Stitches

(Knitting) How do I get rid of extra stitches?

I just started knitting a scarf (I read a book at the library). I've gotten eight strings into the scarf and I've noticed 5 extra stitches have tagged along from somewhere. How do I get rid of the extra stitches without ruining the pattern?

Public Comments

1. knit two together to decrease. do it somewhere that won't be noticed in the pattern like near the beginning or the end.
2. You can decrease but decreases will show and could change your pattern. One way to decrease is to knit two stitches together. That will decrease one stitch for each knit two together. If you are going to use decreases try to space them evenly across a row. You may want to gradually decrease so it isn't so obvious. One stitch each row over several rows. You may be wrapping the yarn around your needle without noticing and that will be an increase of one stitch each time. I am not sure what stitches you are using but if you are moving the yarn from front to back or back to front to knit and purl maybe the yarn went over the needle instead of under and that would cause an increase. It is a very common way to make an increase and is used in lacy patterns especially. Good luck!
3. You can get rid of them with k2tog decreases BUT you also need to figure out where they are coming from so you can prevent them from creeping back in again. Here's a video on how accidental increases (extra stitches) are made: http://verypink.com/2010/03/13/video-accidental-increases/ Here's how to do a k2tog to decrease your number of stitches: http://www.knitpicks.com/tutorials/K2Tog__D69.html video if you hold your yarn in your right hand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBpbLmgwHFA video if you hold your yarn in your left hand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BT6MakKQbY If you want to have 8 stitches, but you have 5 extras to get rid of, you'll need to sprinkle your decreases evenly across the row to prevent the fabric from puckering. Here's how: k2tog, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1, k2tog That's a lot to decrease all at once, but give it a try and see how it looks. Knitting is pretty forgiving of sudden changes. Option 2: you could remove some of the stitches in one row, and the rest in another row, like this: row A: k1, k2tog, k2, k2tog, k2, k2tog, k2 (count to make sure you now have 10 sts) row B: k10 row C: k2, k2tog, k2, k2tog, k2 (count to make sure you now have 8 sts) Option 2 will probably look nicer in the long run.