Beginner Basics: Lace Lifelines

Lace-knitting newbies and experts alike often find that they’ve missed a yarnover or accidentally added an extra stitch. “Lifelines” are strands of yarn that are used to mark a row that was knit correctly to help prevent dropped stitches if you need to rip a project back due to an error.

To create a lifeline, thread a strand of thin, contrasting color yarn onto a yarn needle, and run the needle through the stitches while they’re still on the knitting needle, as shown. Cut the contrasting yarn, leaving a long tail at both ends.
Leave the lifeline in place until you’re sure that you won’t need to fix an error. Place a new lifeline every few rows, then remove the old lifeline. Also, be sure to note the row of the pattern you’re on when you place a lifeline.
If you find an error and need to rip back, remove all the stitches from the knitting needle and unravel the work until you reach the lifeline. Carefully place the stitches back on your knitting needle, being careful not to twist any of them. Resume the stitch pattern with the row following the one where you placed the lifeline.