Knitting Tutorial: How to Yarn Over YO

In knitting, the yarn over, abbreviated YO, is a stitch increase that is often used in lace patterns. A yarn over makes a decorative hole or series of holes in your fabric. However, this seemingly simple stitch can sometimes get knitters all tangled up.

What is a Yarn Over?

In simplest terms, a YO just means to bring the yarn forward and over.

Yarn Over (YO) - bring the working yarn forward between the needles then wrap it over the right hand needle counter clockwise.

Before you make your next stitch, the working yarn seems to just be dangling over the top of your needle. It doesn't seem like much of stitch, but that's it.

Since it can be helpful to see the motion of a knit stitch in action, here's a demonstration of the yarn over in a series of common stitch combinations.

• k, yo, k
• k, yo, p
• p, yo, k
• p, yo, p
• k, yo, sl, k
• k, yo, sl, p
• yo at the beginning of a row

Need a free pattern to practice your new yarn over skills? Check out my Whale Done Socks KAL.

Happy knitting!