Eyelet rows make a nice insertion frequently seen in pretty tops; (I used them on this top). They are very easy to work, and also let a knitter practice the elements of lace making without proceeding to full blow lace.
Described most briefly, an eyelet insertion row is worked by repeating (yo, k2 tog) groups across a row; this forms little holes. You might see directions like these:
- If you are knitting back and forth, the instructions for the eyelet row will say: Row 1: k1 * yo, k2 tog ; repeat from *.
- If you are knitting in the round, the instructions for the eyelet round will say: Round 1: * yo, k2 tog; repeat from *.
“Detailed enough!”, some may say. But I see “work yo in knitting” constantly in my referrer logs. So, here are illustrated directions for working the (yo, k2 tog) pairs. Bear in mind, I hold the yarn in my right hand when I knit. The button on my camera is also on the right side, and I find, I have to drop the yarn to take a photo! (I guess I could set up the tripod, and do this with time delay? Nah. I don’t think dropping the yarn is a big deal, since people all hold the yarn differently anyway; in contrast, the location of the yarn is the same for all knitters. )
Begin: You’ve just knit a stitch. I dropped the yarn and took a photo, which is above and to the left. Notice the yarn is in the back of the work, where you would want it if you were going to knit the next stitch stitch.
Now, bring yarn forward as to purl. I did this, then dropped the yarn and took a photo, which is above and to the right.
Next, take the yarn over the top of the right hand needle, and to back so the strand is in the position to knit. You have now finished working the “yarn over” part. The yarn will now be wrapped around the needle; the yarn is positioned to knit.
Now, on to the “k2 tog” part. Insert tip of right hand needle 2nd stitch on the left hand needle, and then continue pushing it through into first stitch on the left hand needle; yarn over in the normal fashion, as you would to knit through any stitch.
I dropped the yarn and took the picture shown to the right. Notice the slanted strand just to the right of the two stitches I’m about to knit through? That’s the official yarn over. It’s the yarn over they are talking about when the directions say “yo”. It creates an extra stitch you will knit into on the next round.
The yarn wrapped around the tip, and to the left of the stitches I’m about to knit through, is also, strictly speaking, a yarn over. Everyone forgets that’s also a yarn over, except when specifically describing the three individual steps involved in working a knit stitch. This can confuse some beginners, since some think the directions telling them to yarn over are just reiterating the yarn over required to knit a stitch. So, the “official yo” is the one not involved in forming an actual knit stitch, m’kay?
I spread my work out and took a snap shot to show how work will look after you have worked a series of “yo, k2 tog” groups. The slanted looking strands are created by the yarn overs; the more vertical ones are the k2 tog’s. Note that since the “k2 tog” turns 2 stitches into 1 stitch, and the “yo” is creates one stitch; the “yo, k2 tog” pair neither decreases nor increases stitches. If you count across the row, counting each strand as a stitch, you should end up with the same number of stitches you began with.
You’ll sometimes hear people say “k2 tog”s is a decrease that slants to the right; it’s a good time to learn what they mean. I didn’t take a close up photo, but if you work look carefully at your own work, you will notice that when you “k2 together”, the stitch on the left lies in front of the stitch on the right. If you need the stitches to “slant to the left” you must work and “SSK” ( aka “slip, slip knit”) type decrease.
(BTW: You can see the decorative effect of pairing “k2 tog” and “ssk” decreases by reading: “raglan paired decreases“. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a photo showing how to work the SSK; to work it, you slip a stitch knitwise, slip the next stitch knit wise. Then shove the left tip through both, yarn over and knit the stitch. If the decrease slants left, you’ll know you did it correctly. The purpose of the slipping was to change the twist on the stitches. )
I notice lots of people ask the following very natural question on email lists:
The answer is: Yes. Normally, you work into them. When counting stitches, and working the next row, the loop created by the yarn over is considered a stitch.
Occasionally, there are stitch patterns that involve dropping the yarn overs. In those cases, the pattern will specifically tell you to drop the yarn over.
Just to emphasize that you knit into the yarn overs, I took a photo while working the next row; That’s shown to the right. Notice I am knitting into the stitch (or gap) created by the yarn over. I will also knit into the stitch created by the yarn over. I’m knitting because I’m working stockinette in the round. If I were working stockinette back and forth, I’d purl into all stitches.
What will this look like? I took a photo after working the eyelet row, and the row after the eyelet row. I plan to thread a drawstring through those holes. It will be pretty!
If you are beginning to design your own things, you can consider adding one of these to any simple tank top. Thread a pretty ribbon through, and voila! It’s your own original design.
Edited May 4, 2005 to add link to lacey tube top pattern.
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[…] yarn around twice. (If you don’t know how to work a yo at all, read my article on knitting a row of eyelets..) Purling into the front of the 1st yo isn’t too confusing. Y […]
Pingback by The Knitting Fiend » Blog Archive » YO twice? (291 comments.) — 6/26/2005 @ 12:10 pm
I have a slip stitch mesh pattern that calls for wyif and wyib step. I a not sure i understand this step. how does the yarn get to the front or back of the stitch? I have just started this pattern, and I am a little confused. Please help!
Comment by phyllis collins (0 comments.) — 7/14/2005 @ 4:49 pm
Ahh! I haven’t taken a picture of this.
First, remember that when you purl, you bring the yarn forward before inserting the tip of the needle in a stitch. To slip “wyif” bring the yarn forward, as though you are going to purl, but then slip the stitch.
Now, when you knit you take the yarn back before inserting the tip of the needle into the stitch. So, to slip “wyib” bring the yarn back, as to knit, then slip the stitch.
Comment by lucia — 7/14/2005 @ 11:13 pm
I realized that, while I didn’t show picture of actually slipping stitches, I do explain this procedure in both blended stripes and barred stripes.
Comment by lucia — 7/16/2005 @ 8:02 am
Lucia, sorry this isn’t about knitting an eyelet row. My son is getting married and I found a lurex sweater set that I just love. Could I hire you to machine knit this for me out of Rowan’s Shimmer yarn? It is a very simple set - here is the link: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5870253/
If this doesn’t come out, I could email the photo to you.
Thanks
Cathy
Comment by Cathy (0 comments.) — 7/18/2005 @ 1:27 pm
does yo and yfrd mean the samae thing
Comment by jean bona (0 comments.) — 1/16/2006 @ 6:16 pm
Hi Jean,
You know what? I can’t answer that precisely. According to my Montse Stanley reference “yarn forward” (abbreviated ‘yfrd’ or ‘yf’) means taking the yarn front back to front under the needle, just as you would do when switching from knitting to purling.
However, having read loads of patterns, I have found that sometimes designers use the term to mean “yarn over backwards” or “yarn over”. So, you really need to check the pattern instructions. If the pattern was edited, the term should be defined.
It can also help to eyeball the pattern. If it’s obvious the designer intends for you to form a hole, they are using “yarn forward” to mean some sort of yarn over!
Comment by lucia — 1/16/2006 @ 7:27 pm
I was unsure what a true yarn over is, and if you work into it before a knit 2 together. Now I finally understand. Your directions are amazing and I am extremely grateful. I will use this site as reference material for my extremely impefect knitting. I wonder if SSK and SSSK are a form of torture. I think maybe it is. I cant tackle any increases besides yarn over, like knit into the front and back of a stitch. Thank goodness for the CD Rom Knitting made easy. I will be watching that alot. Thanks again.
Comment by Deborah Bargad (0 comments.) — 2/17/2006 @ 3:13 am
I’m trying to do an eyelet pattern and I could not figure for the life of me how the yo, k2tog didn’t continually decrease the row until it disappeared. thank you so much!
Comment by Vicki (0 comments.) — 3/1/2006 @ 8:37 am
Hey! Your directions rock! Thanks so much for exlaining this so clearly!
Now I do have another question, after the eyelet row, my sweater pattern says “Fold Hem in half at eyelet row and *pu 1 st from the CO edge and k tog with 1 st from the needle; rep from* to end”
I am knittig in the round, and am totally confused by the fold direction. Can you help?
Thanks so much!
Comment by Ellen (0 comments.) — 12/26/2006 @ 5:42 pm
After you knit the row: yo knit 2 together, I want to knit the next row but when I go to knit I can’t figure out where the stitches are and I don’t get round holes.
Comment by Judith Laskin (0 comments.) — 1/11/2007 @ 3:57 pm
I am just beginning to learn to knit in hopes of making prayer shawls for out sick and shut-ins. My question is this, in the pattern I am using it states that on row 9 K2, (yo, k2tog) to the 1st stitch before marker…..
Do I repeat everything in the parenthesis including the yo till I get tot he 1st stitch before the marker or do I forget about the yo and only repeat the k2tog until I reach the 1st stich before the marker? Would you be so kind as to give me a helping hand by emailing me at angelwings2_2001@yahoo.com
Thanks you for taking the time to offer me and my friends a helping hand. God bless.
Cherrin
Comment by Cherrin (0 comments.) — 5/8/2007 @ 8:47 pm
Hi, thanks for the great tutorial!
Just one thing - you’ve mentioned that some patterns call for the yarn over to be dropped on the next row - how do we do this?
Thanks!
Comment by Sophie Holt (0 comments.) — 8/14/2007 @ 4:39 am
I am making a baby dress with eyelets (specifically Debbie Bliss’s.) It’s the first time I have tackled eyelets and I seem to be having a problem. The pattern calls for
K1,[k2tog, yf, skpo] 20 times. 61 sts. I currently have 81 stitches on the needles and no matter how many times I try it I always end up with 62 stitches not 61. Am I truly doing something wrong or could this be a misprint in the pattern? (I’ve already checked for pattern revisions on the Debbie Bliss website and there are none.)I also did a practice row just casting on 21 stitches and then doing an eyelet row and I still ended up with an even number of stitches left after completing the row (16 sts.) Please help, I’m going crazy.
Comment by Lisa — 1/3/2008 @ 8:20 pm
UPDATE-
I’m so silly! I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve done and unraveled the eyelet row. I finally realized last night that I forget to PASS OVER the last stitch. I forgot to do it because by that time all the stitches are on the right needle, it looks like you’re done. Don’t forget to finish that last decrease!
Comment by Lisa — 1/4/2008 @ 8:19 am