Ask Patty: Cutting Your Knitting

I’ve read about snipping yarn to commence knitting in the opposite direction for those unique instances when a finished length is somehow wrong. I struggle to fully understand how to do this. 

I’m considering joining two separately knitted pieces via the whip stitch to lengthen the front sides of a cardigan (a basketweave pattern of knits and purls). So far this looks a little strange. Maybe I should attempt the “snip” solution?

—A nervous knitter

Dear Nervous Knitter,

Cutting your knitting can be the scariest and most empowering thing in the world. Nothing makes you feel quite as much like a superhero as successfully cutting your knitting and realizing that the sky did not fall.

Back in the day when I used to blindly follow a pattern, even though my arms are longer than “standard” arms (what the heck is a standard arm?), I often found my sleeves too short. Since I did not love this “teenager who recently had a big growth spurt” look in my knitwear, I learned how to cut … the hard way.

The first sweater I knit was top down. When I saw my sleeves looked too short, I took out the bind off, unraveled the rib, put the loops back on the needle, and knit them longer.

The second sweater I knit was bottom up. When I saw again that my sleeves were too short and tried to do the same thing, I was struck with two burning questions: one, why didn’t I learn the first time that my arms are long? And two, why couldn’t I unravel my cast on?

I went running to my friend who taught me how to knit, and he explained that you can’t unravel a cast-on; you have to cut. Since I wanted to lengthen the stockinette part, not the rib, we cut above the cuff, put the loops on the needle, joined a new ball of yarn, and I knit.

I ended up with one fewer stitch, so my k2, p2 rib didn’t work, but I had no idea why. Being a new knitter, I figured it must have been my fault.

When I did the same thing on a cabled sleeve that was too short (I KNOW. Why was I still knitting sleeves as written?), I learned that I was not knitting into stitches, but into the space between two stitches.

Back in 2021, we talked about this offset issue in a column about grafting, and I suggested a cheat.

To answer Nervous Knitter’s question:

If you look at the edge of stockinette, you can see the V shape of the stitch.

But when you turn the stockinette upside down, what looks like a stitch is actually the space between.

If you need to shorten or lengthen stockinette: Put the first leg of each V on the needle…

… snip the stitch above …

… and pick the cut yarn out of the loops.

You’ll notice you have a half a stitch left before the loops on the needle.

That’s why when you knit in the opposite direction, 20 stitches, become 19 seamless, lovely knits.

If your sleeve was knit flat, you would have lost two stitches in seaming (e.g., 20 stitches become 18). Once you remove the seam and get the loops on the needle, you can join to work in the round, put in one decrease, and you are all set. If you are lengthening a sleeve knit in the round, you’ll put in one increase.

Here’s a wee video to show the snip in action.

Knits and Purls: A Jagged Path

Life gets a bit more complex when you are working in knits and purls. Remember that cable sleeve I lengthened? It was a mess. I sort of fumbled around with increases and decreases and tried to make it work.

Since that less-than-pretty first sleeve, I’ve learned two things: one, to stop knitting the sleeves as written, and two, that a system of paired increases and decreases can trick the eye.

Here we have a bit of ribbing right side up and upside down. That half a stitch is super obvious when you go from knit to purl.

Once you cut and start putting those loops on the needle, you’ll end up with a half-knit, half-purl monster.

If I just knit in the opposite direction, the problem is way bigger than being off by one stitch. My columns of knits and purls don’t line up anymore.

We need to trick the eye.

1. Knit to one stitch before the half stitch. M1K, Then do an SSK with the last full stitch and half knit stitch.
2. Purl to the half stitch. M1P, Then do a K2tog with the first full knit stitch and half stitch.

Repeat those two stitches to your last section of stockinette, and put in one last M1k.

Not perfect, but pretty good. Just don’t point it out (and don’t use contrasting yarn).

This trick works really well with basketweave. Here I have a bit of K5, P5 basketweave. Every 6 rows I change to P5, K5.

I have cut on the last row of the K5, P5 pattern.

1. Cut the last row before you change your weave pattern.
2. Put in your trick row.
3. Change basketweave pattern to beautifully hide the trick.

Here’s that little trick in action.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If someone notices, then one of two things is true: you either pointed it out or they are standing way too close to you.

So fear not, Nervous Knitter. Take a deep breath and cut. You’ll be happy you did.