how to make yarn over twice tutorial with pictures

This is a “yarn over twice” tutorial. I’ll show you how to make two yarn over’s in a row. It’s easy 🙂

“What is a yarn over twice in knitting or how to do a yarn over twice?” – Yarn over twice in knitting means that you’ll have to make two yarn overs. Seems easy enough, but may be confusing sometimes.

Usually, lace knitting patterns require one yarn over – that means bringing yarn over your right-hand needle (from front to back) – to form little holes into your knitted lace.

Now, yarn over twice is the same thing, only you will do it twice – so you can have even bigger holes. Most of the times, on next row (or round), you’ll be making one knit stitch and one purl stitch into those yarn overs.

In order to show you exactly, how to make a yarn over twice and how it will look, I’ll use my “Diamond of the Island” lace border pattern. Instead of writing “make a yarn over twice” or something like that, I usually just write “YO, YO”. These two are the same though.


Let’s take row 5 – … k2tog, YO, YO, k2tog, YO, YO, k2; turn;

Make the first yarn over.

How to knit yarn over

Make second yarn over.

Tutorial for knitting yarn over twice

So, if we use this row 5 example – make two yarn overs, knit two stitches together, make two yarn overs (again) and knit two stitches.

This is how it will look.

What is yarn over twice

Now let’s turn our work and on to row 6 – k3, p1, k2, p1 …

Knit two stitches and you’ll have those two yarn overs coming up next.

Knitting instructions yarn over twice

Knit first yarn over on left-hand needle and slip it – carefully, you’ll need the other yarn over. You’ll have this big strange hole.

What does yarn over twice mean

Purl next yarn over. Now you’ll have something like on this picture.

How to do yarn over twice in knitting

By the way – there’s a reason why you have to knit and purl. Try to knit both of these yarn overs – it’s not possible. See? You’ll have to link stitches and for that reason, you can’t use the same kind of stitches.

Following the pattern, we are working on – knit one and repeat this “knit one, purl one” process like before. It will look something like this…

how to knit yarn over twice

For conclusion – this technique has two goals:

  1. For making larger holes
  2. For increasing

I personally love “make a yarn over twice” technique and use it very often. Like in my Melancholy scarf knitting pattern. It’s a good technique to know in lace knitting.

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This Post Has 10 Comments

  1. Alison Walker

    Thank you! This helped me ‘crack’ my first lace knitted project.

    1. PatternDuchess

      I’m glad I could help 🙂

  2. Adrianna Stang

    I need help. The pattern I have is cast on 34 stitches, knit 1 row. Row 1 (RS): K3, *2yo,k4; rep from * to last 3 sts, 2yo, k3. Row 2: K1, *ssk, (k1, p1) into 2yo, ssk; rep from * to last st, k1. I am having trouble with the 2yo and then the k1,p1 on the next row.

    1. PatternDuchess

      Hi, work the 2yo – meaning, on row 1, you will do the yarn over stitch twice. On next row, once you get to the 2yo from the previous row, knit one of the yarn overs and slip it (be careful not to slip the second yarn over), then purl the next yarn over and slip it.

      I hope this helps.

      1. Losa

        I have this exact pattern on one of the squares I’m knitting for Afghan. Row 2: K1, *ssk, (k1,p1) into 2yo, ssk: repeat from* to last stitch, k1. There are 34 cast on stitches. Row 1 was k3, *2yo, k4: repeat from * to last 3 stitches, 2 yo, k3. Please help

        1. PatternDuchess

          It looks like your second row has only decreases… I see – you are increasing on your row 1 and doing all the decreases on your row 2. Also, your pattern repeats are not on the same place – they are “moving”. I will try to explain.

          So, on row 1 you start with 3 sts, make the pattern repeats of 6 sts, and end with a total of 5 sts at the end of the row.

          On row 2, first, you have your 5 sts from previous row (3 knit sts that look like purls now and 2 yo’s) – knit one st and start with the pattern repeat – do the first ssk, then you can work those yarn overs by doing the k1, p1. (You just worked 5 sts, only you have 4 left because of the decrease.)

          Now you see 4 knit sts that look like purls and 2 yarn overs. Do the last ssk from row 2 pattern repeat and start over.

          I hope this makes sense 🙂

  3. Kelly Reeves

    Hello,
    I experienced health issues a few months ago and was in a coma. Since then I can’t remember things. One is how I was knitting a blanket I was working on for months prior to getting sick. The notes I have are knit 10, *purl 2, yo, knit 2 repeat from * knit last 10 to desired length. But it doesn’t say anything about when to slip the stitch and I can’t remember if I did it during the purl or knit but I do remember doing it. Does this sound familiar to you?

    1. PatternDuchess

      Hello Kelly, I’m sorry it doesn’t sound familiar, but can you send me a picture of your blanket? Maybe I have seen it or I can figure it out. Or ask around for you 🙂 (patternduchess@gmail.com)

  4. Linda

    In working a knitted hat pattern, one row includes several double yo and the next row asks you to drop the second yo. What do you do with that first yo?

    1. PatternDuchess

      You’ll follow the pattern – for example, if other stitches are worked as knit stitches then you’ll knit the yarn over; or if you’re supposed to follow some pattern like *k2, p2* then you’ll just follow it.

      I hope it helps.

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