Knitting lace tips: how to fix missed & dropped yarn overs + dropped decreases

In the fourth part of our series on achieving perfect lace knits, Judy Furlong talks us through how to fix mistakes in lace knitting patterns. We'll show you how to fix missed and dropped yarnovers to save your lace knitting projects.

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Zoe Williams

Published: November 2, 2020 at 4:28 pm

Featured image: Amethyst laceweight jumper by Amanda Jones, as featured in The Knitter issue 94

Fixing missed yarn overs

A very common mistake is to forget to work a yarn over. This can throw the whole row out by one stitch from that point so it is fairly easy to spot.

Unpick stitch by stitch to that point.

Insert the LH needle under the yarn lying between the two stitches and there – you have your yarn over. It will be a little tighter than it ought to be, but that can be evened out at the end, when blocking.

Check out the rest of our lace knitting masterclass series!

In the first part of the series by expert knitter Judy Furlong, we talk you through how to avoid making mistakes (and troubleshoot what to do when you make them!)

Fixing dropped yarn overs

You will need:

  • Yarn
  • Knitting needles

Step 1

If a stitch is dropped which was worked on a yarn over on the previous row, it just leaves two pretty loose looking threads without a stitch in sight!

Turn the work so that the knit side of the dropped stitch is facing.

As shown, insert the tip of the RH needle (or a crochet hook), below the bottom thread (this was the yarn over), front to back.

Knitting in lace tips 2

Step 2

Bring the tip up and forward between the two strands and catch the thread above, pushing it backwards and down.

Knitting in lace tips 3

Step 3

Bring it under the bottom thread, forwards and upwards (this is the dropped stitch).

Knitting in lace tips 5

Slip it onto the LH needle.

Picking up dropped decreases

There will be a little cluster of stitches, hopefully already spotted and sitting on a safety pin.

Knitting in lace tips 6

Transfer them (or pick them up) onto a double-pointed needle. Note the loose yarn above from which these stitches unravelled.

Check what sort of decrease it should have been to make sure the slope is correct – for example, K2tog slopes rightwards, SSK leftwards, cdd (central double decrease) is central and it is this last one in the illustration.

Work the decrease as instructed – for this I usually use a crochet hook. Using cdd for this example, insert the hook into the second then the first, then the third stitch.

Knitting in lace tips 7

Pick up the loose thread above and pull it through the last stitch onto the crochet hook. With the tip of the doublepointed needle or crochet hook, slip the first two stitches, over the knitted one.

Knitting in lace tips 8

Replace the mended stitch onto the left-hand needle.

If the final stitch looks a lot looser than you expected, check the pattern to make sure there were no yarn overs either side, in which case just pick up the yarn either side of the stitch.

In future posts, learn how to unravel multiple rows, with and without a lifeline; and laddering within a repeat to fix mistakes

Amethyst laceweight jumper by Amanda Jones, as featured in The Knitter issue 94

Zoe Williams

Launch Editor, Gathered.how

Zoe launched Gathered.how as editor in 2019. A keen crafter, quilter and sewist, she has worked with the UK’s best-selling craft magazines – from Today’s Quilter to Love Patchwork & Quilting, Simply Sewing and The World of Cross Stitching. With over a decade of craft publishing experience under her belt, she loves crafting with her kids and curling up on the sofa with a spot of hand patchwork. Zoe has previously written for radiotimes.com, Simply Knitting and The World of Cross Stitching and was previously Deputy Editor of Papercraft inspirations magazine. She has guest-lectured at Bath Spa University. She’s a keen quilter with 5 projects in progress at any one time and another 12 or so planned. Specialist skills include hand modelling for YouTube craft tutorials and fabric foraging (she has an inbuilt radar for local haberdasheries and community craft gatherings).
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