How to fix my stockinette?

rissa · 09-07-2007, 04:58 PM

I'm thinking of joining the ranks of the TKGA Master Knitter Program. Just the thought of it has made me look more critically at my own knitting. I consider myself more of an advanced beginniner, althought I've tried and have been successful in many different techniques such as fair isle, cabling, short row shaping, etc.

I've really been hating my stockinette stitch. I get these horizontal bands going on every once in a while. I knit continentally, do you think it has to do with uneven tension with knitting a purling? Is this something that is fixable with techniques? Any suggestions would be helpful. I'd like to get a nice, even stockinette stitch. I can't say mine looks horrible, but I can't say I'm happy with it either, lol. Thanks in advance!

Jan in CA · 09-07-2007, 10:58 PM

I've found that different yarns can effect the look of my stockinette more than anything, but purling certainly can make a difference. I don't think it has anything to do with whether you knit continental or english, it's more a practice thing and the yarn.

samm · 09-07-2007, 11:14 PM

Hi! Good luck to you in pursuing the Master Knitter course of study! I found my stst was uneven too, and although I am a "thrower", I discovered upon paying attention to this most basic of techniques, that sometimes I was holding my yarn properly and sometimes I'd lazily let it go looser, which had a huge affect on my tension and thus my stitches. I concentrated on making sure I held the yarn properly and now I do it automatically, and my stst is much improved. It took watching what I was doing, for me to fix it. Hope this helps you,
samm

knitncook · 09-07-2007, 11:33 PM

Two thoughts? How are you holding your yarn when you knit? Do you let the yarn drop loose and then pick it up each time (or let it run through your hand but still not have tension on it) or do you wrap it around your index finger and use that to wrape with?

The other thought was to make sure that you are wrapping your thread correctly both when doing knit and purl. I wrapped my thread wrong for YEARS (like 12) and always hated purling because it made things so tight (How my mother didn't catch this I'll never know) It twisted the stitch.

If it is something that is incidental, have you considered if it is from where you have had to "unknit" or pick up a stitch or something that may be twisting the stitch on your needle? Sometimes when I make a mistake and go back and fix it I'll forget to pick up the right way and end up with a funky place. It shows mostly in stockinette since it is SO even and precise.

knitncook · 09-07-2007, 11:34 PM

Oh another thought! LOL!! How do the stitches look after you have blocked them? Do they still look odd? Sometimes small flaws or fixes working themselves out after they have been washed and blocked.

rissa · 09-08-2007, 12:02 AM

Thanks for the replies!!

Normally I knit continental, but this wasn't the first way I knit. I first started with the english method, which is strange, cause my dad knits combination. Anyway, I was having problems with my right shoulder and it was totally cause of the way I was throwing my yarn.

I changed to continental at his suggestion and the tension in my shoulder is a thing of the past. However, he never really showed my how to purl continental, and I was doing it incorrectly, didn't know what the problem was and hated it cause it produced such a tight stitch! I had no clue it was twisted, and I ended up quitting knitting for over a year.

Then, I decided to try it again and stumbled on this site, and while watching the Amy's video's I figured out what I was doing wrong. And I've been knitting nearly non-stop since, lol. So, now I know that my purl stitches aren't twisted.

Incidentally, when I noticed the problem, I tried knitting english style for a while and I still had some banding problems. Not as pronounced, but....I started having tension in my shoulder again. Just not worth the pain in my mind.

I think it may be how I'm holding my yarn. I let it run through my fingers, but very loosely. Perhaps I need to wrap it around my pinky, although whenever I do that it feels so wrong on my hands, lol.

I'll try to fiddle around with it for a while. Just knit swatches or something like that till I get it worked out. Thank you so much for your replies!!!

Songbirdy · 09-08-2007, 12:37 AM

Try one of those yarn holders that slip on your finger.

I notice the bands when I knit continental more than when I knit english. My english knitting stockingnette is very, very even. But then I have a habit of throwing a certain way and I actually don't wrap it but it would go over the pinky, under the ring finger, and over the other two.

With continental, I don't wrap either if its hot. Ugh... but otherwise I do it the same as for english method. My banding is much more frequent when I knit in hot weather.

So tension issue I'd think. Try not necessarily wrapping the yarn but weaving it through your fingers.

I can't wear rings when I knit. lol! My mother always teases me about my lack of rings!