How to fix a dropped stitch
There can be nothing more frustrating than dropping a stitch in your knitting. A dropped stitch, an ever-growing hole in your work - disaster! Well, it doesn't need to be. You can save that dropped stitch and help him find his way back onto your needle in just a few easy steps. Here's how you fix a dropped stitch.
Locate and secure the dropped stitch
First, you'll want to locate the dropped stitch. If you're on the ball, chances are you'll spot the dropped stitch before it falls down too many rows.
As soon as you spot the dropped stitch you'll want to secure it, so it doesn't fall any further. Pick up the dropped stitch from the front toward the back by scooping it up from underneath with your fingers, then secure it with a stitch marker or by sticking your needle into the stitch to stop it slipping further.
💭 If you have a crochet hook handy you can use the hook instead of your fingers to pick up the stitch and work it back up to the needle. Fingers can be a little less nimble but they'll still work!
Thread the stitch back up to your working row
You'll see the horizontal bars or ladders running above the dropped stitch. One of these represents one row.
You'll thread your drop stitch back up each ladder in order. To thread, pull the ladder directly above the dropped stitch through the loop of your dropped stitch. Well done, you've fixed one row. Continue picking up ladders in order.
Place the stitch back on your needle
The last step to fix a dropped stitch is to place that saved stitch back onto your left needle.
Put your left needle through the front loop of the stitch and you're ready to return to your knitting. In this example we're doing a stockinette stitch so we're ready to continue with knit stitch to the end of the row.
💭 If you don't spot the dropped stitch as it's dropped off the needle you can still save it.
If you've reached the end of the row and then spot a dropped stitch somewhere around the middle of your work you'll want to follow the same steps as above to bring the dropped stitch back up to the row that hits the needle.
Then carefully slide your left needle out of the stitches that run up to the place where the stitch was dropped and you're going to frog or undo your stitches up to the point where the drop stitch is.
Then slide your left needle back into those stitches from left to right and finally, collect the dropped stitch as the last stitch closest to the end of your left needle and then finish knitting this row again.
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