How To Add Duplicate Stitch to Your Knitting

A duplicate stitch basically "duplicates" or mimics a stitch on the flat side of the material. Adding a duplicate stitch to your knitting is a great way to dress up an item. Once it's understood, it's easier than knitting with several different colors of yarn, and it gives the same effect.

It's best to create a test swatch to practice on before trying it on a finished garment. Split yarn or pulled stitches can result if you're not familiar with it, so first knit a five by five piece, then follow these steps to create a duplicate stitch.

1. Using yarn of the same type and weight of your knitting, thread a darning needle and draw the yarn from the back to the front at the base of a knitted stitch (where it meets in a "V" shape). Bring the needle through the exact center of the "V," leaving a two to three inch tail on the back side.
2. Put the needle back into the fabric at the top of the stitch where it makes a loop. The needle must go to the left of the "V" of the stitch on top.
3. Bring the needle up again to the right of this "V," then draw the yarn to the back through the exact center again of the bottom of the stitch, then bring it up in the next stitch, again through the center of the bottom where it looks like a "V." You've created one duplicate stitch and you're in position for the next one.
4. Continue in this manner for several stitches until you understand how it works, then, after finishing a stitch, drop to the row of stitches below in your knitting and bring the yarn up through the "V" of that stitch. Continue adding duplicate stitches, but on the first stitch after dropping a row, make sure the yarn is caught up in the stitch in the back of your knitting.
5. To do this, bring the needle up in the center of the "V," wrap the yarn around the yarn in back one time, then bring it back up to the left of the loop, as before.

When you're finished, run the needle back through three or four stitches on the back side of the material, looping it over one or two strands of yarn and cut.