Question about circular or DPN for a beginner :)

PlayboyMommy · 10-24-2007, 03:03 PM

Ok I hope that I can explain this in a way that someone else might be able to understand and help me fix my problem. OK SOOOO..when I knit with straight needles I have this problem too....anyhow..when i cast on my stitches and then begin knitting the yarn in between my stitches gets longer and longer and when I pull the needles apart the yarn with tighten the stitch but I still have that long yarn in between my needles. When I get to my last stitch that i casted on i am unable to knit into it because I can't get it to tighten so I have always just cast on one extra stitch and just don't use that last one once I get to it. Well I'm trying to learn how to use circulars and DPN's but I can't seem figure out why this keeps happening and because of it I can't join the knit into a circle because I have this LONG piece of yarn that I can't get rid of or fix. Does anyone understand what I'm saying...or what I'm doing...or how to fix this? I'm getting really frustrated and can't move on to circulars or DPN's til i fix this. Thanks for your help guys

debinoz · 10-24-2007, 03:37 PM

Which cast on do you use? Usually the backward loop cast on does that and I don't knoow why. Look under the basic techniques tab at the top for different ones. I use the long tail.

PlayboyMommy · 10-24-2007, 05:13 PM

I don't know what it's called....or where I got it from, but i'm sure it was out of one of the books that I use, but I put the yarn on my thumb and I insert the needle into that loop and it makes the loop.

G J · 10-24-2007, 05:37 PM

THat's the backwards loop cast on. Try the long-tail cast on. It makes a nicer edge than the backwards loop and you shouldn't have trouble with the last stitch being too loose. I use Magic Loop for circular knitting. It works GREAT!

suzeeq · 10-24-2007, 10:57 PM

The knitted or cable castons work pretty well too. Backward loop/thumb CO should only be used when you have just a few sts to CO. Like 2....

PlayboyMommy · 10-24-2007, 11:28 PM

I appreciate all of the tips....I will give them a try tonight and let you know how they turn out and if I'm still struggling then I'll keep begging for help

Thanks
PlayboyMommy

mmflygirl · 10-25-2007, 02:18 PM

Hi I have a question. I cast on 96 in the round for a hat for my father. I want to have decrease straight lines, but all hat sI have done have more girly swirl decreasees (k10,k2tog, k9,k2tog,etc.) how do I get the straight line decrease. I think it will look better for a male. Does this make sense to anyone? Thank you

suzeeq · 10-25-2007, 02:26 PM

You could try alternating the decs - k2tog on one dec row, SSK on the next.

Marj · 10-25-2007, 07:42 PM

Playboy Mommy, this is the same problem I hadd when I first learned to knit 20 year ago. With many cast on stiches I would end up with a long piece of yarn in between so I would cast on more stiches in middle of the work. It got so frustrating tht I eventually gave up on knitting and stuck with crocheting.

But a year ago when I decided to try knitting again I tried books to learn a new cast on but couldn't understand the log-tail cast on from books. Then I discovered this site and Amy's wonderful videos and finally I was able to get the long-tail cast on. And I haven't looked back since.

Thank you Amy for making it possible for me to finally learn to knit and love it. And actually make items instead of just some big random square with no idea of my actual stich count.

Marjorie