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Dropped Stitch Knitting
Dropped stitch knitting or drop-stitch knitting can sound like you are making mistakes and sometimes dropping stitches is a bad thing, as a hole or run is the result. Sometimes you can use the look of a dropped stitch on purpose to make really fun design and to make lacy looking work on purpose. It's very easy to do and makes a great look for accessories such as scarves, and other items that don't have to be a solid piece of knitting.
Dropped stitch knitting is very easy to incorporate in your ordinary knitting and to make a dropped stitch, act as if you're going to make a knit or purl stitch as normal, but instead of just wrapping the yarn around the needle once, wrap it two or three times. You can repeat this procedure on each stitch across a row if you like, but when you get to the next row, just knit or purl stitch as normal and slide the extra wraps off the needle. You are effectively dropping stitches on purpose. Repeat this procedure on as many rows as you like, but always give the work a gentle tug to straighten out the dropped stitches as you go along. A row of dropped stitches looks really great and makes your work look like you have really long knit stitches. It essentially gives an open look to your work .
Patterns that use dropped stitch knitting generally means you have to knit a couple of plain rows on either side of the dropped stitch rows to add stability and structure to the finished piece of work. You can also add dropped stitches as a design element and make plain project seem more interesting. It certainly adds imagination to the work and is not at all challenging really but the effort makes a real difference to the finished look of your finished knitted piece. Knitting is all about using your imagination and you can certainly make up your own unique knitted items so don't be afraid to drop stitch knit and give it a go.
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