Things You'll Need
Knitting needles, 1 pair or 1 circular needle
Yarn
Knitting pattern
The long stitch is a way of picking up stitches from lower rows and dropping stitches from your present row into those lower rows. These directions refer to a long stitch that only crosses to the row directly below the present row, but the process is the same no matter how many rows you must cross – just remember to drop all the stitches above that lower row stitch onto the new stitch. Use the long stitch to knit waffle knits, which look similar to stocking stitch knitting but which have more texture. It is also helpful in diminishing the number of stitches in a row, to make binding off easier.
Step 1
Knit according to your knitting pattern, up to the point in the row where the long stitch is to occur. Hold the knitting normally, but stretch it out so the stitch below the next stitch in your present row gapes open.
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Step 2
Insert your needle into the stitch directly below the next stitch in your present row: directly below the stitch closest to the left-hand needle's point. Pull that stitch – the one from the row below your present row – onto your right-hand needle.
Step 3
Scoop it up onto your left-hand needle, and knit or purl — according to your knitting pattern — a stitch through it like you would any stitch. Allow the lower-row stitch to drop back off the needles, down into its place in the work.
Step 4
Slip the stitch directly above lower row stitch you've been working with. Drop off the left needle onto the lower stitch. Keep the feeder yarn, the yarn coming off the skein, in your hand, so the same new stitch runs through both the lower and present-row stitches.
Tip
Patterns may also refer to the long stitch as “knit into the stitch below.”
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