LIFELINES – NOT ONLY FOR LACE

We’ve been thinking about lifelines here a lot at Winnies. Not the ones on parachutes and for mountain climbing but ones that can be far more important when you are knitting. Lifelines are usually used when you are knitting lace and are simply a fine thread which you thread through your live stitches on a particular row. Once it is in place you continue knitting as usual making sure not to knit into the lifeline thread. It’s always a good idea to put a note on your pattern noting what row you put the lifeline in. This means that if you make a big mistake you can rip your work back down to the lifeline and it will be much easier to put the stitches back on to your needles all on the same row and all facing the same way.  Believe me, having knitted a lot of lace we know from experience how one little thread can save you a lot of heartache.

But the great thing about lifelines is that they can be used for any type of knitting to ensure that a mistake won’t mean you have to completely rip out your work. If you are knitting a pattern and are not confident about the next step, (this could be as you start to turn the heel on a sock or trying out a stitch pattern to see if you like it). Pop in a lifeline, then you can carry on knowing that if you make a mistake, you can go back to where you know everything was right. Just remember to note what row you put it in.

Now that you have a safety net, off you go, be brave and experiment. And remember that Addi lace needle cords have a little hole where you put the thread through so that when you knit your row it automatically pulls the thread through your stitches. Ingenious!

So now you know the secret of worry free knitting, be brave and have a go at that pattern that always made you nervous. You can do it.