Hey everyone! I’ve a hat from EZ’s Knitting Workshop, and I want it to have like five more rows of ribbing at the bottom. It’s JUST too small, and I want it to cover the ears completely. It’s so frustrating to have it barely, but definitely, too small. And it’s acrylic. So, do I really have to undo the whole thing? Can’t I just like pick up stitches at the bottom and knit ribbing down a few rounds? Or even better, is there some way to undo a the cast on? Then I’d have live stitches and could just knit the rounds and bind off loosely. Is this possible?
Yes’m, you can undo the cast-on edge or just pick up stitches.
If you undo the cast-on, be aware that your new stitches will be moved half a stitch over. This is hard to explain, but you will see why when you do it. It doesn’t really show in stockinette, but does show in ribbing. A lot!
Here is an example of how I dealt with it. See the vented part at the bottom of this sweater? I added it on after the fact. I did one row of garter so it would be harder to tell that the ribs were 1/2 st off.
Of course, if this is a part of the hat that will have a brim folded over it, no need to do anything!
Undoing the cast-on edge is a PITA, if I remember right. Bear with me for a second, you can actually CUT it off with scissors, and then just pick up the second row of stitches that are now live. I promise 
I have cut off several inches of cuff from a sweater’s sleeves and picked up and knit a new set.
I keep saying I am going to adopt the method I read about in a book about knitting cuff to cuff: the author always “scraps on” and “scraps off” instead of casting on and off. She starts and ends each piece; she starts by casting on by loop method a scrap yarn of contrasting color, similar weight, no fuzzies. She ends pieces by knitting a few rows in scrap. Then when she finishes she simply bends the scrap knitting back and picks up the first row of proper knitting to do whatever, you know, a sewn castoff or whatever.
Well, if you’ve got ribbing on your hat, what you could do is unravel all of the ribbing, and then reknit it. That way, the offset stitches wouldn’t show as much.
My sister does that on her kid’s sweaters. They grow, and the sleeves and length of the sweater get a little short, but it still fits them. She just unravels all the ribbing and re-knits it to a better length, and it’s fine.
I had the same problem once. I just picked up stitches and went from there. Good luck.
Thanks, everyone! I knew that the stitches would be offset, but I didn’t think about the fact that it would show more in ribbing…
I’m going to just unravel all the ribbing and then knit down!