Sarah
As promised, here's a tutorial on duplicate stitch! Before I even got pregnant, I knit a quick little baby sweater and duplicate-stitched the word "baby" on the front. I didn't know whether he would be a boy, or a girl, but I felt pretty certain he would be a baby -- and I thought it would be pretty funny for a baby's sweater to state the completely obvious. (Which reminds me, it's Measure's 3-month birthday today! Maybe I should bake a cake.)
Duplicate stitch is useful for when you want to add a little something to your knitting, but both stranded knitting and intarsia would be fiddly. Also, while you definitely want to plan stranded patterns and intarsia ahead of time, you can add duplicate stitching long after you've knitted the garment.
Click on the chart for a larger image, and feel free to use it if it works for you. Writing your own charts is pretty easy, though -- your knitting is done, so you can just sit down and check out the amount of stitches and rows you want to work over, and chart accordingly. I knit the swatch for this tutorial in an aran-weight cotton blend (in Project Spectrum colors, naturally), and knit it a little loose so the stitches would be clear, but really I think this works best when your knitting is tight -- it helps the duplicate stitch to "pop" and cover the stitch underneath.
To begin working, cut a length of contrast yarn and thread it through a tapestry needle. No need to knot, just be sure to leave a tail of about 6" so you can weave it in later. Bring your needle through your first stitch (I started from the bottom left-hand corner of the first "b" in the chart), around and under the base of the "v" in the stitch above.
Bring the needle back down and out back the way you came.
Each additional stitch is easy -- just go up, under, around, then through the top of the stitch below.
Need to go sideways? You can do that.
Downward? Yup, that's easy too. Just go down through the bar between the legs of the "v" of the stitch you wish to duplicate, then go up and around as usual.
Even if you're following a chart, take a careful look at your work now and then to see if you like how it's going, because each stitch is tedious to undo. The result, though, is pretty nice -- give it a try!
Oh--duplicate stitch, as in, follow the existing stitch! Sometimes the obvious eludes me. Thanks for the tutorial. It seems pretty simple.
Posted by: Suzanne V. (Yarnhog) | August 09, 2007 at 12:26 PM
Nice tutorial. Thanks for the pictures!
Posted by: K2Karen | August 09, 2007 at 01:30 PM
Another well documented and easy to follow tutorial! This one gets the bookmark, too.
Posted by: Karen B. | August 09, 2007 at 03:07 PM
Your tutorials are always so nicely done! Mind if I link to it?
Posted by: Faith | August 09, 2007 at 08:25 PM
I love how your tutorials simplify things! So clear and well photographed.
Thank you!
Posted by: Miss Scarlett | August 10, 2007 at 10:36 PM
Thanks for the tutorial. I'll definitely be trying this. I tried duplicate stitch last week to correct an error on an intarsia jumper and made it up as I went - man was I off. Your way is MUCH easier!
Posted by: Ruth | August 15, 2007 at 06:31 AM
Thank you so much for this information! I was worried it was going to be some hugely complex process...the obvious eludes me sometimes. I have bookmarked your site for future reference!
Thanks again!!!
Posted by: Kelly | August 31, 2008 at 08:09 AM
hi bella, I will try the duplicate stitch with the words Red Sox. You have been a big help. I copied your work that you sent to me. thank you, jane
Posted by: jane | August 18, 2009 at 07:05 AM
it really seems very nice. i like it. i also want to do this. I knitted a blanket. it has 160 spaces and i want to write Sweet Dreams( in duplicate stitch) but do not know how to make a graph. I am not very particular but just want that the words should be readable. if u can pl guide me.
thanks,
sunita
Posted by: sunita | December 20, 2009 at 08:10 PM
this is sunita again. i want to write the words sweet dreams in duplicate stitch which i also learnt from your tutorial. since the baby
blankie is complete and i want to give it to my grandson before christmas i will really appreciate if you could guide me with making a graph.
thanks.
Posted by: sunita | December 20, 2009 at 08:15 PM
Love the tuturial for duplicate stitch... I hope you don't mind, I linked to it for one of my free patterns here: http://myknittingbasket.blogspot.com/2009/11/owl-coffee-cup-cozie.html
Posted by: knitphomaniac | August 14, 2010 at 10:08 AM
i will use this for my next knitting class. this is a very good tutorial.
Posted by: Cotton Tapestries | August 23, 2010 at 06:04 AM
I've been knitting for 22 years, but this is my first time trying duplicate stitch - however, it's the perfect way to add patterning to the foot of a sock without all the bulk of working the whole foot in stranded colorwork. Thanks for the tutorial.
Posted by: Kiki B | October 22, 2010 at 12:08 AM
Thanks so much for this tutorial. It seems to be a neat way to add designs to a pattern without a big mess of yarn on the back. I have a design I've created that is 64x64 at 5sts per inch, is there a size limitation for duplicate stitch. How do you know when to use dupllicate stitch versus intarsia? Thanks again. D. Renton
Posted by: D. Renton | January 29, 2011 at 11:06 AM
I'm completely lost. My stitches don't look like V's. My scarf is all in garter stitch and I want to do a pattern over the top, but this tutorial is not helping me. I tried to do it anyway and ended up snagging my stitches and making a hole in my scarf that I can't fix. What kind of stitching did you do to create a V in the first place? Stockinette? What am I supposed to do since my stitches don't look like yours? Is this tutorial just for stockinette and no good for garter stitches? So many questions, no answers. I'm off to find a page that actually helps me, but first I have to knit a new scarf. :(
Posted by: Sad Newbie | August 07, 2011 at 09:23 PM
Sad Newbie, try Google.
Great tutorial. Very helpful. Answered all of my questions and even made it look easy. Thank you!
Posted by: Amanda | October 10, 2011 at 08:37 PM
Nice stitch tutorial. I like this pattern shared by you here that is the name of baby in one planed cloth with perfect match color.
Posted by: ניתוחים פלסטיים בצפון | February 02, 2012 at 04:59 AM