This technique was originally posted on March 13th, 2012

This video knitting tutorial will help you learn how to use a lifeline when knitting lace. A lifeline is a piece of waste yarn that allows you to rip back your stitches when you make a mistake. Since it can be difficult to rip out stitches when making mistakes in lace knitting, a lifeline will allow you to start at the beginning of a repeat, rather than start all over. This technique is a good practice when working with complicated (or not so complicated) lace patterns.

Skill: Easy

Instructions:

Step 1: Take a waste piece of yarn and thread it through a tapestry or darning needle.
Step 2: At the beginning of a new lace repeat, thread the waste yarn through the stitches currently on your main needle.

Once you have completed a few repeats of your lace pattern, remove the lifeline and re-insert it further up.

If you make a mistake, just remove your knitting needle and rip out the stitches until you reach the lifeline. The lifeline will keep you from pulling out anymore stitches than required.

Example of a Lifeline in a lace project

music in video is from demo 2008 by (Latchxe9 Swing) / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0