I’m still a beginner and I had no idea you aren’t supposed to pull the needles apart! Nobody has ever mentioned that before. No wonder my edges look like that! Thank you💕
So glad I saw this tip! knitters on youtube seemed to have so much more room to knit so I was actually doing it on purpose to make my movements look more like the 'pros'.
Thank you! These things have been driving me crazy. I knew I was doing something wrong but I couldn't figure out what. You showed me exactly what I was doing wrong.
pulling the needles apart! I didn't even realize I was doing this, no wonder I was having issues! nobody has mentioned this on any video I've found and I can't thank you enough for your help :)
As w/others, my issues were sloppy stitches at the beg of the row, including that dreaded CO loop (thank you SO much for resolving THIS problem...it'd been haunting me since I first learned to knit (self-taught...and because so, I've developed a slew of bad habits). My CO edge was another nightmare (picking up stitches...? ha!...impossible). It didn't matter if I knitted these sts on the RS and slipped them on the WS, they ALWAYS turned out loose and messy, causing my efforts to appear uncaring and lazy. Though I began knitting YEARS ago, I've limited myself to accessories, shying away from anything garment-wise because I was so unhappy w/my work and didn't want to waste quality yarn. You've removed an IMMENSE amount of frustration I've had with this craft and now I am excited about knitting my first pullover! THANK YOU!!! I'll be sure to seek you out on Ravelry!
I’m a beginner who was being driven crazy by those ugly loops at the end and why I was having trouble with the first row of cast-on “stitches”. Thank you so much for taking the time to explain this. I was getting discouraged with going further. Now I’m excited to keep at it and learn more!!!
Thank you so much. I am a beginner. I was getting so discouraged because after the first two rows the rest looks great. Now I will be able to knit a few Christmas presents for special loved ones. You are a great instructor!
Extremely helpful video. Have literally ripped out lots of work because I hated the big loops that were developing by the end of the row. I started learning to knit a couple of weeks ago
OMG Thank you for helping me identify my bad knitting habits. I was ending up with those huge loops at the end of my rows. Thanks to you and this video, turns out I am a needle pull apart-er and I work too low down the needles.
This video helped me so much! Ive just started knitting and couldn’t figure out why I had such loose and wide stitches. Thank you very much! I appreciate your help!
thank you for explaining how this problem happens. I didn't know how to explain the problem I'm having, but you took care of my unspoken problem perfectly. this video is great.
Thank you so much! My edges where pulling up and making a weird loop and i couldn't figure it out. I had no idea that the needles weren't supposed to be pulled apart
I just wanted to thank you so so much for this video. I searched through the entire internet in my native language and found nothing about the issue with those huge loops at the end of the rows. It's 2021 and you're still our (beginners) only hope ;)
I have been working with a couple of students with the ‘loosy goosy every other row’problem... your solutions really gave me multiple solutions. Thank you.
Thank you so much for this! I always seem to end up with a sizeable loop at the end of my rows -- particularly purl rows -- and I couldn't see why. I'll have to watch myself next time I knit to see if I pull the needles apart at all or knit too far down. (I know I've definitely been guilty of the latter!) Thanks for always having a video to help me understand all these nuances as I learn!
Thank you so much. I have searched and searched and haven't been able to fond a solution to this problem that has plagued me since I started I finally got an answer it my tension and I'm pulling and I didin't even know that was the problem, but when you explain it it makes perfect sense. I was trying to tighten up the last stich.
Roxanne, I can always count on you for spot-on advice! I am in the process of making prototypes of layette pieces for my first granddaughter, and am utilizing a slip stitch selvedge edge. I had been finding that my selvedge edges were a bit messy, and so I came to you via RU-vid for advice. Paying more attention to the second stitch mount for adding that little bit of extra tension completely solved my issue; the results are a million times better. Thank you!!!
Thank you for this excellent video! I believe I have discovered why I sometimes experience the problems covered in the video and appreciate the solutions suggested.
Excellent suggestions! Thanks for sharing. I wish I had viewed this last year. Fortunately, I discovered the push versus pull of stitches off the needle by working with brioche. Because I was pulling the stitches originally, the whole fabric ended up being super tight and "leaned" to the right. Keep up the great teaching!
I am so grateful that this video was suggested to me! I had no idea that how close your needles are mattered so much! I'm really enjoying knitting but I've been worried since I could see some of these problems developing in my tester. Thank you for the clear demonstrations!
Great comment about stretching and pulling the needles apart. I’ve seen some videos, particularly from yarn companies, seem to purposely pull every stitch stretching the yarn. I never thought about what that could do! I’m probably past that (a little past it) but my daughter wants me to teach her knitting. It’ll be careful about this when I work with her! Thank you for all the great information I’ve learned from your help!
I'm so glad I'm not alone with these edge stitch problems! Thanks so much Roxanne for clearing up these edge stitch problems. It just breaks your heart when you've found a wonderful pattern to knit but you feel like an imbecile because you know that some simple issue is going to make your beautiful garment look like an ameteur made it.
I just wanted to thank you for this video, as I now know that I was pulling the needles too far about. I am so pleased to be fix it, thank you so much!
Thank you so much for this! I just started knitting 3 days ago and couldn't figure out for the life of me what I've been doing wrong. This is been so helpful ❤️
Knitting really, really tightly at the beginning of the row fixed this for me. I read this somewhere, either in a Vogue Knitting magazine or in the Big Book of Knitting. They explained it as being caused by (and I can't remember this exactly; I might have it backwards) pushing loose yarn ahead in one row, either at the beginning or the end, and making it up by tightening stitches at one end, either the beginning or the end. This was years ago, and I forgot which it was. And I didn't knit for a few years. So here I am knitting silk and at the end of the row the stitches are loose and messy. So I tried both --- tightening at the end or tightening at the beginning. Tightening at the beginning of each row worked for me. And I'm sorry I don't know why, but I know I read it somewhere in what I consider to be an authoritative source on knitting. Now, I can't remember the explanation, but there was one, and it made sense, but in a surprising way. Ah, watching you I think I saw it. The loose yarn at the end of one row CAN be alleviated by tight knitting at the beginning of the NEXT row. It pulls that extra yarn into the next row where you knitted the really tight stitches. And that's how it works for me. I pull the first stitch as tight as possible, the next almost that tight, and the third also tight. And then I knit normally, and when I've worked several rows, the ends of the rows are fine and so are the beginnings. It all works out.
As someone who just finished my first baby blanket and ended up quite disappointed in how it turned out----THANK YOU. You called out so many bad habits I didn't realize I picked up in my self-teaching.
A lot of getting better at knitting has to do with learning to read your knitting (including mistakes) and how to correct them. Your disappointment in your results is simply a gap between your taste and your current abilities. You will get better! :-)
This was very helpful for someone just starting to learn knitting. Many of the tutorials I watched used the slip stitch so I always ended up with the long string in-between the needle and I no idea what I was doing wrong.
Thank you for addressing the slack issue, I’ve been stuck on the first row for so long because I could never understand why I would get a big loop where it shouldn’t have been. :)
Very helpful video. :0 I would like to try some of these next time, particularly the one where you tightened to yarn to pull out slack, and the one where you just take out the first casted on stitch because I sort of notice that my first stitch is always more or less loose.
For other type of mistakes, like you have a wrong stitch somewhere, like a purl instead of a knit, you may undo just that column ahead the wrong stitch. Then using a crochet it's easy to correct the mistake, and of course redo all the other stitches. It's much easier to correct on the knit part than the purl part (in a stockinette). This works easier when you are not too far away, 5-6 rows it's OK. In the same way the edges may be corrected. It's even easier than a stitch in the middle of a row. But if you have to large stitches on some rows, you need to undo up to the loose loops and try again. Loose lops can't be corrected.
I've made sweaters before so I made one for Christmas. When I went to sew it together the bound off shoulder seams etc...I couldn't tell what was what..when i tried to sew it together it was just a huge mess and he didn't end up getting the sweater for Christmas. I was really disappointed.
You are the best I have been getting so frustrated trying to learn how to knit, I didn't realize I was causing my own problems by separating the needles so much
I’m knitting a blanket and want to add a border when I’m done. I know how to pick up and knit. My question is do you pick up and knit one side at a time. Jeanne
I think that loose edge stitches are a feature of continental knitting. I knit both ways but always start off my rows with the yarn in my right hand to avoid the problem of a loose start. Also to tighten up a loose last stitch I sometimes wrap the yarn clockwise instead of the usual anti clockwise.
I have knitted a dress for my little grandaughter. I'm doing the NECKBAND. JOINING SHOULDER SEAMS. PICKING UP AND KNITTING 12 sts evenly along left sideof back neck. 18 sts evenly along left side of neck 10 sts from front of neck 18 sts evenly along right side of neck and 12 sts evenly along right side of back neck. ( 70 ) sts. Work 4 rows in g-st. Cast off knitways.
While I am happy to answer questions you may have about this particular video within the comments, this is not a good place to answer questions about specific projects. I'm happy to help with any knitting question in my Ravelry group. There is a link to my group in the description of every video on my channel.
Sorry, for having interrupted your program with questions. I was unaware, as this is my very first time of following you. I will try to follow you on the Ravelry link.
If the forum supports it, photographs can be a great help. I work with a lot of people on Facebook pages helping them learn to navigate and use Facebook and screen shots have saved the day many times. Most folks can learn to post photos, especially if they're using their phones. I use a laptop so have to e-mail the photos from my phone to myself and then post them from the laptop and that's a whole 'nother set of instructions LOL
On Ravelry, you can upload photos within the forums. It's done frequently both by people who need help, and people who are offering help, whether it's to identify what the problem is and how to fix it, or by people wondering what a specific stitch pattern is, and how to do it.
What I always keep in mind is that I want the diameter of the barrel of the needle to determine the stitch size. Since I've kept that in mind, my stitches have gotten MUCH more even.
Thanks Roxanne, now I know what I did wrong that made my edges messy for the last few rows of my work, is there a way to fix it? Thanks so much I'll be practicing not dragging my stitches off the LH needle anymore and think of YOU!
Thank you for solving my last loose stitch problem. I have it on every row! I have a related problem... I am using a slipped stitch pattern with two colors of yarn. I am slipping the first stitch of every row to create a salvage edge for later picking up stitches. My problem is that the side where I switch the yarn to the next color I pull tighter and so the salvage edge is narrower(stitches are tight) while on the other side I just turn and purl back with the same color, the edge has big loops on the stitches (wider column). I realize I am pulling too tight on the other end, but is there something different I can do while slipping that first stitch and changing the yarn? I am sorry if I am not asking this clearly enough.
Sooooo glad I found your site. My problem is loose stitches on a short row on a cap sleeve. Even an instructor can't figure out what the heck I'm doing wrong. My short rows for making a slanted shoulder are fine. Please, any ideas?
This is a question best answered in my Ravelry group, where you can post photos and describe what sort of short row you're using, how often you're turning, etc. Without visuals, I can't really help.
I am looking for reasons behind one finished edge of a piece (scarf) has no stretch to it while the other edge is stretchier. Is this a knitting technique issue or a pattern issue? The scarf is worked with short rows and seamed to create the loop, so I know its not a tight cast on issue. I have no pattern, using an existing hand-knit scarf to copy, and having difficulty figuring out what the first 2-3 stitches are on each row. Thank you!.
The usual links I include in the video description were missing, so I added them. There's now a link to my Ravelry group in the vid description. I'm always happy to answer questions there.
Hi, thank you for the helpful tips, trouble shooting .. maybe there is a video you could direct me to. When I (try) to knit seed stitch I have peeky holes (?) between knits/purl/knit. Could you help me? thank you for your great videos. I'm visual so this is perfect for me.
