Lifeline woes!

[afuna]

I love the idea of lifelines, and I've used them before in projects with a thicker weight. This time though, I'm making a very lacy shawl in laceweight yarn, used a lifeline of dental floss, and I'm running into problems.

Yesterday, I found a dropped stitch that had fallen some five rows back. While debugging that, I found another error in the repeat just above my lifeline. So much relief! I ripped back fifteen rows to my lifeline, and then realized that the dental floss wasn't holding the shape of the loops well enough.

It's not an issue with the lifeline having been picked up along with the stitch; the lifeline was sliding back and forth in a straight line before! It's more like the loop of the stitch has been pulled out of the stitch below, though they're still being held together by the lifeline. The lifeline ends up being twisted around one of the strands, and then becomes untwisted if I pick up both stitches and make the knit/purl for that row.

I'm three stitches in, and it feels like it would be a lot more pleasant to frog everything and just restart, but I want to make sure I don't run into the same thing with lifelines in the future.

Is it possible to use a stiffer material for a lifeline? Say an interchangeable circular cord, or maybe some wire?

Comments

[roil64]

I actually only use circular cords as lifelines as I have run into the same problem! Good Luck!

[afuna]

Oooh, do you just thread the cord through the live stitches on a purl row?

[roil64]

Honestly never paid attention to whether it was a knit or purl row, I just thread it right along the live stitches and make sure the cord is plenty long enough or that you have the little endcaps so your stitches don't fall off!

[indeliblesasha]

I use scrap yarn of the same weight I'm knitting, in an obviously different color. I run only through purl rows, because then, for me, I know exactly what the stitch should look like as I take it off the line. :) Good luck!

[afuna]

Thank you!

And it just struck me that I could have used crochet thread, which is what I usually use, even if the thread would be thicker than the yarn for this particular project.

[cme]

I use crochet thread as a lace lifeline all the time.

But I also wanted to suggest that lace is really malleable, so if this happens, you can tie one end of your lifeline to something, hold the other end so the lifeline is taught, and tug gently on your knitting to reshape the stitches that your lifeline goes through. This will pull the loops you made with your needle back into a place where they can be grabbed by your needle.

[afuna]

Oooh I bet I could have salvaged my previous lace panel that way. Too late now, but if I'm ever in that situation again, that's the first thing I'm going to try >_>

[silverceri]

I tend to use embroidery floss.

[afuna]

Ooh now there's a thought. I know I have some leftovers from old cross stitch projects. Just need to dig them up again. Thank you!

[medicalmouse]

I use either my interchangeable cables or a piece of scrap yarn in a similar weight. I prefer the cables, though, since with the yarn I'll occasionally get the same problem you have here. I would think that something like floral wire might work too, although I've never tried it personally.

[afuna]

It is very reassuring to hear that I'm not the only one who has had trouble with using yarn as a lifeline! Most of the tutorials prefer the scrap yarn method over everything else, and I've been feeling incredibly inept that I couldn't make it work in the lace project (where I really needed it *g*)

I'm considering some jewelry wire that I found that's lying around unused...

[tephra]

I generally use #30 cotton crochet thread. Unless I'm using a needle smaller than a US#4, I'm likely using my KnitPicks interchangeables so the hole for the key makes it really easy to put a life line in as I knit. I've been tempted to try fishing line since it has more body, but that might be easier to put in after I knit/purl the row rather than trying to feed it along with my knitting using the keyhole trick.

[aedifica]

Oooh! That solves a problem for me, thanks! I tried to put a lifeline in my current project, but I kept accidentally sewing it *into* the yarn, which doesn't work so well. That key hole, though... that would fix it!

[tephra]

The key hole trick is so much easier. I generally just leave a 10-12" tail pulled through and knit normally, but for very long rows (500+ stitches) or grabby yarn (or both) I recommend tying the life line to the needle. I didn't once and picking up the lifeline and feeding it through the 100 or so stitches needed to catch up with my needle and tie it on was a pain.

[afuna]

I love the keyhole trick :D It's MAGIC.

[afuna]

Oooh fishing line *takes notes*

I've just tried taking some jewelry wire, and wrapping it twice around my needle, and then knitting normally. It slowed me down a bit, but not enough that I regret doing it. I wonder if fishing line would work the same way?

It does make the needle a bit thicker for just the row of the lifeline, but that is less of an issue with, say, a shawl...

[dhae_knight_1]

I'm knitting socks from Cat Bordhi's 'Insouciant', so I've experimented a lot with life-lines. I've used scrap yarn (soft and flexible, doesn't hold the shape of the stitches well), floral wire (good at holding the stitches, bur stiff and unyielding, making it hard to knit the next round) and, lately, circular needles (excellent at holding the shape, pliable enough that knitting the next round isn't hard - only trouble is it can be fiddly feeding the regular needle back into the stitches on top of the circular cable).

Obviously, I can only speak to this in socks, but it works likea charm, and never shows in the knitting later.

[afuna]

Thank you! very nice breakdown of the effects of various materials. I've gotten a couple good recs for things to try out.

I tried circular needles, and I ran into the fiddliness, but I might try it again on a lace project with bigger needles (mine are only 3.5mm right now as compared to my smallest needles which are 2mm; it might be looser comparatively with a larger needle?)

[hugh_mannity]

You could use fishing line, which is similar to the cable of interchangeable needles. You might find heavier gauge cable at a hardware or hobby store.

[afuna]

Thank you for that recommendation!

[aunty_marion]

I've used embroidery cotton - the Perlé cotton (I think it's No.5?) as lifelines on laceweight with great success. It's firm enough to hold the stitches properly, and doesn't stick to the main yarn at all (which can be a problem with some yarns!). It works on socks, too.

I had two in my Hex shawl at the points where it was possible to insert one - there are two places in the pattern of P one row, K one row, P one row, so I inserted it after the knit row where it wouldn't interfere with the lace pattern. And I had about 6 lifelines, eventually, in my Traveling Woman (on row 8 of the pattern repeat, which is suggested as a good place), because I did 10 repeats of the pattern.

[afuna]

Thank you :) I thought about using leftover sock yarn briefly, but kicked that notion out of my head once I remembered that wool would stick to wool, and probably leave me crying >_>

[rileybear67]

I'm going to ask because I don't know...

What is a lifeline and why would you use one? Is it something like the scrap yarn used in a provisional cast-on?

[afuna]

There are a couple of good comments describing lifelines / how to use them above, but let me try:

A lifeline is a length of material threaded through stitches, and used to help recover in case of mistakes. It may be inserted either during the row, or after knitting the row.

It works by "holding" the loops of the row. If you drop a stitch and it runs down several rows of complex knitting, or you notice a problem several rows later, it's sometimes faster and easier to rip back several rows worth of knitting, instead of tinking back one stitch at a time. So a lifeline ideally lets you rip back those rows, and then make it easier to pick up the stitches from the lifeline back onto the needle.

Like scrap yarn in a provisional cast on, you're meant to remove it in the end, yup!

[rileybear67]

Thanks. That makes sense.