Beginner Need Help

tigress · 03-11-2009, 02:33 PM

Hello! I just started learning knitting, and is currently trying to knit a teddy bear motif using 2 colors, white for the motif pattern, and blue for the vest color. I started knitting 6 rows without "hiding" the blue yarn on the wrong side. It wasn't after the 6th row that I discovered the "carrying yarn over" method. This hides the dropped yarn and carried it over to the end of my motif pattern to be picked up again. My problem is, how to I fix the blue yarn that I didn't "hide" in the first 6th row. The blue yarn spanned across 26 sts, exposed. I fear that it might get caught or pulled, when worn. Should I cut off the blue yarn, and somehow seam it in? Here's a picture of how it looks like

Please advise! Thanks!!

suzeeq · 03-11-2009, 07:44 PM

You can cut the strands and weave them in on the back, or start over.

tigress · 03-11-2009, 07:56 PM

I think I'll go with the weave-in option. I'm not very good at taking off stitches yet. Most the time, a few sts will drop more than the row I intended, and I'm horrible at fixing dropped stitches. I'm kinda like those express train that once it take off, there's no reversing,keep chugging till the end!

I'm also told that I'm a very tight knitter. Is that bad? I tend to think that I'm very uptight, that's why my knit work is "tight"?? :D

Arielluria · 03-11-2009, 08:12 PM

I would also think about whip stitching those long carryovers to attach them to the white stitches. By that I mean to use another piece of white yarn on a needle and grab a white stitch, then secure some of the blue yarn before you grab the next white stitch. I hope that makes sense. It's just grabbing one white one at a time while pinning the blue one as you grab the next white one.

suzeeq · 03-12-2009, 02:31 AM

Tense knitters are usually tight knitters, yes. It can be compensated by knitting on larger needles than the pattern calls for (important when you're trying to make a sized item fit right) or by learning to 'loosen' up. Don't pull on the yarn after you've made a stitch; making the next stitch will tighten it up naturally.

tigress · 03-12-2009, 03:03 AM

Thanks for your help and advice, ladies.
I tried the whip stitching, but it made my vest even tighter. My knitting was already tight to begin with, had a little bit of ripple effect on the front. So I ended cutting the blue yarn in the middle, knot and weave them in. Hope that would hold! By cutting the blue yarn, it released some tension, and the ripple effect on the right side is gone! Yay!