Yarnover

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A yarnover is a stitch made by laying the yarn over the right needle as you work. On the return row, the loop created by the yarnover is worked as you would any other stitch; once worked, it leaves a small opening in the knitting. Each yarnover is an increase of one stitch. In lace knitting, every yarnover is paired with a decrease so that the stitch count remains constant. The decrease may immediately precede or follow the yarnover, appear several stitches away from the yarnover in the same row, or even be worked on an earlier or later row.

The strand that travels over the top of the needle is the yarnover, and it counts as one stitch. Note that the stitch after the yarnover shouldn’t be counted as part of the yarnover.

For all these examples except the alternative wrapping method, bring the yarn between the needles to the front of the work if it is not already there, then bring the yarn over the right needle to the back (this is the yarnover), then, either leave the yarn at the back or bring the yarn between the needles to the front as necessary to work the next stitch.

Click any of the figures below to open them to a larger size.

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YARNOVER BETWEEN A KNIT STITCH AND A KNIT STITCH 
(WORKING YARN BEGINS IN BACK)
After knitting the stitch before the yarnover, bring the yarn forward between the needles. Then bring the yarn up and over the right needle to the back of the work again, ready to knit the next stitch (Figure 1).

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YARNOVER BETWEEN A KNIT STITCH AND A PURL STITCH
(WORKING YARN BEGINS IN BACK)
Bring the yarn to the front of the work between the needles. Then bring the yarn over the right needle to the back, then between the needles again to the front, ready to purl the next stitch (Figure 2).

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Because the yarnover between a knit stitch and a purl stitch uses more yarn than a yarnover between a knit stitch and a knit stitch, the yarnover holes will be larger. If both types of yarnover will be used in a project, the size differences may be noticeable. The size of the yarnover between a knit stitch and a purl stitch can be adjusted by wrapping the yarn differently to make the yarnover holes smaller, as shown below:

YARNOVER BETWEEN A KNIT STITCH AND A PURL STITCH
(ALTERNATIVE WRAPPING METHOD)
Bring the yarn from the back to the front of the work over the right needle (Figure 2a) ready to purl the next stitch. On the next row, it will be necessary to work into the back loop of the yarnover so it won’t be twisted.

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YARNOVER BETWEEN A PURL STITCH AND A KNIT STITCH
(WORKING YARN BEGINS IN FRONT)
Bring the yarn over the right needle to the back (Figure 3), ready to knit the next stitch.

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YARNOVER BETWEEN A PURL STITCH AND A PURL STITCH 
(WORKING YARN BEGINS IN FRONT)
Bring the yarn over the right needle to the back, then between the needles to the front, ready to purl the next stitch (Figure 4).

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