Picking up dropped stitches in a garter fabric should be easier than doing it in stockinette, right? After all, garter is just knitting every stitch on every row. What could be simpler? Well, that may sound right, but it's actually more complicated to repair garter stitch.
The Basics of Picking Up Dropped Stitches
All dropped stitches in knitting are repaired by using a crochet hook to pick up the stitch first and then the running thread. The thread is then drawn through the stitch creating the new stitch. If you aren't familiar with how to pick up dropped stitches in stockinette, get that down first before tackling garter. Instructions for picking up stitches in stockinette work for picking up dropped stitches in a garter pattern, with one crucial exception.
In stockinette, all stitches, no matter whether they were dropped on right-side or wrong-side rows, are picked up from front to back with the right-side facing the knitter. Remember that the terms "back" and "front" refer to the side of the work away from or toward the knitter, regardless of whether you're on a right-side or wrong-side row.
Garter Stitch: Not Really the same on Every Row
In garter stitch, the dropped stitches must be picked up alternately from back to front and then from front to back depending upon whether they were dropped on a right-side or wrong-side row. This is bound to puzzle knitters who still think of garter as both reversible and as the simplest of stitches.
Garter fabric is reversible in looks only., Yes, if you're knitting back and forth on straight needles, you will knit every stitch of every row. Nevertheless, there's a difference. When knitting a stitch, the running thread is always in the back -- away from the knitter. On right-side rows, this means it runs along the wrong side of the fabric just like in stockinette.
When knitting wrong-side rows, however, being in the back means that the running thread is carried on the right side of the fabric. It is this alternating position of the purl bumps (the bump at the back of the knit stitch, which gives garter fabric its unique horizontal ridges.
Confused about Knitting Terminology?
Knitting terms like
front and back can confuse knitters who don't understand them. They are not interchangeable.
Another way to look at it is that in garter fabric the vertical stitch runs up through the running threads which alternate being behind it and then in front. Make a swatch and deliberately undo one stitch down 4 rows. Notice that there's a little cage with 2 threads on one side of the dropped stitch and 2 on the other. It may be easier to feel this if the stitches before and after the mistake are on one needle rather than with the big gap which appears when the dropped stitch is between the two needles.
Getting the Correct Side Up in Garter
For patterns like garter which look the same on both sides, the determination of right-side or wrong-side rows is either made by the instructions or the knitter. One way or the other, however, it must be made.
Establish which side is which up front. Use the tail at the beginning of the cast-on row as a guide. Let's call tail down the right side; tail up is the wrong side. This choice is arbitrary when you're doing swatches or simple projects. In sweaters and projects with other types of stitches, however, pay attention to what the pattern says about right-side and wrong-side, and make note of it when you start knitting.
Fixing Dropped Stitches in Garter
When repairing dropped stitches in a garter fabric, the knitter has two choices: either alternate the direction from which the crochet hook is inserted or turn the work and insert the hook from front to back each time.
First, determine whether the un-worked running thread furthest from the current row is from a right-side or wrong-side row. Turn the work with that side facing you before inserting the hook. If you don't fancy turning the work, change the direction of the hook instead. If only one row has been dropped, you don't have to worry whether you're on a right-side or wrong-side row. Pick it up back to front.
After the stitch is safely on the crochet hook, pick up the running thread. Then, pull the running thread through the stitch. Yes, it's OK to use your fingers to lift the stitch over the running thread and off the hook. The running thread is now the new stitch and can be placed back on the left-hand needle. Catastrophe averted; continue knitting.
For deeper drops, count the running threads backwards from the current row. This will give you the number of rows which have to be picked up. Establish on which row (right-side or wrong-side) the stitch was first dropped. If you have the right-side facing you, right-side rows are picked up front to back; wrong-side rows from back to front. Since this requires removing the hook from the stitch each time and entering from the opposite side, some knitters may prefer turning the work instead.
Garter in the Round Shows its True Colors
The condition of garter stitch posing more difficulties than stockinette will make more sense to those who have knit in the round. In the round, garter is made by knitting Round 1 and purling Round 2, which reveals the true alternating nature of the garter stitch. Stockinette in the round is knit every row, showing itself as the plainest or simplest stitch - though not necessarily the easiest to make consistently.
Donna W. Hill - Donna W. Hill is an author, singer/songwriter, recording artist, speaker and avid knitter in Pennsylvania's rural Endless Mountains. Her ...
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