DO I HAVE TO PICK UP THOSE STITCHES???

Picking up stitches around a neck edge or armhole or even an afghan isn't as hard as it sounds. There are ways to make this #@!*%@ task and easy one!!

Let's say you have a neck edge to pick up. Instructions read something like this: With right side facing, pick up 16 stitches along the left front edge, 30 stitches along front and 16 stitches on the right side.

So, how do you pick up 16 stitches if you have more than 16 rows? Well, the easiest way to do this is to divide your front edge in half by folding it in half and placing a pin or stitch marker at the mid point. Then you can pick up 8 stitches before the marker and 8 stitches after the marker. The same holds true for the front: fold it in half, place a marker at the mid point and pick up 15 stitches before the marker and 15 stitches after the marker. I can't stress to you how much easier and more uniform this looks!

Say you have an afghan that needs crochet edges and you have to crochet 100 stitches along the edge (we're only going to use this one side as a demonstration.) Fold the afghan in half, place a marker at the halfway point. Then fold the half in half and place a marker at that mid point, then do this again on the other half. You should now have 3 markers. So you now are going to pick up 25 stitches in each of the 4 sections making your crochet journey a much, much easier one!

Picking up and knitting these stitches will become easier each time you have to do it. Some people use a crochet hook to pick up their stitches and then transfer them to their needle. I like to eliminate the middle man (actually the crochet hook) and just pick up and knit with the knitting needle!

Also, when you are picking up your stitches, make sure that you are picking up both the front and back loop of the stitch. If you only pick up one of them, the stitch won't be secure enough--as a matter of fact, it even will be loose.

Hoping that picking up stitches will be a lot easier for you! It truly will be a better experience when you have a little bit of help along the way!!

HAPPY STITCHING, my friends!!