Go Loopy with Your Knitting Stitches

If you’re like me, you’ve tried all kinds of knitting stitches but are still always on the lookout for new and different stitches to try. That’s how I came across this stitch – loop knitting. It’s fun; it’s different and it gives your knitting projects a great new twist.

Loopy Knitting Stitches

Loop knitting is one of the creative, new knitting stitches that I’ve been trying lately. When you make this stitch, you end up with loops of yarn sticking out from your knitted fabric. It’s great to give a knitted garment an overall faux fur effect or you can use it to trim the collar and cuffs of a knitted sweater or top. There are two different methods of loop knitting. The first is the single loop method and the second is the cluster loop. The single loop is just like it sounds — one loop per stitch and you can cut the loop to give the faux fur look. The cluster loop knitting is three loops per stitch but you can’t cut the loops.

Single loop is an easy stitch to do but there are a few things to remember:

— Don’t work loops into your seam allowances — it gets in the way when you sew the garment together. — Don’t use loop knitting on baby garments — they can get their little chubby fingers caught in the loops. — Only work the loops on alternate rows — this way the loops will only be on the outside of the garment. If you put loops on the inside, no one will see them and it will only add bulk. If you’re like me, adding bulk to your body isn’t a good thing. — You can adjust how dense your loops are by stitching them in every stitch or every other stitch for different effects.

Sound good? Here are the instructions for the single loop stitch:

1. On the right side of the fabric, knit to the position for the first loop. Knit the next stitch but do not drop it from your left needle. 2. Bring the yarn to the front between the two needles. 3. Take the yarn around your left thumb in a clockwise direction and then take it to the back between the two needles. 4. Take your right needle from left to right behind the front of the first stitch on your left needle (this is the stitch you already knitted into before making a loop around your thumb). 5. Finish knitting the stitch, slipping it onto your right needle. 6. Slip the first two stitches on your right needle back onto your left needle. 7. Take your right needle from right to left through the back of both stitches on your left needle. 8. Complete the knit stitch, knitting both stitches together. You now have the same number of stitches that you started with. 9. Repeat steps 1-8 across the row for the desired number of loops. 10. Turn your work and stitch across the wrong side without forming any loops. 11. Work the next row and every alternate row with the desired number of loops. 12. When the knitting is finished, cut the loops or leave uncut. This really is an easy stitch to do. So next time you get bored with your knitting, go loopy with your knitting stitches and try loop knitting.