Knitting - Picking Up Stitches

It's time to add a thumb to your mitten! It will only take a moment compared to the work you've already put into creating the cuff and hand. In this lesson you'll learn how to pick up stitches. Get ready for the home stretch!

Cut off the knot in your scrap yarn, and carefully slip stitches onto two DPNs (5 sts on each).

To create stitches along the remaining side of the thumb, we'll need to pick them up from the available edge. Position a new strand of yarn and empty needle as to knit, and insert the needle into an opening close to the previous needle-- don't worry about being too exact here! Holding the yarn tail with your right hand will help you keep it taut. Wrap your working yarn counterclockwise around the needle and pull it back through to create a knit stitch.

Repeat to pick up a total of 4 (4, 6) stitches evenly between the other two DPNs.

Continue knitting thumb on DPNs in st st for 13 (14, 16) rnds or until it reaches the tip of your thumb. Final rnd: K2tog 7 (7, 8) times.

Just like the tip of the hand section, cut your yarn and use a yarn needle to thread it through all stitches, removing the DPNs as you go. Pull the yarn tight and thread it through the loops again before weaving in the yarn end.

Use the yarn tails to help close any gaps around the thumb. Turn the mitten inside out and weave in the remaining yarn tails before cutting them short.

Repeat for the opposite mitten and share your fresh creation with us below! I'm proud of you for completing this class. If you want more practice, I'm sure there's someone in your life who could use a new scarf, hat, or pair of mittens! Perhaps try mixing and matching techniques from the projects in this class, like striped mittens or a tube scarf knit on circular needles.

If you completed all four projects in this class, you are now an experienced beginner. You have practiced all the basics required to tackle most projects, and absorbed the vocabulary required to research new techniques on your own. The knitting world is your oyster!

If any of your projects didn't come out how you would like, just frog it and try again! Knitting is about the process just as much as the final product, and the more you practice, the better you'll get.

Here are some more knitting projects from the Instructables community that are now within your reach:

Easy Knit Dishcloth by Penolopy Bulnick

Easy Knitted Gramma Slippers by CraftyRex

Round Purple Dish Cloth by craftknowitall

I-Cord Snake by bdickson1

The Not-Moss-Stitch Circle Scarf by MissLivia

Simple Knit Pillow by bdickson1

Scheming some new creative knitting projects of your own? Consider writing your own Instructable about it, and enter one of our frequent contests!

Thank you for taking this class! Please share your feedback so I can improve this and future classes! And if you're a happy student, inspire another by sharing this class with a friend.

Class table of contents:

• Welcome to Knitting
• Cast On
• Knit Stitch
• Bind Off
• Purl Stitch
• Fixing Mistakes
• Pattern Abbreviations and Knitting Gauge
• Knitting in the Round
• Stitch Decreases and DPNs
• Stitch Increases
• Picking Up Stitches (you are here)