Knitting guide

How to pick up stitches in knitting: edges, necklines and sock gussets

Updated October 5, 2026 by Khokhar Sab

To pick up stitches, hold the work with the right side facing. Push the needle tip through the fabric one stitch in from the edge, wrap the yarn as if to knit and pull a loop through. Along a bound-off edge, pick up 1 stitch in each stitch. Along a side edge, pick up about 3 stitches for every 4 rows, because a stitch is wider than it is tall.

Neck edgings, button bands and sock heels all start the same way. You make new stitches along an edge you have already knit, then knit outward from it at a new angle. Where you put the needle and how many stitches you make decide whether the new piece lies flat.

Pick up vs pick up and knit

Patterns use both phrases. In Knitty, Theresa Vinson Stenersen explains that "pick up" can mean putting held stitches back on the needle. "Pick up and knit" means making new stitches with the working yarn. Stitch Diva draws the same line. Picking up places existing loops from the edge on a needle, and picking up and knitting pulls a new loop of yarn through each hole.

Stenersen notes that she had given the two phrases little thought until a knitter read "pick up" literally and gathered the edge loops with no yarn. When a pattern asks you to pick up stitches along an edge, the steps below make new stitches with working yarn. If it names stitches on a holder, slip those back onto the needle.

How to pick up stitches, step by step

1. Get the tools ready. La Visch Designs uses a circular needle 0.5 mm smaller than the body needle, with a crochet hook of a similar size. Kate Atherley suggests a hook or a smaller needle too, then switching back to the right size to knit.
2. Hold the right side toward you and start at the right end of the edge.
3. Insert the needle. Go one stitch in from the edge, under both legs of the edge stitch where you can. Stitch Diva works a full stitch in to hide jagged shaping.
4. Wrap and pull through. Wrap the yarn around the needle as if to knit and pull a loop to the front. That loop is your first new stitch. Leave a tail long enough to weave in.
5. Repeat along the edge, following the ratio for that kind of edge (below). Stay in the same column of stitches the whole way.
6. Count, then knit the first row. Theresa Vinson Stenersen knits the picked-up stitches through the back loop on the next row to tighten any loose ones.

Along a bound-off or cast-on edge

A horizontal edge is the simple one: 1 new stitch for each stitch. Knotions picks up in the row just below the bound-off row. Stitch Diva goes through the V of each stitch in that row. Along a cast-on edge, Cocoknits scoops one arm of each V just below the cast-on.

The neck of a top-down raglan is a cast-on edge. The sweater calculator casts on 40% of the body stitches there, so a neckband picked up one for one has exactly that many. At 20 stitches and 28 rows per 4 inches, with 3 inches of ease:

Every count is even, so all of them work for 1x1 rib. 2x2 rib needs a multiple of 4. La Visch Designs checks the total against the rib and adjusts it where needed. For a 37 inch chest the count is 80, which already works. For a 32 inch chest, pick up 72 or 68 instead of 70.

Along a side edge: 3 stitches for every 4 rows

A side edge runs along the rows, and a knit stitch is wider than it is tall. La Visch Designs points out that row gauge differs from stitch gauge. Pick up in every row and the band comes out too long, so it ruffles, as We Are Knitters warns. Pick up too few and Stenersen says the garment hangs from the band.

The sources agree on the idea and differ a little on the number:

• Stitch Diva picks up in 3 of every 4 rows unless the pattern says otherwise.
• Knotions uses 3 for every 4, and 2 for every 3 where that looks better.
• La Visch Designs gives about 2 for every 3 rows or 3 for every 4 for stockinette.
• We Are Knitters picks up 3 and skips 1, and changes the rhythm if the edge doesn't sit right.

La Visch Designs also gives a way to match your own fabric: divide your stitch gauge by your row gauge. At the calculator's default gauge that is 20 ÷ 28 = 0.71 stitches per row, between 2:3 (0.67) and 3:4 (0.75). Here is what each choice gives on edges of different lengths:

On a 16 inch cardigan front (112 rows), the two ratios differ by 9 stitches. That is enough to show as a ripple or a pull, so check your gauge first. The gauge guide shows how to count rows on a swatch.

If you lengthened the piece, Stenersen scales the pattern count. Multiply your measured length by the pattern stitch count, then divide by the pattern length. Her example: 18.25 inches × 100 stitches ÷ 16 inches = 114 stitches.

Spacing the stitches evenly

A long edge is hard to count in one go. Stenersen places markers at even spacing along the edge, then divides. In her example, 114 stitches over 6 sections makes 19 stitches per section. La Visch Designs marks the parts of a neckline with removable markers the same way.

When the count doesn't fit a neat ratio, work out a repeat. Say a 12 inch edge has 84 rows and your gauge calls for 60 stitches. You skip 24 rows in all. "Pick up 2, skip 1, pick up 3, skip 1" covers 7 rows and makes 5 stitches. Work it 12 times and you get 60 stitches exactly.

The arithmetic is the same as spreading increases across a row. The increasing evenly guide works through it by hand, and the increase and decrease calculator does it for any count.

Around a curve, such as a neckline

A neckline mixes edge types. La Visch Designs marks it into sections with removable markers. Cast-on or bound-off parts get 1 stitch per stitch. Diagonal parts shaped with decreases get about 2 for every 3 rows, or 3 for every 4.

Her top-down Hay tee shows why counting rows matters. The cast-on edges give 56 stitches across the back, 22 over each shoulder and 38 across the front. The pattern asked for 12 on each diagonal. A tighter gauge meant more rows, so the designer counted 24 rows and used 2 for 3, which gives 16 per diagonal.

On the decreased slopes, Stitch Diva stays one full stitch in from the edge to hide the jagged shaping. Cocoknits picks up first and then knits one row onto the pattern needle. On that row, knit 2 together or add stitches to reach the pattern count. For 2x2 rib, La Visch Designs decreases in the corners or moves the diagonals to the other ratio.

The neckband has to stretch over a head when you finish it, so bind it off loosely. The bind-off guide covers stretchy methods for necklines.

Avoiding holes

• Corners of a neckline. La Visch Designs picks up an extra stitch in the corners on both sides of the front, then decreases it away on the first round of the band.
• Loose loops. Stenersen pulls each loop through with a crochet hook one at a time. Collecting several on the hook loosens them. Knitting into the back loop on the next row tightens them too.
• Uneven edges. Stenersen and Knit and Note both stress working in one column of stitches for the whole edge. Atherley goes under both strands of the edge stitch for a firmer, tidier edge.

Picking up stitches for a sock heel gusset

On a top-down sock, you pick up along both sides of the heel flap after turning the heel. The flap usually has a slipped first stitch on every row. Kate Atherley explains the count in Knitty: "you need 1 stitch for every 2 rows". That means 1 stitch in each slipped edge stitch.

The sock calculator plans it that way. At 32 stitches and 44 rows per 4 inches with 10% negative ease:

For an 8 inch foot, the flap has 28 rows, so you pick up 14 stitches down each side. With the instep and the heel turn, that makes 72 stitches, and 8 decrease rounds bring you back to 56.

Atherley warns that stopping at the last slipped stitch leaves gaps at the top of the heel. She picks up 2 more stitches per side, but not in the corner, which she says makes the hole worse. Keep going in the same straight line, into the leg fabric above the flap. Knit and Note suggests picking up 1 or 2 stitches between the flap and the instep, so the two sources differ on where. Atherley's extra 4 stitches add 2 decrease rounds, 10 in all for an 8 inch foot. Atherley then knits one round, working the picked-up stitches through the back loop, before the decreases start.

Common questions

Do I pick up stitches with the right side or wrong side facing?

The right side. Atherley and We Are Knitters both pick up with the right side facing. Atherley shows the old edge hidden on the inside once the stitches are picked up.

What if I pick up the wrong number of stitches?

Fix it on the first row. Cocoknits knits 2 together or adds a stitch on that row until the count matches. For a sock gusset, Atherley says the exact number doesn't matter, because the gusset decreases stop at the foot count.

Can I use a crochet hook to pick up stitches?

Yes. Stenersen, Atherley and La Visch Designs all mention one. Pull one loop through at a time and move it to the knitting needle before making the next.

Sources and further reading

Theresa Vinson Stenersen covers pick up vs pick up and knit, button band math and markers in Techniques with Theresa: Picking Up Stitches in Knitty. Kate Atherley explains gusset counts and gaps in Sock Secrets: Top-down sock gussets, also in Knitty. La Visch Designs has a section-by-section neckline tutorial, and Knotions shows the 3 for 4 rhythm in Pick Up Stitches Evenly in Stockinette.

Video tutorial

"How to knit: Picking up Stitches" by WOOLANDTHEGANG, on YouTube. The video loads only when you press play.