Hi, I've knitted on and off for years and have just taken it up again, inbetween bouts of doing cross stitch which I have become addicted to these past few years.

Anyway I am knitting a round neck jumper for my friend. I have knitted jumpers before but my Mum used to do the neckbands for me. Mum can't do this anymore as she's now got dementia. I don't feel confident doing the neckband myself and picking up the stitches.

I also find myself keep dropping stitches and having to unravel the whole lot and reknit it as it just looks a mess when I try to pick up the lost stitches. I am getting frustrated with it now, please help.

Also, does knitting make your hands ache?

Knitting makes my hands ache when it's cotton or when I'm using needles too small for the yarn. In general terms, no it shouldn't hurt.

Picking up dropped stitches is something that comes with practise, it's easier sometimes if you use a crochet hook to work it back up. If you have a splitty yarn it can look a pig afterwards if you've split a stitch and not picked up the whole of the yarn. There would be a little loop left hanging that looks tatty.

With picking up neck stitches the worst thing you can do is pick them up unevenly. Leaving holes looks bad to start with but is easily mended with a needle and thread. There are two tutorials here, the second one is specifically stitches on a shaped edge (like a neck) but you might want to have a look at the first one which is the easier picking up stitches on a straight edge. At the end of the day if you pick them up and it looks wrong you can pull them out and start over.

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter04/FEATwin04TT.html
http://www.knitty.com/issuespring05/FEATspr05TT.html

Like Wool4brains, knitting occasionally makes my hands ache when using cotton, or other relatively inelastic yarn where you may have to work a little harder to pull the yarn through each stitch. It can also be a problem if you're quite a tight knitter, no matter what yarn you use. Sometimes if I knit for too long, especially when using very small diameter DPNs, my hands will ache too.

If you're getting any tingling or numbness along with the aching, it could be an early sign of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=88), due to pressure on the nerves of the hand. I found that knitting for long periods of time with the small DPNs produced similar symptoms, so don't worry unduly if this is the case.

Inserting a lifeline into your knitting can help if you find you have to unravel your knitting due to a dropped stitch. There's an article about that here (http://www.heartstringsfiberarts.com/lifeline.shtm), and here (http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/basic_techniques/misc.php) you'll find a tutorial video about the subject, along with videos about fixing other mistakes like dropped stitches. If you scroll further down that page, there's also a video about picking up stitches too.

Hi, many thanks for these links, they are so useful, especially the videos. I feel more confident now about picking up stitches, I will try and do it when I get to the neckband of the jumper I am knitting. I wish I'd have seen the video about correcting mistakes before I unravelled half of the front of the jumper I'd knitted, due to a dropped stitch.

Regarding the aching of hands, does this put you off or stop you from knitting for periods of time, does knitting make this worse in the long run?

I don't knit cotton by choice, simply because I know that it doesn't feel good. I remember making several cotton sweaters when I was younger, I can think of four off the top of my head, but I can't remember that they hurt my hands. It might be that I'm getting worse as I get older.

I did have an enforced four day break from knitting once because I ignored hand pain and then couldn't pick up the needles. It made me more careful about what I knit now.

Hi, many thanks for these links, they are so useful, especially the videos. I feel more confident now about picking up stitches, I will try and do it when I get to the neckband of the jumper I am knitting. I wish I'd have seen the video about correcting mistakes before I unravelled half of the front of the jumper I'd knitted, due to a dropped stitch.
You're welcome :) . Knitting Help is an excellent site; I've used loads of her tutorial videos and found them really useful myself.
Regarding the aching of hands, does this put you off or stop you from knitting for periods of time, does knitting make this worse in the long run?
Personally, the aches and mild tingling/numbness I've had due to knitting (mainly with small diameter DPNs) has been temporary. If I stopped knitting for a few days, the problem went away and didn't return if I then moved on to other knitting that doesn't cause me a problem.

I think that if I'd tried to knit through the pain, or tried to ignore it completely, it would have become worse. In that respect, I think my problem was a sort of mild RSI with a bit of nerve compression due to how I held the needles.

If you're having a problem with it, and it doesn't go away if you stop knitting for a week or so (or it comes back as soon as you start knitting after having a week or so off knitting), I'd think about seeing your doctor. It could be that you have inflammation that requires treatment.