02/08/2026
When I was teaching in New York, I got a lot of questions about picking up around gussets (and I decided to develop a class on it too, so stand by!) in the interim, I thought I’d pop this up here again, where I show picking up extra stitches. In this reel, I have stitches held on my spare needle and then I’ve used the backwards loop method to cast on the same number of stitches. This is similar to what you’d see for an underarm. When I go back to pick up from that cast-on, I’ll lose a stitch because I’m going to be knitting in the opposite direction. So I am picking up and knitting an extra stitch at either end of the cast-on to help close the gaps and bring my stitch count back up. Later I can always decrease that extra stitch out if I want. To pick up and knit that extra stitch on either end, I’ve used the purl bump of the stitch right next to the cast-on. If I were to use a leg of the stitch, it would tend to stretch out and leave a hole, but a lifted increase is much lower profile and works well as a transition here. Then I’m picking up one stitch at the top of each column of Vs in the cast-on. To completely hide that cast-on, I’m going through the exact center of the stitch which means I’m basically creating a two strand purl bump from the cast-on row. Finally I work the stitches off the spare needle, and I’m ready to knit in the round! Was this helpful? Let me know in the comments - I love to hear from you 🧡🧶
Sending out calm, peace, and kindness to you all. Hold your dear ones close 🐈⬛ 💙🌈 🕊️
