Right side facing? Knit up? Join yarn to inside edge?

Hi there,

I am knitting a pair of Shaped Leggings and have become stuck. I am doing one leg at a time and have made it to the section where I need to knit the foot of the leggings. The steps are as follow:

1st row - Knit to the last 3 sts, turn.
2nd row - P12, turn.
Work 22 rows on these 12 sts for instep.
Break off yarn. (I have completed up to here and can’t go any further)

With right side facing, join yarn to inside edge of 21 sts on right hand needle, knit up 15 sts evenly along side of instep, knit across 12 sts for instep, knit up 15 sts evenly along other side of instep, the K3 … 66.

If anyone can help me it would be greatly appreciated! At the moment I have three sts on my left (the last 3 from the 1st row) and 33 on my right.

You’ve got a flap of 12 sts, pick up 15 sts on the right edge of it, knit across the 12 sts then pick up 15 down the left edge of iti and k3. Right side facing means the knit side of the sts will be toward you.

This video for booties is somwhat similar to the step you’re at in the leggings. The stitch number is different of course and you should break the yarn after knitting your 22 rows as your instructions state and use that yarn to knit up (or pick up) the 15sts, but the basic idea is there.

Thank you for your reply suzeeq, however I am still confused as to what I am meant to do. I have researched how to pick up and knit on the edge of a section however I am unsure of how to knit up while the piece is still on the needles.

I know how to increase a stitch and M1 which is what I assume I need to do I as I am going from 36 stitches to 66.

I am also unsure because the pattern instructs me to knit up 15 sts evenly along side of instep, knit across the 12 sts of the instep and then knit up 15 sts along the other side of instep, however there is not 15 stitches on either side of the 12 st instep.

If there is any extra information you can give me it would be appreciated!

Thanks so much salmonac! That makes a lot of sense. I will have to reverse the 22 rows to create a proper flap that suzeeq mentioned but I am now going in a forward (ish) direction.

Knit up means to pick up sts (see the video on pickiing up sts if you need to under Free Videos, Tips at the top of this page) along the side of the 22row flap that you’ve knit. Space the sts out so that you pick up about 2sts for every 3 rows. If it makes it easier, you can put the 21sts that are on the right needle onto a holder until you’ve picked up the 15, knit 12 across the flap, picked up 15 on the other side of the flap and then knit 3sts.
You don’t increase by M1. You have 36sts now and you’re going to pick up 15+15 to give you 66sts.

You won’t have to m1 or increase, picking up the stitches will make 66 when you’re done. It doesn’t matter that you still have sts on the needle, you pick up along the edges.

Your situation may vary slightly from what is shown in this tutorial, but the idea is the same. You want to pick up stitches along the sides of the heel flap. I don’t know if you slipped stitches at the edges of your flap, if not you won’t be picking up under both legs of the slipped stitch vees, but otherwise the same.

It sounds like you were supposed to cut the yarn and rejoin it to where you pick up stitches. In this tutorial you are already there. This is part of Silver’s Sock Class. LINK

Thanks so much everyone. I realised I was doing the turn wrong. I have done socks before and done a turn that resulted in no visible hole. I used this turn as it was the only one I thought I could use and as a result I didn’t create a flap with sides for me to knit up the stitches. I didn’t know I could do it much more simply. Thank you again!