Monday, October 31, 2011

Lifelines

Few things can frustrate a knitter more than finding a mistake on row 16 at end of row 23 of a complicated pattern. Whenever I knit a piece of complicated lace I throw myself a lifeline at the end of every pattern repeat, or halfway through a pattern that has more than 20 rows in the repeat.

A lifeline is a piece of thread or contrasting yarn, that is threaded through the stitches of a row. The lifeline is of a contrasting color and I leave long tails to make it easy to spot and remove when the piece is finished. The lifeline has to be on a row without yarn overs. If you are making a flat piece the row will be a purl row. If you are knitting in the round, the lifeline goes through the row immediately following a row with yarn overs. Whenever I knit a piece of complicated lace I throw myself a lifeline at the end of every pattern repeat, or halfway through a pattern that has more than 20 rows in the repeat.

I count the stitches at the end of every third row. If I have more stitches or fewer stitches than I should, or if I see an error in the pattern, I back track to the row with the lifeline. I don't have to worry about losing stitches in the row with the lifeline. They are on a piece of thread. I can easily resume the pattern because the lifeline is always on the same row of the pattern.

Leave the stitches on the needle. Use a tapestry needle and gently slide the lifeline through all the stitches in the row. Make a note of the number row it is in the pattern. Repeat at regular intervals until your piece is finished.

I think you will find, as I do, that the amount of time it takes to do this is well spent. In addition to saving time and work by limiting the number of rows that have to be undone, I like to take the time to review the pattern and assess my work as i thread the lifeline through.

2 comments:

  1. That's a great idea. I get so frustrated sometimes when I knit because I am left handed, I knit backwards to begin with, then if I make a mistake, UGH. That may be why I crochet. lol
    Debbi
    -ourhometoyours

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  2. Lifelines have saved me hours of tedious repetition. I, too, love to crochet and do so "backwards".

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