TCG Picking Up Stitches

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

I managed to pick up the second sleeve last night, knitted 4 rows to the first increase and then fell asleep.

Lots of people hate picking up stitches and get in a real tizz about it, so - here is my foolproof plan/advice to picking up.

First of all remember the 7 P's - Prior Preparation and Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. So - prepare yourself first, don't just hurl yourself into picking up 320 stitches - it won't work, I guarantee you.

1. Remove all irritations from the room - specifically, husbands, children and cats. Goldfish can stay so long as they're well behaved and promise not to leave their tank whilst the picking up is in progress.

2. Throw that wine down the sink. Picking up and alcohol don't mix.

3. Prepare the area. Personally, I find the kitchen table is the ideal spot for picking up. Lay out your pins (yes, you'll need several of these), pattern, wool, needles etc.

4. Place your pins. OK - so, let's say you've got 132 stitches to pick (like I had last night), divide by 2 - 66 for each half, fold your edge in half and place a pin at the half way point. Then divide each half in half again and place pins. So - you've got 4 spaces which need 16.5 stitches each. 16, one on the pin itself and then another 16. Easy. If you go wrong you've only got to pull back 16 stitches.

5. Keep your pins in place until you've finished. You've done your first 16 sts plus the one where the pin was. Place the pin there. So you know that's 17 sts and you don't have to keep counting back to the beginning every time.

6. Spacing is always tricky because the number of stitches picked up is never the same as the number of rows. This is because knitting stitches aren't square. They are longer than they are wide. Oh, yes they are. If you pick up one stitch for each row the edge will be too loose and "bag". It's irritating but we have to learn to live with it.

7. Once you've picked up all the stitches and counted them a couple of times you can release the husband and children from the locked cupboard et voila - picked up stitches perfectly done each time.

8. NOW you can drink that wine.