knitting assistance--new here

Mar 01, 2007 47 Replies

Hi,



My name is Lisa and I've been lurking and reading here for quite some time. I'm hoping that you all will be able to help me or perhaps direct me to where I might find help in a book, etc. for a knitting problem. I made a hat on double pointed needles and it wasn't until after I had nearly completed the hat that I disovered that there was a "ladder" of stitches running the length of the hat. Apparently, I hadn't pulled the stitches tightly enough from one needle to another and they were looser than the rest of the hat. So, do I just chalk this up as a lesson learned and unravel the hat or can it be repaired in some way? My motto tends to be "If you can't fix it, feature it" but that would be an extensive applique to cover up this particular boo boo. This isn't the first time this has happened to me when using double points, and it seems to be *only* on double points that it happens. I really try to make sure I have firm stitches between each needle join, but sometimes it eludes me. And it would be great if there is a way to repair the mistake rather than rip it out or cover it up.



thanks in advance for any advice you can give! I hope to post here some more in the future. :-)



lisa


Use a crochet hook to work the ladder yarn into the surrounding stitches. It'll take time, but no more than ripping and reknitting the cap would take.

Never purl the first stitch on a DPN if you can avoid it. Put a little extra tension on the last two and the first two stitches at a needle change. Knit one or two stitches off the next needle onto the current needle before changing to an empty needle.

Wooly had some good suggestions. I wanted to add that washing or block the hat can even out some of the stitches as well.

sue

Hallo Lisa WELCOME here. DO NOT unravel the hat ,, try

1 take hat in your hands and catch both sides of the ladder ,,, Holding ??? now give a strong quick pull once with right hand mooving upwards and lrft hand down wards and once the opposite and than right hand to right and left hand to left ,,,, MOST wools will sort themselves out and pull a bit of the thread into the joining stitches 2, if the above doesn`t work , ,, put hat on a turned over plstic bowl , and pull each thread into it`s neighbour stitches. 3 you could use a crochet needle and judt make an other colum of an added stitch ,,,,, 4 embroider over it with another color As IF it was meant to be in the pattern !!!!

Next time ,, remove >Hi,

Lisa,

I have nothing else to ad that has not been said.

Just welcoming you to our group. Please delurk often.

Hugs & God bless, Dennis & Gail

Wooly is such a good knitter that she has forgotten that it is easy to drop a stitch off the end of a DPN, where upon the dropped stitch runs down leaving a ladder. Crochet hooks to fix , and the thick rubber bands off of bunches of produce wrapped around the end of the needle or in a "figure 8" over the stitches on the DPN to prevent!

My new gansey was knit on DPN and has lines up the middle of the belly and the back where I changed needles. I spent a couple of hours adjusting the stitches. After I washed it, the lines did not show as much. After I wore it a bit the lines showed less.

At this point the lines are just visible and prove that it was handmade.

In addition to the other recommendations, I find that using a set of 5 dps, rather than 4, helps avoid the problem of loose stitches between needles.

Karlisa spun a FINE 'yarn':

Hi, Lisa, and first: WELCOME! To PREVENT this in the future: MOVE your stitches. Explanation: (example) say you have 20 stitches on 4 DPN's or 26-27 on

3 DPN's... *move* them around while working on rounds, say 22 on your next needle, 21 on the next, 19 on the next, 18 on the last, and just keep moving them every couple of rounds. HTH! Noreen

Hi Lisa! You already have some good answers, so I am just welcoming you to the group. By the way, I *love* your sign-off message! LOL

*hugs* Gemini

Hah! I had forgotten, but not because I'm a crack knitter - far from it! After I broke the 7th or 8th rosewood DPN sock needle I switched to using two circs for socks and THAT means I do most of my knitting on circs these days. I drop all sorts of stitches, usually because I have too many crammed onto a needle and they push off the needle tips when I put the work down :D

I found that was a problem when I started that moebius.

I kept a cork (clean end!) from a wine bottle and sliced it up into circles about half an inch wide. Then when I had to put the knitting down I just pushed a piece of cork onto each needle. No more dropped stitches. :-)

Bernadette

Has anybody broken down, and bought some of those plastic needle tip stoppers that I see in places like Jo Anns and Michaels? A.

Bernadette you made the moebious on DP ?????????????????????????? i do it on the Circular i had over 500 stitches no dp will hold THAT ,, mirjam

Which circs?

All the pretentious knitters at Stitches were using 6" - US #1 gray epoxy coated DPN, to the extent that I wondered if gray sock needles were mandatory dress code for the event.

Aaron

No, Mirjam, on a circular.

I was referring to the part of Wooly's post where she said "I do most of my knitting on circs these days."

I only had 360 stitches on the circular. The original circular I used was only a 32 inch but as I found that too short soon went on to a 40 inch circular. After the first 3 or 4 rows it became easier.

Yesterday I visited a dear friend who has asked me to make her a moebius too. :-)

Bernadette

I have some, they're pretty worthless - either too big or too small for whatever needle I need to cap. I just don't bother and plan to pick up a couple of stitches...

Yeah, I did, but haven't used them. How's that for common sense? ;>D

Shelagh

I have a couple of sets of light grey aluminum sock needles... but they're

2.25 mm, or #13 Canadian ;>P

Wow, you sure have a hate on for Stitches don't you? I intend to go someday, and believe me, I'm the most unpretentious person around. I also know a woman whose husband does some of the work involved in setting Stitches up... she attends many Stitches and she's not pretentious either. You shouldn't paint everyone with a broad brush, or it'll bite you in the a**.

Shelagh

Gem, nice to see you popping in!

Shelagh

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