How to: unpick your work by tinking

This funny word is ‘knit’-ting in reverse, for when you spot a mistake in your current row and have to unpick stitches to get to the point where you can fix the mistake. It’s pretty easy, and well worth the trouble to keep your knitting pattern right.

If you notice that you have transferred the stitch in the wrong orientation, swap it between the needles to twist it the right way before working it into the row again.

You’ll undo your knitting stitch by stitch and transfer your stitches back from the right-hand needle to the left-hand needle, ready to reknit. For knit stitches, with yarn at the back, insert the left-hand needle from front to back into the loop below the stitch on the right-hand needle, then slide off the stitch from the right-hand needle and pull out the yarn from this stitch. For purl stitches, with yarn at the front, insert the left-hand needle from front to back into the loop below the stitch on the right-hand needle, then slide off the stitch from the right-hand needle and pull out the yarn from this stitch.