Sometimes we knitters make mistakes in our projects. When that happens, we have to decide if we can live with it, or if we want to fix it. Many fixes seem rather scary at first, so newer knitters can be shy about diving right in to tinking or picking up dropped stitches. I have a knitter friend who is like that, and I get to feel smart and clever by helping her! Today she had a blanket where she’d purled two stitches that were supposed to be knit. Oops.
They were several rows back, so she was asking what her options were to fix it. I told her the easiest way would be to knit to the stitches and drop down to the errors, then pick the stitches back up with a crochet hook. That seemed scary to her, so I offered to do it. I made sure to text her a scary progress picture.
Not only were the stitches wrong, but somehow an extra stitch had been added at that same point, so I pulled those unnecessary stitches out, and then pulled out the next row down to the other purl stitch.
Then I used my little hook to pull that stitch up to the top and bam, it was done! There was some extra play in the yarn because of those stitches I pulled out, but that should all even out with the first wash.
This was one of the easiest fixes, honestly. Bulky yarn that is just sticky enough that the stitches don’t come out too easily, and plain stockinette stitches. Next time I’ll make her do it herself, or else how will she learn??
bonnyknits 
I am now warned.
I love fixing knitting, it is so satisfactory. I can’t fix cables or brioche though.
Oh well, I can’t (don’t) even knit cables or brioche, so there’s no way I could fix them! I don’t even attempt fixing lace with this technique yet!
The thought of intentionally undoing my knitting like that terrifies me! What if I couldn’t put it back together again??
That is a risk, isn’t it?? You just have to live on the edge! 😉
I still remember how terrified I was the first time I tried this on my own. Even now, whenever I make that type of discovery, I still have those sort of nervous flutters at the thought! However, it is the easiest way to make a fix, and over time it’s gotten much easier to deal with. Hopefully, your friend will get comfortable with it too! At least she didn’t have cabled stitches or lacework involved!!!
Oh yes, thank goodness for that, because I wouldn’t have tried to fix it for her!
I remember when I was scared to fix my work like this. But now I’ve ended up fixing colorwork, lace, and cables, and no one (except sometimes me) can usually tell the difference. 🙂
Ooh, you have mad skills!! I still struggle with fixing lace.
I’ve made too many mistakes while knitting lace… I learned how to fix it out of self defense. 🙂
I did that in a textured pattern earlier today. It’s funny how scary it was years ago and now it’s just as natural as knitting! It’s still not fun thou! She’s lucky to have a good friend.
Maybe not as fun as knitting, but it’s definitely satisfying! 🙂
Yes, very satisfying to fix it without frogging
Dropping stitches or knitting the wrong stitch honestly keeps me from knitting…I know I will never learn if I don’t overcome the mistakes I make, but I just find fixing these stitches so much harder than crochet!
I think it’s like a lot of things: it’s rarely as hard as we think it’s going to be. But we also have to be ready to accept that challenge, and it took me quite a while to get there!