Yarn attached to the wrong stitch

Posted on by Henni

You are about to start a new row of knitting, but then you notice the working yarn is attached to the second stitch instead of the first. What happened? What do you do? This is a really common, and quite disorienting problem, but luckily, it’s an easy fix.

It can be disorienting to turn your work only to discover that the yarn is attached to the wrong stitch.

The cause of the problem

What happened is that the last stitch was never actually knitted (or purled or whatever else it was supposed to be). This can happen in three ways. Either you absentmindedly slipped the final stitch instead of knitting it, or you knitted it, but the yarn somehow slipped off before you finished the stitch. Or you dropped the stitch and picked it back up, but the final stitch had dropped one row further, without you realizing it. Whatever the cause, there is a single easy solution.

How to fix the dropped or slipped edge stitch

The stitch has been slipped instead of knitted, so you need to turn the work back around so that you have the empty needle in your left hand and the full one in your right. Then you slip the naughty last stitch back onto the left needle. Knit it. And your done.

Turn the work, and slip the stitch back to the empty left needle. Be careful not to twist the stitch. The right leg of the stitch, leading to the neighboring stitch, should be in the front as shown in the photo.
Knit the stitch like you normally would.
TADA!

Check out my other guides about fixing common knitting mistakes

We all make mistakes! I am currently writing a guide for fixing the most common knitting mistakes for beginners. So far, I’ve covered dropped stitches and gaining extra stitches. More to come, so please follow my blog, if you want to be updated with my latest writings.

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2 thoughts on “Yarn attached to the wrong stitch”

  1. Somehow I came across your blog recently and I love it! Printed your trio of dishcloth patterns and am doing the seed stitch version now and will do many more. (If knitting friends ask for pattern, I’ll refer them to your website as you request.). Last night working on a baby blanket, I turned it do to the next row and there was that “dropped or slipped edge stitch”. This has certainly happened before but I would be stalled until someone else fixed it. This morning I went to your blog and easily found my problem with the so helpful photo and was able to do the fix. Thank You Henni!

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