My stockinette stitch looks like a garter stitch. I can’t figure out what I am doing wrong with my purling! The only thing I can think is that I’m not bringing the yarn up to the front properly, however when I try to pull it to the front it gets all tangled up. Bloody rib knits!! If you see a wild-eyed woman wrapped in yarn and brandishing large wooden needles roaming the streets of Seattle, beware! She’s gone off the deep end!
Can you post a picture of what your stockinette looks like, and what your garter stitch looks like?
Although, I’ll be honest, the best thing to do is find a local yarn shop (are any of these close to you?) and asking one of their staff to help you out, since they’ll be able to see what you’re doing with your hands.
I’d offer to come over, but plane fare is probably a bit steep for both of us.
It took me a really long time to figure out that when you bring the yarn forward to purl, you must bring it between the points of the needles. Not around the side. That way lies madness. Could that be the problem?
Ribbing almost put me off knitting completely. Come over to the daaark side. Croooochet…
Check out KnittingHelp.com if you have a high-speed Internet connection. There are videos there that show you how to do things.
Question: Does you stockinette look like this or like this? I only ask because a lot of beginning knitters mis-identify their stitches.
What are trying to knit? Just plain stockinette? Ribs? How are you bringing the yarn to the front? When you make a knit stitch, it should be in the back, which you seem to have down. When you bring it to the front to purl, like when you’re doing ribbbing, it’s supposed to become between the needles, not over them. If you’re just doing stockinette (1 knit row, 1 purl row if it’s on straight needles), then when you turn the work to do the purl row, the yarn should already be in the front.
Aha! Thanks, Miss McKnittington - I couldn’t for the life of me remember that site’s name.
D’oh! :smack:
Eureka! I’d been trying to bring it around by pulling it around the back end of the right hand needle. Good grief no wonder I was making knots. Thank you for the website with the videos, I will be sure to watch those, I learn much better from seeing it “in action”. I was trying to refine my stockinette before I started on learning ribs, and I got stymied. Thank you all!
The upside of my twisted and convoluted attempts at purling is that I learned how to increase a stitch!
Yay! There’s always a bright side. I’m glad you got it figured out. I threw quite a few projects across the room before I figured out ribbing. And I’ve never really used it since, but the important thing is that I know how.
K1 P1 ribbing is one of my favorite things to do. I love the rhythm of it. Isn’t that weird? Different strokes for different folks, I guess!
Get thee to a yarn store. (You can’t throw a stone in Seattle anymore without hitting a yarn store - and yes, that’s a very good thing) and ask for help. Most of them will be more than happy to help you figure out what’s not working. I’ll also offer to help if you’d like (email is in the profile).
I learned how to purl from a book when I was very young. It took quite a while before I could purl without that picture in front of me.
Thank you all, I made a very respectable looking rib knit swatch last night. Of course I was tired and I switched the ribs in mid-swatch, but I’ve got the concept now! I noticed it wanted to curl up when I first started, do I need to make a garter stitch border on the ends or will it correct itself?
What are you knitting it out of? If it’s not acrylic, blocking once you’ve finished will help the curl.
Stockinette curls, though - it’s the nature of the beast - and since ribbing is alternating stockinette and reverse-stockinette I’ve noticed it has the same tendency.
Do you knit English, or Continental? My understanding is that Continental knitters have much less trouble with ribbing than English knitters do, due to the difference in how the yarn is held (picked instead of thrown).
It won’t correct itself. When you’re done mist lightly and iron it out. Be careful not to use too much pressure or you will distort the shape of the project.
Do not, I repeat, DO NOT iron acrylic unless you do it on an extremely low setting.*
But, again…even the mist & iron won’t help if you’re working in acrylic.
*we will not, I repeat, NOT discuss how I know that ironing acrylic is a Very Bad Idea.
I was using acrylic, but the acrylic skein is my “practice yarn”, since I hate the feel of acrylic clothing. The projects will be in cotton (baby hats) and wool (shawl? blanket? not sure yet), so the info about steaming and blocking is appreciated!
Off to Cafe Society.
Oh, yeah; I had no doubt that you (being a Doper) wouldn’t be using acrylic for a finished garment. I just didn’t want anyone following along at home to try the mist & iron method of blocking on acrylic.
Also, I actually prefer a full wet-block for many items (particularly lace), but everyone’s mileage varies on blocking techniques.