How to Fix a Dropped Stitch in a Round of Tunisian Crochet (Advanced Tunisian Workshop Week 4)
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It happens to the best of us… you’re going along, Tunisian Crocheting in the Round and you drop some loops from your hook. While this isn’t exactly a pleasant occurrence, it doesn’t have to ruin the day either. Learn how to pick up dropped stitches when working Tunisian Crochet in the Round with this in-depth, video tutorial.
How to Fix a Dropped Stitch in a Round of Tunisian Crochet
In WEEK ONE of the Advanced Tunisian Crochet Workshop we learned how to fix a dropped stitch in a project worked using flat Tunisian crochet rows. This week we are learning how to do the same thing… but when working in the round. The double ended hook adds a whole new dimension, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to fix your work, and salvage what you can, with ease!
During this 6-week-long workshop we are learning all there is to know about more in-depth Tunisian crochet techniques and next-level tips. I hope you’re loving it so far! See all of the information, materials, etc in this post.
The goal of this tutorial is to preserve as much of your work as possible. When I first really started getting into Tunisian crochet, or more specifically when I started designing this Tunisian Sunrise Tank Top pattern, I thought that if you lost a stitch or two you just had to keep ripping out your stitches until you found a starting point to insert your hook and to re-crochet them. When crocheting rounds that have hundreds of stitches… well, it sucks. ☹️
There’s nothing worse than frogging your work not because of a mistake in your stitching, but simply because the hook didn’t snag the loop fully. Let’s learn how to remedy that today.
As with the other method (worked flat) the first rule is to not panic. The second rule is to calmly assess the situation. Because of the way that Tunisian in the Round is worked, you can’t just pick up the lost stitches like you can when working flat rows that we learned in week 1 of the workshop here, as in method #1.
If you are almost to the end of a Backward Pass when the dropped stitches occur (say, 15 stitches or less) it may be quicker to simply frog them all.
To do this, remove your hook from the remaining handful of Forward Pass stitches, frog back until you can clearly see the two defined loops for each ball of yarn: the Forward Pass (Color A) and the Backward Pass (Color B). When you frog enough that you can easily insert your hook into those two loops, simply pick it back up and continue on. See this method in action in the video tutorial below.
If you have a lot of stitches left on your Forward Pass you definitely want to preserve as many of them as you can. The bad news is that simply re-inserting your hook into those stitches will not work. We will need to re-crochet those stitches to incorporate them back into play. The good news is that it really isn’t that difficult!
First you need to make sure that all of the remaining (in-tact) Forward Pass stitches are securely on the cabled hook. Simply slide all of the stitches remaining in the round to the cabled hook you’re using for the project. Set it aside, or get it out of the way as much as you can.
Grab another crochet hook (could be a regular hook with a long enough shaft or another Tunisian crochet hook in a similar size) and prepare to repair. Gently pull the Backward Pass loop so that it does not come more undone.
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Flip the project over, insert your extra crochet hook into that Backward Pass loop, and pull the dropped Forward Pass yarn strand up and out of the stitches. Now you’ll simply re-crochet the dropped stitches using the Forward Pass yarn. As in the flat tutorial, it is important to stay a bit on the loose side when adding them.
When you pick up all of the loops that you dropped, it is time to transfer the stitches back onto the cabled hook. Move the “Backward Pass” end of the cabled hook back to the area of repair. Gently transfer each loop over to the original crochet hook.
Voila! Once all fixed loops have been added to the cabled hook, remove the extra hook, slide the stitches back down so you can flip the project back over and continue on with the Backward Pass. Check out the video tutorial for both methods below…
Tunisian Dropped Stitch Video Tutorial (worked in Rounds):
If you would rather watch this video on YouTube you can find it on my channel here. Don’t forget to subscribe while you’re there! 😉
That’s it! Not as hard as it sounds, and will no doubt save not only time but sanity. Stay tuned for NEXT week when we learn all of the various ways to increase in Tunisian Crochet.
More Tunisian and crochet tutorials:
How to Fix a Dropped Stitch in a Flat Row of Tunisian Crochet (Advanced Tunisian Workshop Week 1)
How to Crochet the Tunisian Half Double Crochet Stitch
Complete Guide to Changing Colors in Tunisian Crochet (Advanced Tunisian Workshop Week 2)
Tiny Clusters Tunisian Crochet Tutorial
