How to Pick Up Stitches for Knitting

April 13, 2024 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

Last month I told you a bit about the continuing saga of me knitting an argyle vest, which has given me lots of opportunities for writing tutorials about different skills that were used in making it.

That particular post was about duplicate stitch, which is essential for making the diagonal lines that are what makes it look like argyle.

It also gave me a chance to write about picking up stitches, because it had just about every scenario in which you might need to pick up stitches in one place.

But before that, have you checked out the post on Circular Knitting Machine FAQs?

The vest has a deep scoop neck, so there were places to pick up stitches that were straight horizontal (bound off edge at the bottom of the neckline), straight vertical along the sides and along a curve/diagonal in between.

I go into a lot more detail in the post about how to actually go about picking up all these stitches in different locations, but there are a couple of main things you should know if you need to pick up a lot of stitches for a project.

First: if you’re picking up a lot of stitches, add some locking stitch markers, at least to divide the area in half if not in quarters or more. This will help you make sure you’re picking up the right number of stitches in each section, so if you’re wildly off you can just rip out a little bit and try again.

Second: stitch counts in patterns are not magic. It’s not the end of the world if you’re off by a few in either direction, so long as you have the stitch multiple needed to complete the edging. You can always increase or decrease a couple of stitches in the first round if you need to. No one is going to count, and as long as the edge lies flat (or looks the way it’s supposed to) when you’re done it’s totally fine.

Check out all the tips for picking up stitches at Our Daily Craft.

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Christmas Stocking Knitting Patterns for Your Pets

I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

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