Desparately seeking knitting help re: circular knitting

[curlytop]

I am a new knitter and am working on a so called easy sweater. It involves knitting in the round. I cast on the 160 sts and have been knitting rows which take me 15 minutes plus per row. I just stepped back to look at it all and it appears to be TWISTED!!!! I am so frustrated!!! :o

Is there anything I can do to "fix it" or am I all done and have to start from scratch.

Thanks in advance!

[Peg]

Hi Curlytop....I hate to be the bearer of bad news but, the only thing you can do is frog it (rip it out) and start over. :( When you begin anew be very careful your stitches are not twisted when you join the ends. Good luck!

[amy]

Welcome curlytop!

I've never done this for these circumstances, but it seems like you might be able to "fix" it (not perfectly, but perhaps it would be acceptable), by using a sewing machine.

If you've done four or more rows, it might be worth it to you, to at least try. Worst case scenario is you'd be wasting the yarn this way, but it won't waste much time to try....

Using very fine stitched on a sewing machine, run it through a sewing machine twice: once on either side of a "column" of stitches (so, you'd be sewing from the cast-on edge, up towards your needles, or vice versa; and then again, on the other side of the same stitch). Do this in an area that will be the side-seam, so it's least noticable. Then (don't scream--LOL), cut the stitches between these two sewing lines. Untwist your knitting, and seam the two halves together again!

If you want more instruction on this, you can google "steeks" and "sewing machine," and you'll probaby find some more instruction. What you're doing is not a steek, but the technique is similar.

If you've already ripped it out, don't feel bad. You'll get used to ripping things out as a knitter! It's always hard in the beginning, but you do get used to it; it becomes part of the Zen of knitting.

Amy

[curlytop]

I did rip it out, and it certainly wasn't a "Zen-like" experiece!

I'll just try again. The damn coil thing is REALLY annoying. I read somewhere to dip it in boiling water to try to straighten it. I think I'll do that before I start again so it's all easier to see.

Thanks to both of you for your advice!

Erin

[Holly]

I also had to rip out my first attempt at something with circulars -- don't feel bad! Watching Amy's videos and reading books about how to correct mistakes has made me feel not so bad about the inevitable frogging that comes with knitting :( . My problem earlier on was that I would encounter a mistake and not be able to figure out how to fix it (or make it worse by trying to fix it!). Now that I have a better grasp of how to correct mistakes, I don't feel so anxious about ripping out mistakes.

I tried the circulars again last night, and had much better luck. One word of advice -- before you rip it out, make sure your knitted it twisted, and it isn't just a case of the stitches needing to be straightened out. Until I got approx 3 rows going, I had to keep adjusting my work.

Good Luck!

Holly

[amigarabita]

amy, that is a great idea. i never thought of doing that. i don't twist knitting on my circs anymore these days, but i'm glad to have the idea handy for someone else. how frustrating that can be!