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Fantasy0101
Warming Up
USA
91 Posts |
 Posted - 04/18/2005 : 10:32:48 PM
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Knitting stocking Stitch with smaller needles a size #6 I get this ridge when I get through. What am I doing wrong? I don't seem to have this problem with larger needles.
Virginia 
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myshelle10
Permanent Resident
USA
2749 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2005 : 11:35:12 PM
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When you get through? Do you mean a ridge on the bind off? Where is the ridge?
(Sorry... without pictures it's hard to understand what you're getting at...)
Myshelle10 |
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Fantasy0101
Warming Up
USA
91 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2005 : 11:48:24 PM
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No, what I mean is a line from the needle even when I use a circular. I also notice small and large stitches too.
Virginia |
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Fantasy0101
Warming Up
USA
91 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2005 : 11:49:40 PM
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Ooop in the middle of the work.
Virgnia |
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RoseByAny
Permanent Resident
USA
12598 Posts |
Posted - 04/19/2005 : 04:28:54 AM
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Still not sure what you mean, but I have two guesses.
If the "line" is parallel to the cast on row, you might mean what we call "rowing out" - when one row of stitches is looser than another, it stands out so. Normally this happens when alternating knit rows with purl rows, because the tension is different for these two stitches. That will be fixed as your knitting improves, and tension evens out.
The other possibility, if your "line" goes up perpendicular to the cast on row, and you're knitting in the round (which you didn't say, but you did mention circulars) is what we call "ladders" - that comes from the stitches at the join being looser than the other stitches in the row. It happens more with DPNs, but it can also happen with a circular if your very first stitch isn't snug enough. Each stitch up on top of that can only be slightly tighter, so it takes some time to fix that problem.
But I'm still not sure if either of those two are what you're talking about.
"Choose your friends by their character and your socks by their color. Choosing your socks by their character makes no sense, and choosing your friends by their color is unthinkable."
http://RoseByAny.BlogSpot.Com |
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BessH
Permanent Resident
2986 Posts |
Posted - 04/19/2005 : 05:52:11 AM
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Yes -and what Rose calls "rowing out" I call "guttering". Read it in some knitting book somewhere. In my case it was caused by my purls being looser than my knit stitches. It always bothered me till I saw so many sweaters in the knitting magazines with guttering. Then, I still didn't like it, but I didn't feel so bothered by it - so ... amateur.
I solved the problem by changing the way I purl, but that's a whole different post - and, like Rose, I'm not sure if this is what you are worried about either.
Bess
http://likethequeen.blogspot.com |
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Lissa
Permanent Resident
USA
4942 Posts |
Posted - 04/19/2005 : 06:59:30 AM
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Some folks get a vertical bar running up one side of their stitches, which is also caused by purls being looser than knits. Your "small and large" stitches are definately uneven tension.
Lissa
"Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is a little like expecting the bull not to attack you because you are a vegetarian." --Dennis Wholey
Oh, and I now have a blog:http://knittnlissa.typepad.com/knittnlissa/ |
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Momma78239
Permanent Resident
USA
4858 Posts |
Posted - 04/19/2005 : 09:43:14 AM
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And to add to that, sometimes you get vertical bars on stockinette because of the twist of the yarn.
Virginia, can you take a picture of the problem spot and post it for us? If we can see it, we can probably give more specific help.
-Wendy
¸...¸ __ ____ ____
,·´º o`·,/__/ _/\_ //____/\
```)¨(´´´ | | | | | | | || |l±±±±
¸,.-·°´ ¸,.-·~·~·-.,¸ `°·-. :º°
"But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
-Joshua 24:15b |
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Fantasy0101
Warming Up
USA
91 Posts |
Posted - 04/19/2005 : 10:13:36 PM
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No, I can't take a picture of the problem....sorry. The problem of is not vertical bars. It horizontal lines from where the needle rest, large and small stitches in the St st, and it doesn't matter if it's after a few rows or in the middle of the knitted item. I get this when I use straight needles and circular needles. How do you correct these problems?
Virginia |
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fmarrs
Permanent resident and our guardian angel
USA
9776 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2005 : 05:13:24 AM
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You did not say how long you have been knitting. It sounds like it is a problem of uneven stitches which will give you all sorts of different looks, ridges, and spaces in your knitting. All I can think to do is give you some guidelines to help even out your knitting. This is very detailed so just ignore what you don't think you need to use. I knit continentally most of the time. Knowing what type of knitting you do would help also. This applies to both continental and American style of knitting.
When learning to knit, a knitter tends to either be a loose knitter or a tight knitter. Very few hit it right on the mark the first time out. You know the basics of making a knit stitch, so let's refine them now. You insert your needle into the stitch--did you have to move that stitch down on the taper of the needle in order to get your right needle in? was it still tight? Did your yarn squeak when you made the stitch? Was it difficult to get the new stitch through the old one? You are a tight knitter.
Was it super simple to put your needle into the stitch because it formed a V on the bottom that hung down on the needle? Do you have a problem with stitches sliding off the needle? Can you whip through a row very rapidly? You are a loose knitter.
Do you sometimes knit loosely and other times knit tightly? You are a newbie knitter.
Before sizing a stitch, you need to know the parts of a needle. The taper is the part that get gradually smaller until it forms the point, the point can be sharp or blunt. Right behind the taper is the area for sizing the stitches. Then the needle needs something to store the stitches while they wait their turn to be knitted. This is an extension of the shaft on straight needles, a cable on circular needles.
Okay, you have put your right needle through the stitch and drawn up a loop, now it is time to size that stitch. Slide your right needle through it until the stitch rests on the sizing area behind the taper, rest your right index finger on top of the stitch to prevent it from enlarging while you slide the stitch off the left needle.
If you are able to put the tip of your right needle through the stitch without first moving it down on the taper, you are probably knitting too loosely. It should be possible to do this, but it should not be easy and you should not have a V at the bottom of the stitch because it is hanging off the needle. A properly tensioned stitch will slide along the needle easily, but if you put the needle tip down, it should not slide off the needle.
When you put your knitting down, the yarn relaxes and frequently the last 3 or 4 stitches on your right needle change tension. The first thing to do when you pick up your needle is to check out these stitches and adjust the tension before you start knitting again. Also expect to see slight tension changes here. It is extremely difficult to get them perfect but they do improve with blocking and the usual laundering. These slight imperfections label your work as a hand knit and in some circles improve its value. EZ stated that she used to think the knitters of the past were so perfect because their stitches were so even. Then she figured out that after her own work was laundered enough, it too became perfectly even. Want to see this happen? Knit a swatch with acrylic yarn. Write down all the areas where the stitches are uneven or put in on your scanner and keep the photo. Then throw it in the washer and dryer. Now compare the washed swatch with scanned picture.
The answer to your problem is practice, practice, practice......but do it intelligently and thinking all the time.
fran |
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Dicksie
Permanent Resident
USA
1995 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2005 : 08:42:17 AM
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Hi Fran -
What a wonderful exercise in how and why. I've been knitting (also continental)for 60 years; never have I seen tension variations explained so clearly. I'm going to send this to my new knitting daughter! Your input to this forum is so valuable, and so enjoyable - and did I mention patient?
http://photobucket.com/albums/y89/Dicksie/ |
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sanesi
Chatty Knitter
USA
141 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2005 : 10:41:33 AM
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Fran - thanks for the great explanation. I'm working with 4-ply cotton and having a terrible time with my tension. I'm going to switch from addi turbos to a straight bamboo in hopes of controlling things a bit more, but do you have any suggestions specific to cotton? I'm a continental knitter and this is really bugging me. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. If you want to see some pictures of my problems, I've posted them on my blog.
My new blog: http://paintpurl.typepad.com/ |
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Kelly B
Permanent Resident
USA
2201 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2005 : 11:08:16 AM
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Sanesi, cotton is very unforgiving because of the lack of stretch, so it'll show off any uneven stitches more than a springy yarn (wool, acrylic, blends). It looks like your rows alternate in tension, which usually means your purl rows are looser than your knits. This is VERY common -- you're in good company. BessH mentioned this above, and as she said, it's even in pattern magazine pictures.
Ideally, you'll reach a point where you have the same tension both ways. Meanwhile, you could consider using a smaller needle for the purl rows, or knitting in the round so that every stitch is a knit.
my pics |
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Momma78239
Permanent Resident
USA
4858 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2005 : 11:24:59 AM
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Sanesi-
Cotton doesn't block well at all. If some stitches have stretched out of shaped during washing, then laying them flat to dry (as you do when you block) will just leave them stretched.
The reason that cotton is considered difficult to work with is that although it WILL stretch, it has NO RECOVERY. It doesn't "bounce back". The only way to get cotton back into shape is to machine dry it. After that, you can steam it to flatten it if needed (and a hot iron is just fine for cotton).
I suggest you machine wash and dry your swatches, and see if you still have a problem. It is quite likely that they will behave better.
-Wendy
Did you know God was a knitter?
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/Momma78239/StripyFixationribbedsocks.jpg[/IMG] |
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sanesi
Chatty Knitter
USA
141 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2005 : 12:25:48 PM
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You aren't going to believe this, but I figured out what I was doing wrong. Fran's excellent tutorial helped me figure out that I was stretching the stitches from the shaft rather than slipping the stitches down onto the taper before making the new stitch. I think because of cotton's unforgiving nature I started noticing the uneven stitches, whereas I hadn't noticed them in wool. I made a little swatch over lunch and really concentrated on making good stitches using good technique and it looks great. Hardly any variation in the stitches (and no "rowing out"). I can't thank you all enough, and my hair thanks you (I was about to start pulling it out) :) You guys are the absolute best!
My new blog: http://paintpurl.typepad.com/ |
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Momma78239
Permanent Resident
USA
4858 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2005 : 12:41:49 PM
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Good for you! Cotton really does show us where our technique needs "tweaking", doesn't it?
-Wendy
Did you know God was a knitter?
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/Momma78239/StripyFixationribbedsocks.jpg[/IMG] |
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kyench
Chatty Knitter
USA
205 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2005 : 2:41:44 PM
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I just noticed this problem myself for the first time when I knitted a swatch of stockinette using Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmere on size US 3 needles.
I get lines perpendicular to the needle. Looks like pinstripes to me. So can anyone tell me if it's the purl that's too tight or the knits that's too tight?
Imagine the V's on the right side of the knitting. I'm going to refer to (\) as the left stroke and the (/) as the right stroke.. forming the (V). OK? It looks like the LEFT stroke of the V (\) slants steeper than the RIGHT stroke of the V (/). So, what's happening here? |
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Momma78239
Permanent Resident
USA
4858 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2005 : 2:48:05 PM
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That's because of the twist of the yarn. Especially higher twist yarns will lay just as you described. I don't know what can be done about it. I just know what causes it.
-Wendy
Did you know God was a knitter?
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/Momma78239/StripyFixationribbedsocks.jpg[/IMG] |
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kyench
Chatty Knitter
USA
205 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2005 : 3:06:47 PM
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Momma78239
Permanent Resident
USA
4858 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2005 : 3:15:23 PM
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It's twisted more tightly. If the twist is balanced, the knitted loops will lay flatter. If it's un-balanced (twisted too much or too little) the loops will try to twist, too, leading to the problem you're having.
You can check the twist on the yarn before you knit with it. Just pull out a length of about a yard or so, and fold it back on itself and let it hang. If it spirals around itself, it's unbalanced. If it just hangs and doesn't twist at all, it's balanced. Many yarns are slightly unbalanced, but the more it twists hanging in space, the more your knitted loops will twist.
-Wendy
Did you know God was a knitter?
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/Momma78239/StripyFixationribbedsocks.jpg[/IMG] |
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RachelKnitter
Permanent Resident
USA
2995 Posts |
Posted - 04/26/2005 : 3:35:06 PM
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Kyench, I just knit a sweater with the same Debbie Bliss yarn and the stockinette looks exactly as you described. I also get the same thing with Karabella Aurora 8 which has a very similar twist.
Nature is a haunted house--but Art--is a house that tries to be haunted.
Emily Dickinson |
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