Why are my knitted rows getting longer??

[petitchou]

I've recently taught myself to knit and thought I would try a scarf. I'm 15 rows into it and instead of a nice straight edge on each side, my rows seem to be getting progressively longer on each side. It's just a regular knit stitch - the pattern adds some purl later but I'm not there yet. I learned using acrylic yarn and this didn't happen but I'm using wool now - does that have anything to do with it?

Help? What am I doing wrong?

[Ruthla]

Maybe your stitches are too loose?

I'd need to actually look at your knitted piece to see if you accidentally added stitches some where (but this is more common with crochet than knit) most likely you were knitting tighter in the beginning and looser now. This is very normal for a new knitter.

[christianmomof3]

Are you counting your stitches? Perhaps you are accidentally adding in stitches by knitting into the wrong place.

[Knittin' in the Shade]

I would bet a dollar that you're increasing at the beginning of each row becuase your yarn is hanging so it looks like that first stitch is actually two stitches. You want to make sure that the yarn is hanging to the front, and the first stitch is not tugged over the needle (making each "leg" of the stitch look like a seperate stitch that needs to be knitted)

[bdavis337]

I won't take that bet. You'll win. I've done it more times than I can count.

[mamavegan]

Originally Posted by Knittin' in the Shade

I would bet a dollar that you're increasing at the beginning of each row becuase your yarn is hanging so it looks like that first stitch is actually two stitches. You want to make sure that the yarn is hanging to the front, and the first stitch is not tugged over the needle (making each "leg" of the stitch look like a seperate stitch that needs to be knitted)

This is exactly what I was going to say. It's one of the most common beginner mistakes.

[woodchick]

You could also be increasing the number of stitches by splitting the yarn- meaning that when you pick up a stitch to knit you are only picking up one or two ply of the yarn instead of the whole stitch. Then you'd go on to knit the remaining yarn as a separate stitch.

That happens to me especially if I'm using a chunky or novelty yarn.

[weliveintheforest]

:
Count your stitches. If it's just getting looser blocking will help.

[jennifercp8]

To the OP - I can't make a suggestion, but I might be able to find you someone who can! There are two knitting groups in Paris - the Paris Tricot group is a French speaking group. I used to attend the English one and had a great time. They usually meet Tuesday nights (or is it Wednesday?) at Les Halles. They have a group formed through Google. Here is a Link to the group where you can join. Hope that helps!

[petitchou]

Thank you all so much!

I counted my stitches and I do have one more than I started with - but only one so I don't think that's the main problem. It seems to be evening out the farther along I get so it must just be that my stitches are getting looser as I go along. I'll have to look up what blocking is now...

How loose is too loose??

What an awesome knitting group - thanks! I'm definitely going to check it out after the holidays when things settle down here a little. (Yeah, like things ever really settle down...)