knitting Knitting is a method by which yarn is manipulated to create a textile, or fabric. It is used to create many types of garments. Knitting may be done by hand or by machine. Knitting creates stitches: loops of yarn in a row, either flat or i ...

, a yarn over is technique in which the

yarn Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manu ...

is passed over the right-hand

knitting needle A knitting needle or knitting pin is a tool in hand-knitting to produce knitted fabrics. They generally have a long shaft and taper at their end, but they are not nearly as sharp as sewing needles. Their purpose is two-fold. The long shaft ' ...

. In general, the new loop is knitted on the next row, either by itself (producing a hole) or together with an adjacent stitch (e.g., in "tucked" slip stitches). The yarn-over may also be dropped on the next row, producing a longer stretch of yarn between the stitches of the previous row. Conversely, the effect of a yarn-over can be obtained by picking up the yarn between stitches of the previous row; the difference is that the yarn then is shorter, and the flanking stitches of the previous row may be overly drawn together. The term "yarn-over" refers only to the act of wrapping the yarn around the needle, and not to the working of the next existing stitch. Yarn-overs are often used to increase the number of stitches, since knitting a yarn-over creates a new stitch where none existed previously, but does not use up a stitch on the needle. Yarn-overs are also common in eyelet and

lace knitting Lace knitting is a style of knitting characterized by stable "holes" in the fabric arranged with consideration of aesthetic value. Lace is sometimes considered the pinnacle of knitting, because of its complexity and because woven fabrics cannot e ...

, since they produce stable holes in the fabric. Yarn-overs are also used to slip stitches neatly without having to pass the yarn in front or back. Instead, a yarn-over is done adjacent to the slipped stitch, and the two are knit together on the following row. Thus, the yarn is "tucked away" by passing ''over'' the slipped stitch, rather than in front or back. This is the basis for

brioche knitting Brioche knitting is a family of knitting patterns involving tucked stitches, i.e., yarn overs that are knitted together with a slipped stitch from the previous row. Such stitches may also be made by knitting into the row below (equivalent to the ...

. There are several types of yarn-over, depending on how many times the yarn is wrapped around the

and on the direction (chirality) with which the yarn is wrapped. Normally, the yarn is wrapped with a ''right-handed'' chirality, i.e., counterclockwise when looking at the right-hand needle point-on. Wrapping the yarn the other way (i.e., ''left-handedly'') will result in a plaited stitch if the stitch is knit on the following row. Wrapping the yarn multiple times produces a very long loop, which can yield interesting visual effects. For example, a row of such long stitches makes an interesting horizontal stripe. Alternatively, the knitting of the long loop can be deferred until a later row (e.g., 5 rows later); in this case, the loop need not be knit vertically, but can be knit diagonally, e.g., to form the lower leaves of a flower.

References

* June Hemmons Hiatt (1988) ''The Principles of Knitting'', Simon and Schuster, pp. 73–76.

External links

Watch Video
Knitting stitches Yarn {{textile-arts-stub