Technique Tuesday - A Lifeline

No knitter likes to have to “frog” (rip out) or “tink” (unknit) their work. Especially when it’s lace. Unknitting lace is quite difficult because you are often working with rather small yarn and have lots of yarn-overs to deal with. So, what’s a knitter to do?

This is when you need a lifeline. Every few rows, you use a needle and some smooth yarn or thread (some have suggested dental floss) and slide it into that row of stitches.  If you make a mistake from that point forward, it’s easy enough to “frog” down to the row with the waste yarn in place.  All the stitches are neatly held on that waste yarn and you can just slip them on to your needle and start back up again.

I’m working on a shawl with a 14 row repeat.  At row 14, I put in my lifeline.  If I get to row 14 on the next round, I just pull the lifeline and thread it in at this new spot.  Have I needed to use it?  Yes, indeed!  And I was thrilled to have it because tinking Cascade’s Baby Alpaca Lace yarn, while possible, is not easy.

Unfortunately for the picture, my lifeline is about the same color as the working yarn.  I labeled them, though, so I hope you can see that the lifeline is about 14 rows from the working yarn and the needle.  I’m about to pull out the lifeline and rethread it onto the current row.

The lifeline can be used in any type of knitting, but it’s particularly helpful with lace when going backward is so tricky.  If you have any questions about this technique or any other knitting, crochet, or fiber issue, don’t hesitate to call, ask on Facebook, or stop by The Knitting Nest!!  We’re here to help!