You worked on that project for hours. It was used and loved but now you’ve found a hole! Never fear. You can fix a hole! There are a lot of techniques that can be used to fix a hole in your hand knitting, but we’re going to focus on the 2 techniques most related to knit stitches. Both techniques are a way of creating duplicate stitch over the offending hole. Small Hole Repair The first technique will work well for a small hole (of a couple stitches). You will need a yarn needle and yarn of the same weight as your original project. If you want the patch to blend in, make sure to use yarn that is as similar as possible to the original yarn used in your project. On the other hand, if you want to create a fun design on your project, you can use a contrasting color and a fun duplicate stitch pattern. Here I’ll be using Red Heart Super Saver in Pale Yellow to make a duplicate stitch over a small hole in a hat made with Turqua. Below you can see the hole. Thread the needle and find the knit loop just below the hole (the one that threatens to unravel all the way down the work). Put the needle through this loop from the INSIDE of the work to the outside. Then as seen in the image above, find the loop above of the hole and run your needle through that stitch. Here I’ve worked from right to left, but the orientation really shouldn’t matter). Draw up this duplicate stitch and you’ve stopped the hole from “traveling” (or getting any bigger). Now that you have stopped the hole from growing, you can add decorative elements around it (if you are using a contrasting color) or just stabilize a few of the other stitches around the hole to make sure your “patch” will stay in place. Cut your yarn ends and weave in and voilà! No more hole! Large Hole Repair This second technique can be used for a hole that is a bit bigger, something that might be a few stitches across and span a couple of rows. For this technique you will need 2 double point needles and a yarn needle, as well as yarn as described above. First you will pick up stitches below the hole with one double point needle. Next you will knit the from the needle. I’m using a contrasting color so that you can really see the patch I’m creating, but most likely, you will want to use a yarn that is the same or similar as your original project. You will need to cut the length of yarn after knitting (if not before) because now you will thread your yarn needle and work a few duplicate stitches into the project to attach the sides of the patch to the work. Work a few duplicate stitches on the row you just completed and on the row above it. Now purl across the stitches on your needle. Continue working in this way, knitting and purling across the needle and adding duplicate stitches on the fabric at the ends of the rows, until you have worked a patch big enough to cover the entire hole. Once your patch is big enough, use the 2nd double point to pick up stitches across the top of the hole. Graft the stitches together using the kitchener stitch. The patch is much less obvious if you use the same yarn as the original project.
