Hi,
A Christmas stocking made for me by a friend who shall remain nameless has alternate slightly raised rows in the stockinette. As if either the knit or the purl row is being done improperly somehow, where normally the stockinette should be smooth.

Before I approach him about this problem, I'd like to have the solution in hand, so I can show him what to do. Has anyone seen stockinette that turns out in this manner? Is it just a tension difference between his knitting and purling? Or something else?

If so, what caused it, and how did you fix it?

I'm adding a photo that shows the problem as best I can, but it's hard to see in photos.

Thanks for any advice!

for stockinette you should have all V's on one side. (Knit 1 row, Purl 1 row) repeat those 2 rows. Your probably doing 2 rows of knit or 2 rows of purl instead of 1 of each....that will give you a "raised" row.

I think maybe he is twisting his stitches on the knit side ... knitting into the back of the loop instead of the front of the loop. If they were 2 purls and/or 2 knits there would bumps and v's on both sides instead of just "rough" v's.

It could just be a tension issue.

Techknitter has a good post on ways to fix it here (http://techknitting.blogspot.com/2007/02/uneven-stockinette-fabric-how-to-tame.html):

It looks like uneven tension, usually caused by the purl rows being looser. I don't think the sts are twisted.

Looks to me like this is only happening in the heel flap; the rest of the stocking looks smooth. Could your friend have done the heel flap in garter st instead of stockinette by mistake? I know that a lot of knitting instructions simply use "work in stockinette st ..." without explaining that stockinette st is done differently in this section because you've changed from working in the round to working flat. It would be easy enough to do!

I think tension as well. Here's a post about rowing out to go with your other info in this thread.

http://nonaknits.typepad.com/nonaknits/2007/04/rowing_out.html

That's a nice stocking that he/she obviously put a lot of time and thought into. I don't think I'd want to approach him/her about it unless they asked..don't want them to feel bad. But maybe that's just me. :shrug:

I don't have a lot of experience, but I'm leaning towards tension issue, too. 'Cause I can see what you are talking about on all parts, red, green, and white. And it still "looks" like stockinette, I mean the Vs are all there...

I did notice this on one of my projects, but it wasn't all the way through, it was just a row here and there. But I told myself it was because I was purling more loosely than knitting. Tension issues on every other row are more obvious on the wrong side, I find. Look on the inside, and you may see big gaps between some rows and not others.

I've never made socks, so I don't know if this was knit in the round or flat. If in fact it was knit flat, and you believe the purl rows are different from the knit rows, you won't know now which rows were made by knitting and which ones were made by purling, but you're friend could watch for it the next time a project is on the needles, because that's when you'll know if you have just completed a knit row or purl row.

Sometimes, when you leave your knitting on the needle for a few days (or longer) and then come back to it, that row that was on the needle will "stand out" a little from the rest. Maybe that's what happened.

It's possible that part of it was knit flat. I don't do socks, but I think usually the heel flaps are done back and forth, so it could be loose purling that does it.

My vote, with a capital V is absolutely not to say anything to him about it. If I had made something for someone and they gave me advice on how to improve it for next time, I'd be devastated and it would without a doubt put a dent in the friendship. Instead, I would wait until it comes up in conversation about knitting something else he's working on, and then you could address it in that instance. But maybe he's just really happy to knit away and isn't bothered by those alternate rows (which by the way, I also think is a tension issue). And Christmas stockings are wonderful that way-- stuff them and no one can tell there's anything amiss!

Since it's not like that on the heel flap, which is the only place that is knit RS/WS, it's very possible it's by design. Why would it be tension when it is consistantly every other row while every row is knit RS? The inconsistency is too consistent.
I've seen sweaters knit like that and it was obviously by design (changing needle sizes every row?).

If you want to bring it up in a way that wouldn't say, "You suck at knitting." ask how he did it because you think it looks cool.

I agree with Jan. It's kinda cute actually. Definitely a keeper. Think maybe that was how the pattern was written? (Do both socks look like that?)

I agree with Jan and everybody else who says not to mention the uneven knitting. It's such a sweet gift; why make him feel bad about it? I also agree that it's a tension issue. Even with the zoom, I didn't see any twisted stitches or purls. I am guessing that he is not too experienced a knitter and got a little tense about the heel turn. With more experience his tension will even out. And he'll learn that a good blocking can make anybody's knitting look better.

I vote not to say anything about the stocking either. Let the topic come up in conversation or start a conversation about knitting and see if you can indirectly figure out what he done without mentioning the stocking.