Patching Holes

Kitsune nestled between our computers

I don't have any exceptionally witty words today.  

We are still getting used to the new "normal" around here.

The cats are happy that everyone is home and check on us constantly.  There are four monitors on the table and various other devices that are warm and lovely to curl up against.

Hubby is working from home and I am so thankful to his company for working so hard to put this in place in such a short amount of time.  We are able to co-exist and work on our separate jobs while being together and that is really nice.  More time with my hubby is always a blessing!

For the most part, we have quarantined ourselves.  This is a decision that we came to together as the news gets more serious.  The only time we leave the house is to get food and most of that we get delivered.

I have moved all my visits to FaceTime, Discord or a phone call.  I like FaceTime best because you don't seem so removed from people when you can see them.  I try and text and check in on friends and family on a regular basis.  It is vital to have connections of some sort in this crisis.

There are new closures each day of things that we took for granted as being part of our normal.  MD Sheep & Wool for instance just canceled for the first time in 47 years.  

There will be more of these kinds of announcements in the days to come.  While it is sad, at the same time, it is what needs to be done to keep people safe.  

Remember all the times you said if you just had some time you would (fill in the blank)?  Well, now you can do that thing you wanted to.

I know that I have a bunch of things like that.  I've really struggled with the Basement.  But since I worked through the fear thing, I have cleaned up a whole bunch of it and reclaimed scads of yarn I didn't know that I had.  I hope to get a lot more done during this quarantine time.  

Also, there is knitting.  So much knitting.  I can't seem to stay focused so I keep working on new things and not finishing the last project.  I am trying to focus on them instead of the fear that is hard to ignore right now.  But for me, I already work at home.  So the only thing that has changed is hubby is home and we don't leave the house. 

I hope you and yours will continue to be safe and healthy. 🙏

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Duplicate stitch is a technique that is usually used to cover existing stitches to add a design like a name to a Christmas stocking.

It can also be used to repair holes or to rebuild areas where the yarn has been damaged.

Yarn

Use a yarn that is the same weight as the yarn of your fabric.  

Tools

A blunt yarn needle

stitch holder

crochet hook

dpns

(you might not need all of these but it is good to have them on hand instead of needing to run and get them while you are in the midst of fixing your knitting)

If you look at stockinette, the front has little vees.  Each vee has a point at the bottom and two points at the top, kinda like a heart.  These are the sections that make up a stitch.

the left side of the stitch    \ /     the right side of the stitch

the bottom of the stitch

Duplicate Stitch:

Cut off a generous amount of yarn and thread your needle.

*

Insert the needle up through the work from the back to the front for the first stitch just under the bottom of the knit stitch that you wish to cover.

Find the vee that is above your vee and go under the right and left side of the stitch.  This will make the right side of the stitch that you wish to cover.

Then take the needle back through the same place as your beginning stitch.  This covers the left side of the stitch and you have completed a stitch.  

*

Repeat the procedure between the ** for all the stitches you need to cover.

You can see that all you are doing is following the path of the stitches.

Don’t pull anything too tightly or leave it too loose.  Try to keep your tension even.  

If you are making more then one stitch, you have four directions you can go: up, down, left or right.  Think of your stitch like the center of a cross.

X

X V X

X

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If you have a hole from say, a yarn over that should not have happened, don’t despair, duplicate stitch can fix that too.

Note:  A yarn over that created a new stitch that added a stitch to your knitting will create a new yarn column.  If the yarn over is just down a few rows, this can be fixed by dropping the stitch off your needle and unraveling just that stitch until it disappears.  Then, gently tug on your knitting to eat up the extra yarn.

So here is my hole.

First I want to identify the bottom and top stitches of my hole by some means.  I used dpns.

Then, I want to insert my needle up through the work from the back to the front just under the bottom of vee of the knit stitch my dpn is holding.

The top dpn is a placeholder for the stitch I need to go through that forms the right leg of my stitch.  I removed the dpn after making the needle pass.

After finishing the stitch by bringing the needle back through the bottom of the stitch, I removed the last dpn and this is what my duplicate stitch looks like.

This is what it looks like in the same yarn.  The dpn is pointing to the stitch.  This new stitch will be a little out of place since it was created by the yarn over but there will be no hole in your knitting.

Next week knitting with a bias.

Thanks for reading!

If you have any questions regarding this or any of my other tutorials, please feel free to leave a question in the comments.

Happy crafting!

Ruinwen

😀