How to Pick Up Stitches in a Top Down Sweater When Knitting
Picking up stitches is a skill used in knitting log cabin-style knit blankets, the gussets of socks and sweaters. Picking up stitches extends knitting at a point where the knitting has been bound off, or at the sides of a piece, where you work at the ends of the rows. This technique is used for the button bands of cardigans, neck bands of pullovers and sleeves for both types of sweaters. It creates a seamed look without sewing, and takes your knitting in new directions.
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Instructions
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Read your knitting pattern carefully. Note how many stitches are to be picked up, and whether the pattern instructs you to "pick up" or "pick up and knit."
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Pick up stitches by sliding your needle into the stitch to be picked up from left to right. There will be one loop on your needle for every stitch picked up. Pick up all the stitches specified by the pattern before knitting them, unless your pattern directs otherwise. Knit the stitches as normal.
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Pick up and knit stitches by sliding your needle beneath the stitches at the cast-off edge. The tip of the needle will poke through the back of the work. Wrap a loop of working yarn around the needle, and pull it through the work to the front. Pick up all the loops of working yarn specified by the pattern. Knit the stitches as normal.
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Tips & Warnings
If your knitting pattern does not specify the number of stitches to be picked up, pick up two stitches for every three rows of knitting in the section where you are picking up stitches. If the section puckers, pick up more stitches. If it gapes or stretches, pick up fewer stitches.
If your picked up stitches have gaps after knitting them, knit them through the back loop.
References
- Photo Credit knitting image by Joanna Redesiuk from Fotolia.com
