Despite painstaking efforts, mistakes in purl stitches can sometimes become unavoidable. Luckily, there are several methods that you can follow to solve such errors. But frogging and tinking are the best methods for undoing your purl stitches.
And these two processes are what exactly I’ll be talking about in the scope of this article. Spoiler alert, none of them is a hard nut to crack. So, no matter your level of expertise, you will get a clear perspective on how to undo purl stitches.
What Is Tinking Method and Frogging Method in Purl Stitch?
One of the most necessary knitting tricks is tinking, as you can undo your mistakes with it. Even though it is the safest way to deal with your knitting whoopsies, it becomes a hit-and-miss when your error is several long rows down.
Generally, tinking is the best way to deal with mistakes on the same row or one row below. Besides, if you’ve got the pattern tangled with lacework, you cannot unravel your missteps with it.
Tinking does not provide good results when the error is spread more than four rows down. In such circumstances, frogging is the way to go. Generally, frogging means ripping out your knot. And although it is a simple process, it can be pretty tiresome at times.
Guide to Undo Purl Stitches – Steps Describing
As stated earlier, I have provided detailed pathways whether you choose one over the other or both if necessary.
Depending on the position of the mistake, you have to tink stitches, either from left to right or vice versa. Speaking of that, let’s see what steps to follow.
1. Mark the Mistake
As soon as you find the mistake, pause knitting. It is better to mark the error with a locking stitch marker or a safety pin. Otherwise, you may end up unraveling a correct stitch. Yet, if the error is visible clearly, you can skip this step.
2. Tink from Left to Right
When you have to unravel a stitch in the middle of the row, it is better to start from left to right.
Step 1
Stretch out the working yarn to the left to open the mother stitch. For those unaware, the mother stitch is the one that is underneath the first stitch on your right needle.
Step 2
Next off, insert the tip of the left needle from front to back into the mother stitch.
Step 3
Pull the first stitch off the right needle to unroll the yarn.
3. Tink from Right to Left
If you did not find the mistake in the first place but noticed it shortly after finishing the row, it will be better to tink from right to left. This process is almost similar to the unraveling of the middle row stitch process. However, you will have to follow the steps in reverse order.
Step 1
First, you should stretch out the working yarn to the right to open the mother stitch.
Step 2
After doing the first step, insert the tip of the right needle from back to front into the mother stitch.
Step 3
Loosen the first stitch off the right needle to unroll the yarn.
You must repeat the three steps as long as you don’t reach the bungling spot.
A Guide to Frogging
Simply put, frogging is a kind of knitting surgery. So, carefully follow the steps below to achieve the best possible outcome.
Step 1
Once you find out the mistake, the first thing to do is take the needle out of your knitting.
Step 2
The most crucial part is that before starting the frogging process, put your work straight on the table. It provides you with a clear view of the stitches.
Step 3
Sometimes, the error might be hardly visible. In that case, it would be better to mark the mistaken part to avoid a further blunder. It is easy to stain it with a stitch marker or a safety pin.
Step 4
Next, you have to rip out the stitches until it reaches the mistaken part. In this case, you have to pull the yarn to unravel the stitches. If you want to unswap the remaining stitches, there is a systematic way to unroll them. Take a look at the below picture for more details.
Step 5
Be conscious while you are ripping out. Stop pulling out yarn as soon as you come to the bungling spot.
Step 6
This step is almost the same as tinking. Start unraveling the stitches of this row one by one and sweep them with your needle right away. When you pick the stitches up from left to right, insert the tip of the left needle into a stitch from front to back. Similarly, insert the tip of the right needle into a stitch from back to front while picking up stitches from right to left.
Step 7
Finally, count the stitches to ensure that you do not lose or drop any of them.
Find out your current working row and start knitting again.
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
Will undoing purl stitch spoil my knitting project?
Not at all. By knitting and frogging, you can undo your purl stitch with zero signs there was ever a stitch before. So, both methods are far less likely to spoil your stuff. Moreover, after unraveling your mistake, you can start knitting again without having any signs of undoing the purl stitch.
Which method is better for undoing purl stitch?
Though both tinking and frogging serve the same purpose more or less, tinking is better for errors on the same row or one row below. On the contrary, frogging is a must for more than four rows below mistakes. Hence, both are equally good, depending on the scenario.
Conclusion
No harm will be done if you mess up while knitting purl stitch. That is, you can solve things with the help of Tinking and then give it another shot. Nevertheless, if the error happens four rows below, I suggest you go with frogging. Both are advantageous and simple to do.
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