How To Fix A Dropped Stitch In Knitting - Easy Method For Beginners

A step-by-step tutorial showing how to fix a dropped stitch – no matter if it’s a knit or a purl stitch or if it’s one or several rows below.

Let me guess. You just dropped a stitch on your first knitting project and it unraveled all the way down. Do you need to start all over again? Absolutely not! You can still rescue your knitting. There’s an easy way to fix a dropped stitch and this tutorial is all about it.

The beauty of knitting is that it involves no knots. This means you can basically rework any given section over and over again. All you need is a crochet hook and a minute or two.

And the best part: You can use the same technique to fix knitting mistakes as well by intentionally dropping a stitch. We’ll save that for later but I felt it’s important to mention right at the start that this technique has so many fun and useful applications.

Let’s dive right into it!

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Active Time 5 minutes Total Time 5 minutes

Materials

• Any yarn works. I am using the Schachenmayr Catania Grande in this tutorial.

Tools

• Any type of needle. I am using the Knitter's Pride Dreamz here
• A crochet hook in a similar size. For example the Knitter's Pride Dreamz hook.

Instructions

1. Insert your crochet hook into the dropped stitch. Your work should be facing you on the right side. Make sure you didn't accidentally twist the stitch. The loose strands should all be in the back of the dropped stitch.
2. Find the strand that connects the stitches in the row above. Be careful, sometimes the strands twist around a bit. You need to catch the lowest one.
3. Grab the strand with your crochet hook and pull the yarn through. This should create another loop around your crochet hook, aka a knit stitch.
4. Repeat these steps until you used up all strands and you are back to your current row.
5. Slip the stitch back to your left needle. Make sure you don't accidentally twist it as you do.

Notes

If you don't have a crochet hook, you can also use a spare knitting needle. If you use your index finger to push the strand through, things should be okay. It will be much faster with a hook. Also, if you use a knitting needle, you have to re-insert your knitting needle through the front after each stitch. Otherwise, you will twist your stitches.

Reading tip: How to fix a dropped edge stitch.

How to fix a dropped purl stitch

The method I showed you above, will be perfect to rescue a knit stitch. But what about fixing a dropped purl stitch? How does that work? Well, almost exactly the same. The only difference is that the strands need to be front and you need to insert your crochet hook coming from behind.

Now, it will be a bit cumbersome to do that. But there’s an easy solution: A knit stitch will appear exactly like a purl stitch from the wrong side and vice versa. So, if you need to fix a column of purl stitches, you can simply use the exact same technique and do it from the back side!

If you are working on a project in garter stitch, you sadly have to do it all from the front and alternate between bringing the strands to the front and the back. Since it’s a bit more complicated, I wrote a separate tutorial on fixing a dropped stitching garter stitch.

Reading tip: Here are 10 more essential knitting tips you do not want to miss.

Fixing a stitch without a crochet hook that is one row below

Sometimes you can rescue a dropped stitch right away ,and it will only unravel one row. In these cases, you can also fix things without a crochet hook quite easily.

Step 1: Pick up the stitch with your left needle. Make sure it isn’t twisted and the strand of yarn in the back of it

Step 2: Insert your right needle into the stitch as you normally would to knit a stitch.

Step 3: Skoop the strand in the back through. You can use the tip of your index finger as support. I find this is often a bit easier. You can go in from below or above – it doesn’t matter. Just pick whatever feels easier to you.

Step 4: Slip the resulting stitch back to the left needle knitwise (this will untwist it).

And if it’s a purl stitch, the strand needs to be in front of it.

Step 2b: Insert your right needle into the stitch purlwise.

Step 3b: And pull the strand through (maybe with the support of your index finger).

Tip: You can use the exact same method to fix a mistake. Simply insert your knitting needle into the stitch one row below the one you want to fix and unravel the offending stitch intentionally. And then follow the exact same steps.

You may have to bring the strand to the front/back first by slipping the stitch back and forth between your left and right knitting needles.

Anyway. That’s how to fix a dropped stitch in knitting. Comment below in case you still have any questions.