Accidentally adding stitches to your needle as you knit is one of the most common mistakes made by new knitters. You're knitting away, making good progress and suddenly you realise your work is extending outwards and the 40 stitches you started with are suddenly 50 or 60 🤪
Well, you're not alone, we've all been there before! That's why we've created this video demonstrating the two most common ways you end up with more stitches than you want. Once you know what to look for, you'll be able to spot an extra stitch and fix it before it's added permanently into your work.
We also suggest that new knitters get into the habit of counting the stitches on their needles after every row or two. That way if a rogue stitch is added you can act quickly to fix it.
The best fix?
If you've caught it early and you've only got one or two extra stitches, you can knit two stitches together at the start of your next row to reduce the total count by one stitch. Do this once or twice over a few rows until you've got the right number of stitches on your needle again.
If the damage is already done and you're miles over the number of stitches you should have, well I'm afraid my friend, you'll need to undo your work and start over. The good news is that you'll fly through the piece the second time around because you've got all that practice! 💪