Quick fix: Count back to find the extra stitch. If it is a yarn-over — a loop with no stitch below it — drop it off the needle. If it is a split stitch, tink back to it and re-work it cleanly through the whole stitch.
What you are seeing
Your stitch count is higher than it should be and the knitting is growing wider. The extra stitch may look like an ordinary stitch, or it may appear as a loose loop sitting on top of the needle with nothing below it.
Why it happens
- Accidental yarn over — yarn moves to the wrong position before a stitch, draping over the needle and creating a new loop.
- Knitting into the bar between stitches — a very common beginner move that treats the horizontal strand as a stitch.
- Splitting a stitch — the needle goes between the plies of the yarn rather than cleanly through the stitch loop, and both legs get worked as separate stitches.
Fix it now
- Count your stitches and note exactly where the count went wrong.
- Scan that row or section for a loop that has no stitch below it — this is an accidental yarn over.
- Look for a stitch that appears split or thinner than its neighbours — this is a split stitch.
- For an accidental yarn over: drop the loop off the needle without working it. No tinking needed if you catch it on the same row.
- For a split stitch: tink (unknit) back to that stitch, then reinsert your needle cleanly through the entire stitch loop and re-work it.
- For a bar increase: tink back to the bar stitch, drop it off the needle, and continue.
- Count again to confirm you are back to the correct number.
Prevent it next time
- Always confirm yarn is at the back before a knit stitch, and at the front before a purl stitch.
- Insert your needle cleanly through the full stitch loop — not between the yarn strands or into the bar below.
- Count stitches every 10–20 rows so a mistake surfaces before it travels far.