Ugly St st

[Amberle]

It's been a while since I've knit anything with a substantial Stockinette section (since I find it tedious). Now I'm finding that apparently I have tension issues ... big time. The phenomenon looks like "rowing out" but I'm knitting in the round! Also, I have been moving the needles around by a couple stitches each round, so it's possible the uneven stitches are from where I started the new needles...

I find the stitches in the middle of each needle easier to knit through. Also, I like to carry slack from between two stiches down the row until it evens out, is this a bad habit??

Any suggestions??

[Jan in CA]

It could be from moving the joins on each row, but I'm not sure. I do that after a few rows on DPNs, but I only do it once. Some yarns don't knit up as nicely either I've found so that could also be part of it.

[Amberle]

I think it is from moving the joins. I tried this as an experiment for a few inches and then stopped moving them. The portion where I did not move the needles looks better on the whole, but there is a noticeable column where the needle change was. It's not really a ladder, but more like a verticle line (one column of stitches is raised compared with the others).

I've got to finish these socks, so I can't rip them back, but I don't even want to look at it it's so ugly :(

[suzeeq]

It's very likely that the stitches will even out with blocking or washing after you're done, so they won't be so noticeable.

[Jan in CA]

If there are no ladders I agree that it will most likely look fine after washing/blocking. The first several rows often look a little wonky.

[Amberle]

You gotta love blocking ... it's magical!!