Urgent: Excess Slack between Needles

[elleislikehautecocoa]

Sorry that I'm about to ask this question but I really need an answer to it:

I've been knitting since I was in the third grade (I'm 22 now!) but as long as I can remember I have always had this excess slack between my needles when I go from point to point. I have no clue how to get rid of it or how to stop doing whatever it is I'm doing to create said slack.

Please help because I am starting my first really really big project and want it to go as smoothly as possible.

Thanks in advance for you help.

[G J]

You've got ladders.
I don't use DPNs, just magic loop, but with ML, you have to pull the next 2-3 sts really tight. That usually takes care of it.

[cam90066]

If you're referring to dpns, try moving the first st on each ndl to another ndl every few rows so you don't have the same st to start each ndl each time. By shifting the position of the sts you elim the same ones being first/last. I, too, like ML and that helps in that regard but sometimes how you insert the new dpn will assist in getting the right tension and avoiding the gaps.

cam

[Mike]

Push the stitches towards the tip of the left needle before working them so you're not pulling them so far.
You can also help the stitch off the left needle with your thumb and finger or push the left needle with your finger or thumb.

When you pull them far with just the loop on the right needle you're tightening stitches you don't want tightened and loosening that bar between the stitches.
Since you're doing this to the row(s) below where you're working yarn is you can't fix it with your working yarn tension.

A little pulling is good to even things out, but too much pulling causes what you describe because instead of evening it out you take all that evening out and build it up where it becomes noticeable in certain spots.

The reason it ladders on DPNs is because that joint is always there pulling so that's where it builds up. When you knit your DPN joints tighter it averages out (hopefully). I find it more reliable to not pull the DPN joints keeping the bases of those stitches as close as possible and pull a few stitches before and after since what you really need to do is tighten the stitches below the rows you can possibly tighten with the working yarn.

[munchkin928]

I like to knit a few stitches past 'the end' on each double-pointed needle to prevent/minimize those sorts of gaps. So, when I finish knitting all the stitches from one needle, I just put it down in my lap for a second and knit the next two or three stitches in the round. Then I pick up the empty needle and start knitting the rest of the stitches. The benefit of this is that if you're accidentally making those extra long stitches, they won't be lining up on top of each other, so they'll much less noticeable.

Pulling the yarn extra extra tight at each transition from one needle to another helps a lot too. For me, if I really exaggerate and pull the stitch very tight it turns out right.