Picking Up Stitches From a Garter Selvedge

Modular construction in garter stitch often requires picking up stitches along a selvedge, and patterns using garter in multiple directions will usually ask you to slip the first or last st of every row to make it easier to pick up stitches later. The only problem is that the slipped stitches leave a noticeable ridge on the wrong side of the work after picking up for the next section – this is fine for items with a definitive right side, like cowls, sweaters, mitts and hats, but not so good for shawls and blankets, or anything where you can see and feel the wrong side of the work. My preferred method in these cases is to knit every stitch of every row, and then pick up one strand from each purl bump itself. It’s not as easy as picking up an oversize slipped stitch, but it creates a cleaner finish. Here’s how to do it:

If you look at the selvedge (the edge that is created as you knit) of a piece of garter fabric, you can see there are well defined bumps right on the edge that rise a little higher than the garter ridge they are attached to.

With the right side of your work facing you, pick up the very top loop of yarn in each purl bump along the selvedge – this will give you one stitch for every two rows.

If your yarn is slippery and your gauge is loose, you can do this with your working needle by just picking up the top loop and knitting into it…

…but it is often easier to use a smaller gauge circular needle or dpn to pick up all the necessary stitches, then slide the picked up sts to the other end of the needle and knit them with your working needle..

On the right side, the transition to the newly picked up stitches is quite seamless…

…and on the wrong side, there is a single garter ridge where the stitches were picked up.