Knitting Mistake--How to Prevent Knitting a 300-Stitch Cast-On Wrong!

Knitting mistake prevention--divide and conquer with stitch markers!

Do you get nervous when faced with 300 cast on stitches? How many times do you count them? A massive first row or round of pattern stitches can be daunting. What if you run out of stitches or have leftovers at the end of the round? Where on earth in those 300 stitches did you make a knitting mistake? Let’s whittle that monster round down to size.

Divide and Conquer with Stitch Markers

Let’s make it extra tough. Say you’re knitting an Aran sweater. Maybe you’ve done your ribbing and increased for your design part. You might have 150 front stitches and 150 back stitches. Each has a series of cables leading to the center, then mirrored away from the center to the other side. One goof messes up everything.

So put a stitch marker before the first stitch, one in the center front, one in the other side and one in the center back. Now you’ve divided your massive mountain of stitches into four small hills with 75 stitches each. Look at your chart or written directions and see which pattern stitch should come before each marker. Count your stitches again, if you like.

Now Start Knitting

Getting all your pattern stitches established right is your goal. As you work through your chart or written directions, check each cable section as you complete it. When you reach your center front stitch marker, are you on target? If not, find where in those 75 stitches you missed something. Fix it now.

Rinse and Repeat

Celebrate each time you reach a stitch marker with the right pattern stitch on your needles. At the fourth one–a different color so you know you’ve done an entire round–do a little jig in your chair. That first round was your worst challenge. The second will go better. If you can read your knitting, the third might be a cake walk, because now you may see each cable design developing.

No Stinking Tinking

Congratulations on never having to undo 296 stitches for a knitting mistake way back in the fourth stitch that threw off the entire round! If you prefer even more stitch markers, feel free. Decorate your sweater with as many whimsical or utilitarian stitch markers or yarn loops as you please. No matter if you puzzle the muggles (non-knitters). You now know what goes where.

Best,

Karen

P.S.

Of course, I didn’t divide and conquer my first time doing the first pattern round. And I skipped an entire cable pattern on the second half of the front of my Aran sweater. Tinked a whole bunch of stitches. Ow!

Look at this way. I made the mistake so you don’t have to. (As Betani says in her charming Knit Misadventures podcast.)