Funky-looking stitches

#1

I have a really weird thing going on with my knitting that I need help with. I’m knitting a shrug in stockinette stitch. I knit continental style. I’m doing everything right as far as making my stitches (verified by my yarn shop guru). However, my shrug, instead of having the typical pattern of
////////
////////
//////// stitches, my stiches looks more like this:
|/|/|/|/|/|/|/
|/|/|/|/|/|/|/
|/|/|/|/|/|/|/
Is this how stockinette stitch is supposed to look? It sure doesn’t look like my “how to” books or any of the tutorials I have seen and practiced here. This is going to drive me nuts!
Any help would be appreciated!

#2

It can go either way. It is just the way the yarn and your tension work together. Mine looks like this too. I think it looks nice. But no worries, you aren’t doing anything wrong. I heard some yarns are more likely to make it look like this than others, but I am not sure how true that is.

#3

Some yarns do that because of how they’re spun, but check the knit and purl videos to make sure you’re not wrapping your yarn the wrong direction and making twisted stitches.

#4

go to Knitty.com (the on line zine/patterns) and look in archives for [B]Why PLY?[/B] it explains in detail, (so much detail, that i really only skimmed, (and didn’t read) the article)

basically,

you can some times get |/|/|/|/ and other times |||||…instead of /////.

it has to do with
how the strands are plied (and how tightly/loosely)

how the plies are spun together (and how tightly/loosely)

and lastly how you knit.

some yarn will bias a bit, some will bias a lot… and 99% of the bias is not your fault, its the nature of the yarn.

#5

I have had this problem too, but only with some yarns. I guess it makes sense to me now based on what others have posted.

#6

Knowing that this isn’t abnormal is a huge relief to me!

Thanks to everyone for the reassurances!!