my knitting is ugly.

[texaspeach]

I need some help. My knit stitches in stockinette are really rounded instead of Vs, and uneven. I know that the problem is that my tension is not tight enough and is uneven.

I've been knitting for a while now (abt 2 years), but I haven't figured out how to hold my yarn so that my tension is even. I knit continental but yet still find myself moving my left hand to "wrap" the yarn a bit, instead of picking the yarn with the working needle.

I go to a knitting group but frankly I'm embarrassed to share my problem I'm not above getting a private lesson at the yarn store, but I'd like to try some stuff out on my own. I've looked at the videos on knittinghelp.com, that is where I taught myself to knit but I still haven't been able to correc the problem.

any suggestions?

[MeepyCat]

Do not despair.

But you might try some experiments, particularly this one:

Knit a small square, about 4x4. Then fill the sink with lukewarm water and fully submerge your knitting. When you're sure it's been soaked through, remove it, lay it flat on a towel, roll the towel up and squeeze the water out. Remove the square and lay it flat on another, dry towel. Tug it a little to straighten it out. IF any stitches look obviously off kilter (bigger or smaller than the others), give those stitches a bit of a tug to even them out a bit. Leave the swatch alone to dry.

Odds are good that, in the morning, your knitting will look much better and tidier.

[mom2snugbugs]

Practice, Practice, Practice. I've been knitting since I was 8 yo. I did it on and off for years, but just started up again about 3 years ago. Whenever i tried something new, it would look "ugly" because I was new to the technique (don't even ask me about my pearl stitch!!) I just practiced and practiced. Good luck, and remember, no one is perfect the first time, and you WILL get better.

[texaspeach]

I appreciate your suggestions

you know, blocking helps but it doesn't fix it completely.

I have been knitting for two years, I know that isn't long in the grand scheme of things, but I don't think this is a newbie practice makes perfect problem. My knitting is not as uniform as I'd like. I've knit all sorts of things, but they've all got the same uneven quality to it.

I guess what I'm looking for is suggestions and descriptions of how other people maintain consistent tension and how they hold their yarn. I need some ideas on how to correct the uneven tension. When I'm knitting, I drop the yarn a lot, especially when doing something like 1x1, instead of holding the yarn and just bringing it forward quickly to purl and popping it back to knit as it should be in continental (this is the method I learned to knit in, not english)

[mum21andtwins]

have you tried watching the videos on knittinghelp.com(think thats right?) or videos on youtube? that might be easier than trying to describe what I do when I knit.

[kittie313]

For my tension, I hold my yarn in what may considered a wonky way. I knit english btw, and I don't turn my work when knitting (in otherwords I knit forwar and in reverse both) Anyway, I wrap my yarn around my right wrist loosely, then with just my first two fingers I wrap them in a sort of figure 8 with my middle finger guiding my yarn. Does that make any sense at all? Its a very strange way to hold the yarn from what I've heard, but it works great at keeping my tension consistent so that my stitches are nice and fairly even. If you need a visual, I'll get dh to snap a pic of how I hold while knitting and I'll upload to share. (and I taught myself to knit 18 years ago using a pair of size 6 needles, a skein of acrylic, and a booklet that Coats & Clark put out, I was 8yo and picked it up pretty quick once I figured out some of the things the booklet was saying because it was very confusing to me)

[berrymama]

I knit continental, and tend to knit on the tight side. I also kind of wrap sometimes with my left hand, especially when purling. I don't think there is anything wrong with that...everyone has a little variation in technique.

I will try to describe what I do to maintain tension:

After casting on, or when you pick up your work:
Pick up your needle in your right hand (the one you will eventually hold in your left). Hold your left hand with palm facing you perpendicular (like you are going to shake someone's hand). Wrap the tail of yarn around your little finger coming up from the bottom and around your finger once. Picture here. The end connected to the ball should be coming up in front of your palm, passing through your little and ring finger, wrapping down around your little finger and then going up to the needle holding the stiches. Then grab your needle with your left hand thumb and pointer finger. The yarn rests on top of the pointer finger and kind of guides it. Picture here. The yarn coming up from your little finger to the needle should be taught. That is where the tension comes from. I open and close my fist as needed to adjest the tension. Here is another picture while knitting (I opened my palm to show the tension yarn, usually my thumb would be grasping the needle). I also tend to work really close to the ends of the needles, which is why I knit tight.

I tried to add pictures...my family will wonder why these pictures are on Flickr ha!
Hope that helps some!

[Ruthla]

I could sit with you and teach you. I'd probably put my hands over yours and/or have you put your hands over mine as we knit together, so I can show your hands what to do. I'm not even consciously aware of how I hold my fingers to keep the yarn tension even. It's something my hands just "know" and I don't think anybody actually taught me that detail.

I'm not convinced that you'll be able to fix this with videos or verbal explanations. You might figure it out eventually just by knitting a lot and experimenting, but IMO you really need to sit down one on one with an experienced knitter if you want to get this figured out quickly.

[cristeen]

I agree with Ruthla, this may be something you have to experiment with to find out what works for you.

I hold my yarn the same way for knitting as I do for crocheting. It's the way I devised years and years ago for creating the proper tension on the yarn. If you go to Knittinghelp.com and watch the Knit Stitch video, it's her preferred way of holding it, also. Basically, it's wrapped around the knuckle of my pinkie (which I can bend or straighten to adjust tension) and then around my index finger, which is only guiding the yarn, the tension does not come from the index finger, it has other jobs.

[texaspeach]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!

Ruth, I think you are right. I'm going to suck it up and take a lesson at my LYS (my MIL gave me a gift certificate that should just cover it)

[4evermom]

I control the tension by having the yarn coming from the knitting go in front of, and over the top of, my left index finger. Then it comes down the back of my index finger and in front of my ring finger. Then, I tuck it under bottom of the ring finger and behind my hand where it goes to the skein of yarn. Hope that makes sense. Then I just move my index finger forward or back depending on the stitch and I grab the yarn with the needle in my right hand. I could not figure out how people did the wrap thing with their right hand. It just seemed so awkward coming from a crochet background so I just moved to this way (Continental?) after being shown the other (English? American?) way.

I've seen pictures recommending wrapping the yarn around the pinky but couldn't get comfortable with that.

[ShadowMom]

I have a wonky knitting style as well. Basically I wrap with my left hand.

I do seem to have a good consistent tension though. I do this by wrapping the yarn around my left pinky. Since you're continental that should work for you as well if you want to try it.

Basically I wrap the yarn around my left pinky, then drape it over my index finger. It's the style I learned from the basic continental knitting video at http://www.knittinghelp.com.

However, I also unravel the yarn from the skein as I go. I pull it out and then let it lay in my lap as I knit it. Otherwise it just feels too tight to me. This is probably another weird mannerism of my knitting, of which there are many.

If you posted some pictures, it might help, mama. Lots of ladies here can tell from the pictures what is going wrong. It could be that th eproblem is different from what you think it is... kwim?

[courtenay_e]

I hold the main "tail" of the yarn snugly but not tightly between the left needle and my left palm, with the thread that i am knitting over my index finger's first knuckle, and then between that and the second finger's second knuckle, if that makes sense. I lift my index finger when the needle goes through the stitch, so that the needle can pick up the yarn, and have control over the tension by how far I lift my index finger.

Hope that doesn't make your brain hurt more!

[Sillygoose]

I'm gonna agree with several of the above posters and say that you should probably look to how you're tensioning the yarn with your left hand.

I knit continental, and I tension it by wrapping the yarn twice around my index finger. I've seen people try a complex over and under the fingers wrap, the pinky wrap, the wrist is an interesting idea and I can see it working -- it's all about how it works best for your hands.

Heck, I wrap it only once when it's humid out, and three times when it's dry out, or when my skin is dry -- it changes.

Ultimately you want the yarn to be tight/tense enough that you can wrap the stitch (or pick it) without the yarn falling off your fingers or the needle, and loose enough that it draws evenly through your fingers, no significant pulling or readjusting needed to loosen up the next bit of yarn you knit with.

Try a few different things, and try it on really simple projects, or swatches even, so you can get a handle on the dance your hands are performing without worrying too much about any specific project.

Good luck.