Picking Up Stitches Around a Thumb, Pt. 2

Next I closely look at my knitting to determine exactly where the first stitch in the cast on edge is located. It is important to get this right to have a nice finished look. In this photo I put an orange line to show you where the first stitch is found - on the left of the line.




When picking up stitches I use my left thumb to slightly push up the cast on edge and I pick up the first complete stitch immediately under the cast on edge. I used orange arrows below to show you exactly where I'll be picking up sts.




Another view of the process of picking up sts. I always look closely to make sure I'm picking up the stitch right in the center of the stitch.




This is the side of the thumb so you can see the stitch I picked up along the side.





Okay I'm off to answer questions in the comments. Whew - updating two blogs in one day with lots of photos that need dealing with is quite time-consuming. I think I'll do them on different days from now on.

Picking Up Stitches Around a Thumb

Here are my photos on how to pick up stitches around a thumb. I did do a step-by-step photo tutorial on how I do my peasant thumbs in two parts. Check my technique links in the right hand sidebar.

I begin the thumb by putting the stitches on the outside of the thumb back on the needles. I take the waste yarn off after I put the stitches back on the needles. The waste yarn usually pulls right out with no problem and it is even more likely if I've taken the effort to find yarn that is a lighter weight for the waste yarn.

I knit across the front stitches in pattern. Here I'm using a contrast yarn in pink to try to show this process better. BTW, notice the sharp Knitpicks' metal dpns - for picking up stitches, sharper is better. I always use needles to pick up stitches (I insert the dpn through the location where I want to add a stitch, then knit a stitch onto the needle.) but you can use crochet hooks as well.






When I get to the side of the thumb hole I am going to pick up a stitch on the side of the thumb as the pattern states to do. (I never pick up more stitches than the pattern specifies around a thumb or finger hole - I think it is noticeable and I prefer to use the reverse duplicate stitch to fix any loose stitches or holes after I'm done knitting.) On the side of the thumb hole between the stitches knit from the waste yarn and the cast on stitches on the back there are two stitches - a yellow green and a darker green. I pick up a stitch through one of these two stitches. If you look at both side stitches, the yellow green stitch is a bit looser. That is why I decide to pick up the stitch through the dark green stitch. (Picking up stitches through loose or large stitches often seems to make them more noticeable, not less.) I just pick up a stitch through the right side of that darker green stitch.




They're all on the needles now.

Next post - picking up the sts from the cast on edge.