I’m not sure who first proclaimed that knitters should never put down their work in the middle of the row.

What planet did that person live on? Most knitters I know have to stop once in a while to eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, answer the phone, bathe kids, feed the cat, do laundry, cook, clean, shop, snuggle with their significant others, and otherwise stop knitting (OK, so some interruptions can be pleasurable). Oh, I forgot work, didn’t I?

And the end of the row isn’t always handy. In some projects, there isn’t an end of the row ever (like making a seamless sweater in the round).

That means when we finally get to start knitting again, we need to make sure we pick up our knitting the proper way.

Which Needle Goes in Which Hand?

If you were at the end of the row, congratulations! Put the full needle in your left hand and the empty one in your right hand. (Yes, I’m assuming you are not a mirror-image knitter.)

If you’re in the middle of a row, or if you’re working in the round, then find the stitch that the ball end of the yarn is attached to. Put the needle holding that stitch in your right hand and the other needle in (there’s no mystery here) your left hand.

(And for all the smarty-pants out there, yes, I’m omitting the fact that we might be working short rows, making bobbles, forming entrelac, or doing any of the other things that might make us turn in the middle of a row. But if you’re doing anything like that, you aren’t reading this post!)