You made this video 9 years ago as I write this, and it has gotten me out of such a jam…thank you for this ageless, helpful idea!

This is genius--just frogged a good 2 inches back to the ribbing with this technique and it works like a charm. Kudos to your follower who came up with this! Your videos are so helpful always--thanks!

I just fixed and saved a project using these tips and wanted to share what I did in case it helps someone else: I was working with the mistake rib stitch and was having a hard time seeing every stitch in order to weave in my reactive lifeline. So I knit up a swatch of the mistake rib with a proactive lifeline so I could compare it alongside my project. All I had to do was copy the lifeline in the swatch while weaving into my project and I was able to pop my needles right back after frogging the rows necessary. Such a relief! Great video. Thank you for sharing!

Thank you so much for this tutorial, it’s brilliant. I thought I would try to take it One step further - I bought a couple of 1mm circular needles and used these instead of contrast wool. It works a treat and you can knit directly from the lifeline. Thank you again.

This works beautifully! I've never frogged anything (just been knitting a few years) and made a mistake in a ribbed cowl. Instead of starting over, decided to try this (nothing to lose). I admit to being surprised that it worked and it was even pretty easy.

Wow--all my years of knitting and I'd never heard of lifelines until now. When I think of all the ripping out I've done without this helpful technique. Thanks!!!!!!! Bet I'll be using this soon given all the knitting I have to do for Christmas!

Staci, you're such a gracious hostess to share with us ideas from other knitters. Thanks so much

Very very clever! Thank you Lisa for the technique and Staci for sharing it with us all!

So glad to have found this video tonight. I just knit 7.5 inches of ribbing when it was supposed to be 7.5 cm. Needless to say I am so excited to try this rather than frog it. Thank you!!!

Been knitting a very long time. By far this has been a top ten technique that I've just learned.. the salvaged ribbing lifeline. Wow! Thank you!

Bushels of thanks for this information including Lisa’s suggestion which just recused me from hours of unknitting a complex lace stitch pattern stitch by stitch. I am an intermediate knitter and I can see the life line allowing me to take on much more complex patterns more rapidly from this point on.

Once again, you (and Lisa from Boston) have saved me! I am sitting at my table after ripping out my knitting to the ribbing band of a cabled hat. I screwed up one cable on the third row and tried to drop the stitches down to the mistake but had little luck that way. So I ripped back to the ribbing and will start cabling once I get all my stitches back on the needles. I am feeling confident! Thanks.

This is genius! Thank you Lisa and thank YOU for making this video.

Totally tried this trick! I didn't use that exact size yarn for the lifeline but it still worked! Thank you for sharing it really helped a ton!

This was fantastic. I was able to rip out about 6 inches of my knitting and recover my stitches using this method. It was flawless!! I'm so excited that I can now not freak out when or if I have to pull back stitches. Thank you thank you thank you!!

This is just great! I did a large cowl in seed stitch and made a mistake binding off (I did it before consulting one of your videos)! I rescued it with the help of this video and now am ready to do the Russian bind-off. Thank you!

I'm getting on a plane tomorrow and you never know if security is going to let you in with your needles. So my plan is to take a project that is on a pair of needles that I'm not particularly fond of and put a proactive life line in my work. That way, if I hit trouble at security I can just pull the needles out and let the agents throw them away (sacrilege!). Thanks for showing us the techniques!

I wanted to redo the bind-off of the top-down sweater I'm currently knitting, but then I needed to know how to unravel the last part of the ribbing first. I'm super glad to see that you have a tutorial on this because you are my go-to knitting instructor whenever I need to learn a new technique. Your videos never get old. (edit: I just did a bit more searching and found your video about how to undo bind-off so I guess that's what I'll follow in the end haha but I still learned something new from this video so all is good and thank you!!)

Thank you so much. U saved my project and time. Actually i started learning knitting through your videos. Its really a knit mom to me. Whenever i am struck with, ur videos came for my rescue. Thanks a lot

I'm a self taught knitter and crocheter. I had never heard of this and it's brilliant. I could have used this so many times. A great idea for new knitters who very likely will make mistakes. Thank you for posting this.

This is awesome!!!! The project I am currently working on needed this! It's a hat and I forgot to switch up needle sizes after my ribbing! Thank you for demonstrating this and thanks to Lisa for the awesome idea!

That Lisa is one smart cookie! Thanks for sharing Lisa and Staci!

Oh, thank God and you for this video. I have been knitting my first sock for the last week and goofed up in my ribbing. I did not know about lifelines prior to this, but just ripped out about six rounds of knitting for the umpteenth time--I'd made it into the cuff this time and didn't want to start again. I thought of threading a yarn needle and running a thread through an earlier round, so that I didn't lose as much work, but was having difficulty figuring out how to pick the stitches up with the needle. You just saved me two days work. When I (finally) get to sock #2, I'm putting lifelines every few rows till the pair is done.

not only are your videos extremely helpful, your nail polish is always perfect!

Thank you! You and Lisa also save my project!! I can't tell you how much your videos have helped me.

This is so helpful! Whenever I do another ribbing project, I'm going to use a lifeline. Thanks so much staci and Lisa!

I really love how you explain things! I always watch your videos when I need to learn something

Girlfriend, THANK YOU! I was making a sock and all cocky like: "I don't need lifelines," but after trying to knit ribs with a migraine, I mixed up my ks and ps and did not notice for a couple of rounds. I did not know what to do. Came her and you and your pal LISA are geniuses!!!!! Thank you so much!

Thank you for making a lifeline so easy for me. As a new knitter, I just saved my project with an active line :) I did not like to knit before because of trying to fix mistakes :) Bonus...I can knit a bit faster with this method :)

Thanks for this, just used this for my ribbed stitch hat (in the round) and it helped me rescue what was a perfect piece! Will start doing an active lifeline every inch or so for now on

Thanks so much! These tips really save many projects & time! I have either started over or just "let it ride" ;P if I made a mistake! If I was too far in, I was not starting over so I just left it! lol BUT! Thanks to wonderful people, as yourself, I can actually fix it & be able to give them away :D I just had to rip out a row of my 1st cable! I was freaking lol bc it's every 4 (8) sts of 92 sts! I get half way thru the row & realize I was holding in the back & they should've been in the front! I tried backing up & "tinking" but with the cables I couldn't get it :( so I decided to just go on & I'd just have that spot messed up, then I remembered KZfaq! So THANK YOU, TRULY! I had no idea I could pull my needles out & pick them back up! Much less run a "lifeline" & make sure it doesn't go further! Again, thanks bunches & always remember that you really are making a difference for many people, and many beautiful pieces of work! 📍

Like so many others, i wish I knew about this on my last 6x6 ribbed scarf. My cat got tangled in the project and my work fell off the needles. I spent over an hour trying to put the stitches back on the needles. Had I used a lifeline it could have saved me so much time. Thank you so much for this tip. I will be using it in the future!

That nail polish is GORGEOUS.

Thank you thank you thank you! It's the third time your tutorial has helped me immensely! I am so grateful! Best regards from Sweden!

The 2nd part for ribbing saved me so much anxiety. Thank you so much!!!

very helpful thank you! I am going to try and get a reactive lifeline through brioche stitch. I couldn't find any help for that exactly but this has given me a general sense.

Brillant idea and real helpful. Thx Lisa and Staci for sharing this!

Brilliant! So obvious we all should have thought of it. Thank you, Lisa! and Very Pink.

Thanks Staci and Lisa!

I am glad I found this video. I can save myself tears of frustration.

Thank you so much for the technique. I will definitely try this because even after 4 decades, I still make mistakes every now and then.

What can I say? BRILLIANT! LOL....I'm working on a vintage sock right now (flat) and it is difficult maneuvering through a split heal. I've almost got the hang of it...but looks like I knitted in the wrong direction back a ways. Not hard to do with having to use stitch holders for lots of stitches a couple of time. I need to rip all the heal back out up to the 2X6 leg. That's ALOT but worth it given that this is fingerling weight and I certainly don't want to start over! :) So......Lisa THANK YOU for sending in that email! Once my brain has calmed back down I will go with it. :)

Brilliant! Can’t believe how simple that was to follow. Thank you.

Thanks so much for this! I did socks with an afterthought heel but had done the sole of the sock in ribbing (and holding two strands of yarn, fingering and mohair) and about lost my mind getting the purl stitches picked up on the first sock off of the contrast lifeline. I'll try this for the second sock and hopefully won't be pulling my hair out. Such a simple idea, but not intuitive--it takes an outside the box perspective to come up with these fixes!

Thank you soo much for this tutorial. That really helps. I made several mistakes in ribbing and messed up my stitches in trying to unravel.I was about to abandon the project.thank you😊

Thanks Lisa from Boston and Staci. I have a wrap that I need to rip back about a foot!! And not only is the wrap totally rib but there are also cables. I'm going to give this method a try -- wish me luck.

Brilliant!!! I just found this video on life lines and I need it for sure since I have vision problems I find myself frogging often. Would love to see a video series of how to fix mistakes I knitting. Thanks!

Absolutely brilliant! What a fantastic idea!

Recently made a mistake on beanie and I thought of unravelling the whole thing. You have no Idea how happy this video made me! You saved my mental health xD Thanks =)

Thanks Pinks, I knew about the proactive LL but not the reactive type .... which is what I mostly wind up needing as forethought is not my biggest attribute. And, the front/back idea is just super.

Thank you for always having an answer to my knitting questions

Absolutely brilliant. Exactly what I need right now. Thank you & Lisa.

I wish I'd known about this earlier. Would have saved me a lot of unknitting. I will definitely be utilising this technique in future.

Ty Lisa from Boston-brilliant and ty very pink for the demo😊

That is absolutely brilliant!

This is wonderful!! I am so grateful for this instruction right now. I have some seed stitch to unravel, and I was starting to freak out a little (or a lot!)

Bless you, i'm working on my very first sweater and i was horrified when i found i'd accidentally added a row to my cuff! I was thinking i'd have to just live with it but i managed to sort it out in less than half an hour! thank you so much!

Thanks! I loved this video when it came out, and today I loved it even more cause I REMEMBERED it! And I used it! And it WORKED! Just had to pop over and tell you about it!

This just saved me from undoing an entire sock because of a mistake during stripes at the very end! Thank you so so much!!

THANK YOU! I was trying to figure out how to do this with seed stitch and wondered if anyone had ever tried a strand on each side. And yes! Of course, I'll be ripping from underneath, which is its own horror, but I have hope now. Oh yeah, and I have cables in the row. But still: hope.

This actually worked for me! Thank you I was knitting a ribbed hat and lost track of where I was in decreasing. Unknitting SSK doesn't work for me ao this was perfect!

OMG. Wish I'd watched this before ripping a whole project apart. Thanks!

This is exactly what I was looking for! So helpful!!!

Another very clear and to the point video. Thank you!

Awesome. That was wonderful. Thanks for showing us.

OMG!!! I really needed this tonight - I have to rip out some ribbing and was worried I had to do the entire bit!! thanks

Thank you so much! i love your videos. This has saved me so much stress and time!

This is so clever!! A seemingly simple solution that I prolly would never have thought of!! Thx! 😃

I'm sitting here with a sock where I've done my first mitered heel on a toe up sock and it needed to come out. The pattern on the top of the foot is seed stitch and I needed to put in a reactive lifeline and no matter how I studied the "seeds" I can see no way to do this. So I did what I always did. Thank you for this. As soon as you said you were only picking up the knit stitches on one side I knew what the rest of it was. Thanks so much for your expertise! btw - the mitered heel was ugly because I forgot to review the "picking up short row wraps" video. Too much fun for one Sunday.

Brilliant! You saved my scarf. ❤

This is a genius idea. Thank you.

OMG !!!! Excellent advice 🙌 Thank you for sharing 🤩

This is absolutely brilliant! I had to take out ribbing in a sweater cuff this week and almost pulled my hair out. I wish I had seen this video first😂. Thank you for all of your helpful videos!

Oh for Heaven’s sake…how smart and easy is this?? Thank you!

whoa - this is the best hint I've seen

Once again, Very Pink Knits to the rescue.

Brilliant, hats off to Lisa! Plus with different color yarns, you can tell which is a knit vs a purl. It might not look so significant with the sample swatch, but just imagine working a sweater in the round at having 100-200 st???

Perfect! It's just what I need tonight !!

Thank you Lisa and VeryPink!!

I learned two things in this video and ya saved my sanity for which I thank you much my friend!

Lisa from Boston...........how AMAZING WAS THAT 🙀🙀🙀

OMG thank you so much for this. I've ripped out my scarf 3 times and had to start from scratch! Not anymore!

So glad I found your video and thanks to Lisa for this suggestion. I have a hat knit in the round in a mock rib pattern and I'm going to give this a try rather than frog it all the way to the beginning. I'm wondering if there is a technique for brioche 🤔

Brilliant! Just what I was looking for. Thanks 👍

Wow Staci that is excellent help. Thank you

Absolutely brilliant!! Thank you so much!!

Love this! Thank you.

I love your videos. You make it so simple to understand. Pauline tague

this is genius! I have to rip out several rows with seed stitch. thank you

WOW! I love it. I taught myself how to unknit for some booboos. I can unknit now almost as fast as I can knit. Thanks for adding another correction technique to my repertoire.

Lifesaver!!! Thanks much!!!

Thanks ever so much for sharing this!

Thank you!

BRILLIANT !!!

So helpful! Thank you!

Great idea Lisa. Thanks Stacy. I've been sitting here tryin to figure out out what I did wrong tinking a row and a half back. Its not right. What could I have done? A couple stitches in the first row I knitted back are not correct dont think they are garter? It's Crazy? But I guess they are twisted? Being dyslexic doesn't help AT ALL! lol No clue how it occorued so there is no way to prevent it? Frustrating. I had to tink back two rows on a baby blanket. It's a fine baby weight yarn too. I need to ok go back two rows again. So 4 rows tonight. This will save me. So I can add the rows back at least tonight. That's so much. I hope I can figure this out in garter stitch!🤞 Hardest to fix easiest to knit.

You just saved my nephew's birthday hat!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Good technique, I will have to try it soon on my next pair of socks.

Brilliant, thank you, thank you!

Omg this saved me!!! Thank you so much!!!!