Picking Up Stitches

Start working in a different direction from existing stitches.

Sometimes you need to pick up stitches along a finished edge in order to work in a different direction, such as to start a button band on the front of a sweater or the crown of a hat from a hatband.

There are two simple ways to do this—one using a crochet hook (video included), the other just using your knitting needles. It might look like magic, but you don’t need to tell your friends no actual sorcery was required.

Read on to learn how easy this technique can be!

Important note for both methods:

When working into the edge of a piece of knitted fabric, you would typically pick up three stitches for every four rows of the foundation piece.

Hold the work between the thumb and middle fingers of your non-dominant hand so your forefinger is available to wrap the yarn for tension while crocheting.

Using your dominant hand, insert hook into the space between columns one stitch in from the edge of the row on your finished piece. Grab the working yarn with the hook on top.

Use the crochet hook to pull the yarn through the work, then slip the new stitch onto the needle on the side of your dominant hand, so the front leg will be on the right for righties and on the left for lefties.

You have just picked up one stitch.