The Lace Lifeline Technique in Knitting

Knit Lace Faster and Reduce Lacy Mistakes Using Lifelines Technique

Jul 26, 2009 Renee Blixt

Knit lace is beautiful, but some knitters are intimidated by it. Using a technique known as the Lace Lifeline helps overcome apprehensions.

One of the most common reasons knitters begin their affairs with knitting is so that they can make their own lace. Lace is elegant, timeless, feminine, and personal. It can be even more personalized when a knitter puts together her own stitch pattern to repeat throughout the piece. This is how heirlooms begin.

Though lace is gorgeous, making it can be daunting. Intricate stitch patterns are more difficult to keep count of and therefore mistakes, as well as tangles, are easier to make. Tiny needles and whisper-thin yarns often used when knitting lace are harder to see and manage. But being as creative and resourceful as they are, yarners have come up with tips and tricks to make the process easier. One of these is known as “The Lace Lifeline.”

What is the Lace Lifeline?

Some lace knitters thread a “lifeline” through their stitches every few rows (or every pattern repeat) so that if they make an error, they can rip back their work and easily re-do a section. The lifeline works as a stopper when you rip back so that you may pick up stitches and yarnovers with ease.

How to Use the Lace Lifeline

After completing a designated row, insert a piece of contrasting thread through the stitches of that row.
Use any thread that is finer than the lace yarn, yet has a fair amount of twist and body. For example, crochet thread is perfect for this.
Be careful to not wrap the lifeline thread around the knitting needle and do not insert the lifeline thread through any markers. The lifeline thread when inserted properly will travel from stitch to stitch just below the knitting needle.

Lace Lifeline Tips

Use a lifeline on the first row of every pattern repeat. This way, if an error is made and the work needs to be ripped back, it’s easy to know exactly where to pick up the pattern and keep going.
Choose a smooth yarn or heavy weight thread in a contrasting color for a lifeline. The smoothness of the yarn will help keep it from “sticking” to live stitches and pulling them out of shape. The contrasting color will make it easier to see the lifeline and help pick up stitches.
It’s a given that mistakes are frustrating, but don’t rip out work too quickly. The lace pattern could turn into a distorted, misshapen knit fabric. Ripping work back gently also helps avoid breaking the delicate lace yarn.
Make sure that the length of yarn used as a lifeline is much wider than the knitted work. Since knitted fabric is stretchy, a long lifeline helps prevent stitches from dropping off.
Tie the ends of a lifeline to coilless safety pins or stitch markers to prevent it from sliding out of the stitches.

Handling Delicate Lace Yarn

Part of the appeal of lace is its fragile beauty. Lace yarns are delicate, and it’s best to treat them gently in order to avoid breakage and tangling. A yarn swift is a great tool for handling a skein of lace weight yarn. It supports the skein without stretching out the yarn, allowing the yarn to be wound gently by hand or ball-winder.

KnitPicks.com Option Cable Needles

KnitPicks.com’s Options Needles have the ability to hold a threaded lifeline in the hole where the tightening key is used, thereby eliminating the need to thread a life line separately when doing lace knitting. This saves lots of time. The lifeline is parallel to the needles, and goes along with the knitting. The process is quite straightforward.

Thread a fine piece of yarn, thread, or even waxed dental floss through the tiny hole in the metal screw tip of the Options cables. See Picture 1--double click on it for details.
Knit as directed in pattern. It is best to pick an un-patterned “rest” row that is at the beginning or end of a pattern repeat. See Picture 2.
When the row is completed, remove the contrast yarn from the needle and pull through so that there is enough tail showing on either side of the knitting. A lifeline is now in place. See Picture 3.

Zephyr Acrylic Needles of the “KnitPicks’ Options” Family

KnitPicks has just introduced an addition to their Options Needles family. Their new Zephyr Acrylic Needles are made of strong, lightweight acrylic with sharp points and flexible cables. They are airy, light, and just a bit flexible for cabling and travel knitting. Zephyr Acrylic needles will be available in early August of 2009.

Free Online Knit Lace Resources

KnitPicks is a wonderful online store not only for the Options Needles and Yarn but for information on lace lifelines. Visit the KnitPicks Online Knitting Community for more lace knitting resources. The site has a video tutorial on using lace blocking wires, along with PDF tutorials on reading lace charts, common lace increases and decreases, and adding knitted-on lace borders.

The copyright of the article The Lace Lifeline Technique in Knitting in Knitting & Crochet is owned by Renee Blixt. Permission to republish The Lace Lifeline Technique in Knitting in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.