All of my stitches ( knit, purl, etc) tend to lean, or pull, to the right instead of forming straight rows

[knitnutty]

Hi... I don't know what I am doing wrong, but my knitting, no matter what I am making has a slant to the right side, in an example, I just finished a shrug (my first attempt) and the seams on the sleeves are twisting slightly to the front instead of hanging straight. Blocking helped a little but did not completely fix the issue, and in several scarves they tend to pull to the right as well.....I tend to knit tight, but have no idea what is causing this to happen. I have tried to make the stitches looser, but it doesn't seem to make much difference in the outcome. I have noticed that when I am working cables it does not seem to happen, or at least not as noticeably. I knit continental style. I would appreciate any help with this....Thanks, knitnutty.

[Ingrid]

Is there any way you can post a picture? That would help a lot.

[suzeeq]

You may have twisted stitches, that can sometimes cause the fabric to bias, and will also result in tight stitches.

Check the knit and purl st videos to see if you're wrapping the yarn around the needle 'backwards' or not. If you are, then check which 'leg' of the stitch you knit into. It should be the one closest to the tip of the needle.

[AngelaR]

It really depends on how you knit, however, the one thing I have noticed is that it really does all come out in the wash.

Last year, when I was really unhappy with my combined knitting stitches I realized that things equallized once I had washed a project and the fibers loosened up some, but it wasn't exactly what I wanted, so I switched up to Eastern Knitting and got the conformity of stitches I wanted.

If you're a Continental knitter, you may be doing something during the purl stitch that is twisting your stitches and getting them to lean in a way you don't intend. Watch the videos here on beginning techniques and see if you're doing things right. They were a huge help to me.