How to Use a Lifeline in Knitting

If you’ve been knitting for a while (or a LONG while, like I have) you may understandably feel pretty confident in your skills. If you are like me, this might cause you to be a little cocky when it comes to trying new things, sure that not only will you get it on the first try, but it will also be easy for you.

Sometimes this will work out fine, and sometimes karma will come back to get you.

You can probably guess what kind of project I’m talking about right now.

I offered to knit a special project for someone, using a stitch pattern I probably never would have chosen, and while it probably shouldn’t have been as hard as it was, I just kept messing it up. And because it was a pattern full of yarn overs and slipped stitches, when I messed up I’d have to rip all the way back because every time I tried to pick up stitches I just messed it up more, or started knitting again on the wrong row and messed up the stitch pattern.

I was humbled.

Also, I was reminded of the knitter’s best friend in situations like this: the lifeline.

A lifeline is just a piece of yarn or thread that you run through your stitches, just below the needle, on a row you know you’ve worked correctly. If or when you make a mistake in a future row, you can easily rip back to that row that you know is correct without any fear of dropping stitches or losing yarn overs or other fancy stitches.

This is a great thing to do when you are learning a new to you technique like cables, lace or brioche. (The pattern I was struggling with was a brioche variation.) It gives you a little insurance that your mistakes won’t be fatal, and it helps you keep track of your progress, which can be super motivating when learning new things.

Check out how to use a lifeline over at Our Daily Craft. I’d love to hear your stories about using a lifeline, especially if you have a “should have used a lifeline” story, too!

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork.

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn.

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look.

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me.

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round.

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.

Have you read?