An Easy Way to Rip Back Your Knitting

I’m a big fan of using lifelines when knitting lace, but there are times when you need to rip back regular knitting and you might have a bit of paranoia related to having a stitch (or a bunch) drop past where you want to stop ripping.

If you’re worried about that, first you should know that if you’re knitting with wool it probably won’t be a problem. Second you should know that you can make a spare needle into a sort of lifeline after the fact by running it through the legs of the stitches on whatever row you’d like to rip back to so that you can easily hold the stitches without having any of them wander farther than you’d like.

Check out exactly how to do this over on the WEBS blog.

[Photo via WEBS.]

If you need to rip back your knitting due to a mistake, it can be difficult to properly grab the live stitches and place them back on your needle.

One way to ensure that the stitches don’t unravel is to pick them up before ripping back.

For stockinette stitch, locate the row below the one you want to begin re-knitting on.

Insert your needle under the first strand of yarn in the V-shape of the first stitch on the right side, continuing down the row and picking up the first strand of yarn in each V while skipping the second leg.

In garter stitch, the same process applies, but you will be inserting your needle into the first leg of the V in the bumps of the garter stitch.

Once you have your needle inserted all the way down the row, you can pull the working yarn to rip back the rows above the needle and the stitches will be ready to use on your needle.

Remember to use a smaller needle for picking up the stitches and switch back to the original size when you start knitting again.

Getting ready for back to school makes me think about pencil crafts, so let’s take a look at some pencil themed knitting patterns!

I recently made a pencil on a circular knitting machine, and it was a fun, quick, easy project that uses little bits of leftover yarn (and if you don’t have yellow you can make it a colored pencil using whatever color’s your favorite). And if you want to make a bigger version check out this pattern from Orange Olive Road on Etsy.

If you want to knit a pencil pillow by hand, check out Sketchy, available on Ravelry from Shana S. Cohen. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has two size options and the choice to make a pencil with an eraser or a colored pencil.

Pencil scarves seem to be the most popular kind of pencil knitting pattern, and there are lot of cute ones. This one from Cosy Craft UK mostly uses garter stitch, with some welts to add texture and what looks like an I-cord edging. It calls for DK weight yarn.

If you want to go all garter stitch try this version from Emsley Co Creations, which uses five colors of DK weight yarn and just a little shaping to make the point of the pencil.

There’s also this fun, mostly stockinette so it looks like it curls a bit, pencil pattern that looks like it’s worked in chunky yarn from Little Knits Studio. This one uses just a little garter stitch and easy shaping for the point.

If you don’t want a pencil scarf, how about some pencil socks? The No. 2 Pencil Socks from The Yarn Enabler are available from Ravelry and use five colors of sock yarn. They feature wide ribs to mimic the texture of a pencil and have options to be worked from the top down or the toe up.

Needs Sharpening by Alexander Walker is a free pattern on Ravelry that uses five colors of sock yarn to make a sort of shortie sock. The little bit of black at the tips of the toes inspired the name. These, too, can be worked in either direction and are available in three sizes.

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