Frustratingly common mistakes of the beginner

#1

Hi, im 23 and am picking up the knitting needles after about a decade of not knitting. I used to mostly use a large hand held size loom because I always had trouble knitting. Somehow I ALWAYS create extra stitches, regardless of how careful I am… also, I knit too tightly! No matter now much I try and keep it loose, I always knit too tight.

Should I:

Be using very large needles and a thick wool to begin practicing again?? Or stick to the smaller?

Anyone have any tips on speeding up skills?

Cheers!:happydance:

#2

A larger needle is good, you don’t have to have a heavy yarn too, a medium one is fine for pratice. To avoid knitting tightely, don’t pull the yarn after you make a stitch, doing the next stitch tightens up the previous one. Check to see that you’re wrapping the yarn the right way; if you wrap backwards it makes the st twisted unless you knit into the leg of the st closest to the tip on the next row. Twisted sts are tighter than normal one. And for the extra sts, check out this thread for the usual mistakes that add a stitch.