What, you might be asking, is a lifeline? A lifeline is a scrap piece of yarn that you can add to your knitting project to give you some peace of mind. In the event that you make a big mistake its there if need to undo some of your work. I originally started out with crochet. You can imagine my great disappointment to find that when you make a mistake in knitting it’s a bit of a bigger problem than when you make a mistake in crochet. Hence this lifeline video tutorial to help you learn the new things I’ve learned!
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The difference between crochet and knitting
In crochet, you can easily just rip out your work back to the mistake, fix it, and start reworking. Granted, that is a big pain in the butt if you made the mistake many rows back. However it’s still fairly easy to undo your work.
In Knitting, however, if you make a mistake you have to TINK it. Another way to view this is it’s actually the word KNIT spelled backwards. Basically you have to “unknit” each and every stitch one at a time. Talk about TIME CONSUMING!!
Unless you have inserted a handy dandy lifeline. The process can be a little tedious. Also it will take a few extra minutes every so often throughout your project to do. But everything considered, in the end, if you make a mistake anywhere, it could save you hours of work.
How to add a lifeline video tutorial
I actually created a quick little video tutorial on this little trick. Please be kind as this is the very first video tutorial I have ever created. I do have a few pictures included later on in the blog as well to give an idea of what this all looks like.
Lifeline Video Tutorial Recap
So let’s recap from the video a little bit in case you had any trouble following along. The lifeline is to be inserted after you have finished a purl row. To further clarify make sure to take note that you will be adding it from the purl side.
Thread your tapestry/yarn needle with a lightweight, glossy yarn. Then you will thread it through your stitches with the tapestry needle as if to purl.
Keep pulling the yarn through the stitches all the way across your work until you have it hanging out of both ends of the row.
A quick photo tutorial for additional help
Here is a close up pic of using your tapestry/yarn needle to pull your scrap yarn through as if to purl. You will do this through each stitch across your project.
So what happens if you actually have to utilize the lifeline? Sadly, it happens sometimes. You realize you made a mistake. Or you miscalculated the amount of yarn you had left to finish and realize that you can’t completely finish that pattern repeat. Whichever the case, you need to take out your stitches. This is where the beauty of the lifeline comes in.
Normally in knitting when you make a mistake you have to “TINK” it (knit backwards) all the way back to the mistake. If you’re anything like me, knitting backwards takes me a lot longer than knitting forwards. This is especially true when it’s in a pattern and you have a combination of knit and purl stitches.
BUT! You’ve added a lifeline…so how do you use it? It’s really very simple. You just need to remove your needle(s) …. a terrifying thought I know …. and start ripping it out all the way back to your lifeline. When you reach the row that you inserted the lifeline, STOP! You then have the tedious task of picking up all the stitches that are resting nice and neatly on your lifeline. Indeed this is a little bit of a pain, but you have just saved yourself all the time of undoing every one of those previous stitches one at a time. It really is a HUGE time saver in the end if you end up needing to use it.
Still needing help?
If this photo tutorial doesn’t help you as much as you would have liked, stay tuned… I may attempt my first video tutorial coming to you soon. If that doesn’t pan out too well, or if the video doesn’t help you either, there are a few other great resources to try.
Check out the links below for Annie’s and Crafty websites. I take online classes often to improve and advance my skills. You can always learn something new!
I taught myself to knit and crochet through kits that I found at my local craft store, so there is always that option as well. I’ll share links to kits similar to what I used that you can also find on Amazon if you can’t find at your local craft store or can’t get to one soon.
Wrapping Up
So that pretty much wraps up this tutorial. This is the first time I’ve done a video vs. a photo tutorial. What are your thoughts? Do you prefer the video vs the photo? Did this tutorial help you learn anything new? What other kinds of tutorials would you like to see? I’m interested in hearing your feedback. Until then….
Happy Stitching!!
🧶💖
~Mindy~
