a needle and matching yarn and tied the stitch to the one above and wove the ends in. No one can tell that there was a goof up. 🙂

    Thanks again!!

    Jenny

  18. staci – this video was a huge huge help! new knitter here. just about had a freak-out session knitting a cowl in the round (150 stitches, and about 6″ into the project). i noticed i’d somehow dropped a stitch about 15 rounds back. straight to the internet to find a solution and yours was one of the first to pop up. grabbed my trusty crochet hook (a little oversized for the job, but in a pinch…) and crisis averted. was not looking forward to frogging that many rows. thanks for the great information and demonstration! – ‘topher colin 😉

  19. This was a life saver! I’m on vacation and working on an adorable baby sweater with sock yarn and dropped a stitch! I was in a panic, but your video kept me calm and even though I didn’t have the crochet hook, I was able to pick it up and you can’t see where it happened which means I must have done it right! Thanks so much for your videos, they’re the best!

  20. Help!
    Do you have any info on how to “re-do” a dropped M1R or M1L?
    I snagged my yarn so I went to fix it and I dropped it!!
    Now I have 2 ladders and don’t know how to fix it without leaving a hole?
    Thank you!!!!

  21. BobbiLynn – if you have to recreate the M1 stitch, (and you really don’t want to rip back), you’ll need to work up a swatch with the same M1 stitch, and inspect how it is worked. You can do this…you just need to see exactly how the twist is worked on the bar between the stitches, copy that with a crochet hook, and work up the rest of the ladders as I’ve demonstrated in this video.

    Good luck! This is totally do-able.
    S t a c i

  24. I’m a fairly novice knitter and currently making an afghan using three strands of yarn. Last night I noticed that I had dropped one strand several rows down from where I’m at now. Any suggestions as to how to correct this mistake?

  25. I have been following many of your great videos – great camera angles! my dripped stitches are on a sock on the toe decrease edge… should i try picking them up? is that very difficult, as opposed to ripping back several rows? i know this is how we learn, but it’s so frustrating! i’m working with size 0 needles. i do know how to pick up ordinary stitches as you showed – but the k2tog stump me.
    thank you!

  26. How do you pick up a p2tog stitch? I’m working on dp needles and it slipped off the end. Help! Your tutorials are fantastic!

  27. Darlene – your best bet is to knit up a swatch with p2togs, and see exactly how it should look when it’s picked up properly, and practice on the swatch. That’s what I’d do!

    S t a c i

  28. Love your videos! So easy to see what is going on -they have definitely helped me be less intimidated when something does not go as planned.

    A suggestion for another video (if it doesn’t already exist) is how to correct dropped stitches when they happen on the very first or very last stitch of a row. The process is probably the same, however, the stitches look crazy loose and wild.

    Thank you,
    Marta B.

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