Terrible twisting and frustration on my circular needle?

[drquinnfan937]

The thing is- I taught my self to fair isle knit in one day, I practiced on a needle with a 16" circumference and it came out perfectly on the outside, except it was twisted. I know how to knit that way and it makes me feel really good, until I get so so angry with the way I don't know how to keep it from twisting.

The girl who made up the pattern and ideas for the scarf I'm knitting never included how wide around the scarf is, so therefore I don't know what length needle I'm supposed to have. Is it true that you are supposed to knit on a needle smaller than the width around of your project?

Tonight I bought a needle that is 21" around because I felt that the 16" was too short, and now the 21" is getting twisted up with every movement, twisting the yarn beyond imagination and making me want to punch a wall. I get very frustrated with things, especially when I know how to do what I never thought I could- do the pattern- because of the twisting.

Does anyone know of a way to describe to me an easy way to keep from twisting? Or have a video to show?

And also- the only thing I know is that the scarf is 72 stitches to a round, which means I casted on 72. What sized needle would I need then?


thank you all so much for dealing with me, I'm still new to this and my temper doesn't help out I know, but I've been to the store every day for 5 days because there are no specifics to the scarf I'm working out and no one has pictures with a finished product, It's all just guesswork and estimations, but I want it so bad I'm trying.

thanks for all your help and here is the link to the scarf if it would help out any.
http://www.freshislefibers.com/Patte...mionescarf.pdf

[suzeeq]

Does the cord curl up with no stitches on it? You can straighten it out by holding the cord in very hot water a minute or two, then let it cool while holding it straight. With some needles you may have to do this a couple times, but it should help unkink it.

Is this scarf in a circle, it doesn't exactly say, it just gives you the stitch pattern for the colors which is 72 sts across, though she says around. She does say it's 9 inches around which means you would have to have a needle shorter than that for the sts to fit on. However, that would need very thin yarn that knits to 8 sts per inch. How many sts do you get per inch? That's what will determine how long a needle to use. What size are your needles - 4, 6, 9...?

You can however knit a small diameter with a longer needle by using the magic loop technique, or with the 2 circulars that you have. There are videos for that on the Advanced Techniques page.

It sounds like you haven't knit in the round with a circular needle before, so it might be an idea to take some leftover yarn or other yarn and just practice with it. You could cast on enough to make a hat or neckwarmer.

[drquinnfan937]

Does the cord curl up with no stitches on it? You can straighten it out by holding the cord in very hot water a minute or two, then let it cool while holding it straight. With some needles you may have to do this a couple times, but it should help unkink it.

Is this scarf in a circle, it doesn't exactly say, it just gives you the stitch pattern for the colors which is 72 sts across, though she says around. She does say it's 9 inches around which means you would have to have a needle shorter than that for the sts to fit on. However, that would need very thin yarn that knits to 8 sts per inch. How many sts do you get per inch? That's what will determine how long a needle to use. What size are your needles - 4, 6, 9...?

You can however knit a small diameter with a longer needle by using the magic loop technique, or with the 2 circulars that you have. There are videos for that on the Advanced Techniques page.

It sounds like you haven't knit in the round with a circular needle before, so it might be an idea to take some leftover yarn or other yarn and just practice with it. You could cast on enough to make a hat or neckwarmer.

Hi, thanks for answering, yes, the needle twists really bad with no stitches on there and I've tried the hot water thing twice, and though it helped it loosen a bit, it's still twisting out of control. I've concluded that it's just too long considering my number of stitches. I am also having to constantly pull all the stitches around because they are stretched out so much, which def means the cord is too long.

My needles are 4's. I haven't until yesterday, and when I experimented with the cord I thought was too short, everything turned out just fine, except the work was twisted. So maybe I should go back to the 16", even though I'm not exactly sure, because that seemed to be a more appropriate length, though it twisted.

I'm sorry if that wasn't specific enough, please let me know and I can go into more detail. thanks for you help

[suzeeq]

Yeah, for the 4s, you'd need the shorter needles. Is your yarn small too? Or how many sts per inch are you getting?

[drquinnfan937]

Yeah, for the 4s, you'd need the shorter needles. Is your yarn small too? Or how many sts per inch are you getting?

no, do you mean the thickness of the yarn? it's actually not really thick, and not thin, it's in between. Getting about 6 stitches an inch. But that was from last nights' knitting with the cord that was 16".
Like I said, today I haven't been able to even get past the chain because of the long 21" cord. I hope that made sense.

[suzeeq]

Okay 6 sts per inch divided into 72 sts is only 12" which still isn't as big around as the 16" needle. Go look at the videos for how to knit something smaller than your needles. You can use both of them in the 2 circs method and you won't have to stretch out the stitches. Cast on to one needle, then join and begin knitting with the other one. That might get you started at least.

[drquinnfan937]

Okay 6 sts per inch divided into 72 sts is only 12" which still isn't as big around as the 16" needle. Go look at the videos for how to knit something smaller than your needles. You can use both of them in the 2 circs method and you won't have to stretch out the stitches. Cast on to one needle, then join and begin knitting with the other one. That might get you started at least.

okay, thank you! the joining will help because I don't think I was doing it before and it was making it worse with the length of the cord

[drquinnfan937]

Before I forget, I also had an issue with the stitches. Though my work was getting twisted, it was still facing the right way in certain areas, and I noticed that in 3 attempts, the knit stitches and inside floats were facing the outside and the stockinette stitches ended up on the inside.
Was it just the twisting that was causing that?

[suzeeq]

You may be knitting 'inside out' with the needle tips pointing away from you and the circle closer to you. You just hold the needles closer to you with the working yarn on the right needle, flip the sts around if you need to. This picture is how you would hold the needles to get the stockinette on the outside, but many knitters work with it on the inside too.

[Sunshine's Mom]

Have you tried using double pointed needles?