If you need to rip out more than one row, it’s easy to go too far.

Working in the Round

Whether you’re working on DPNs, circs, or a Magic Loop, don’t pull out all the needles. Pull out just one, rip back the necessary number of rows, and pick up the live stitches.

Repeat for each needle.

Working Flat

Instead of pulling the needle entirely out, drop off a small group of stitches, “small” being in the eyes of the beholder.

• If it’s plain stockinette, you might drop twenty stitches off.
• If it’s a complicated pattern, you might drop one stitch repeat at a time.

Rip down the number of rows, and pick up the live stitches on a long circular needle (not a straight needle).* Remove the next group of stitches, drop them down, and pick them up in the proper place, relative to the already-ripped stitches, on the circular.

Repeat for each group of stitches.

*Using a circular needle means you can drop stitches in either direction from the first group, because you’ll always have a needle tip on both ends of the circular. A straight needle will have a knob on one end.