Too many stitches?

#1

hi,

I am a new knitter. I have 8 inches of a scarf, but suddenly I’ve picked up a whole bunch of stitches on the top (like where you cast them . . .but I only started with a few. . .) and now there are too many to fit on my knitting needle! how do I fix this? is it ok to just drop them???

thanks

#2

If you just drop them, you might wind up with holes in your work. You can 1, rip it out and start again or 2. “unknit” until you’ve gotten your original amount of sts back. The fact that you have so many that they won’t fit on your needles makes me think it’s better to just rip and start over. I wish I could help you identify where all those extra sts came from, but without being able to hold it and see it for myself, I can’t say for sure because there are [color=red]numerous[/color] ways for sts to be accidentally added.

Hope that helps a little… :?

#3

Or …I forgot to mention #3 - you can also decrease your sts until you have the original amount. A simple decrease is k2tog. See Amy’s videos for ways to decrease. Decreasing like that will likely make your scarf uneven, so I wouldn’t do that if I were you … but it’s up to you :wink:

By the way - how many stitches did you start out with?? How many have you ended up with???

#4

thanks :slight_smile:

i really really really dont want to though! haha i’ve got 8 inches! oh well. . .

thanks again!

#5

As a beginner knitter myself, I’ve come to find out how I pick up stitches.
When you knit you must go through the knit stitch, not the bottom of the stitch. If you go through the bottom you will end up with what looks like 2 stitches, so be careful to only put the needle through the “hole” at the stitch you are knitting into. I hope that makes sense.
Beth♥

#6

When was first learning I did the very same thing as Beth describes! I’ll go a step further though and suggest you start with a yarn where you can easily see the stitches. It made a huge difference for me! My first project was to be a prayer shawl knit with Lion Brand ‘Homespun’. It didn’t take me long to become frustrated beyond belief with the extra stitches I kept coming up with! :shock: :evil: I put that away PDQ and bought some worsted weight wool to knit a scarf. The rest as they say, is history! :smiley:
Good luck and happy frogging! :wink:

Peg