Gap between DPN's

I am knitting a 2x2 ribbed hat for my daughters on 10.5 size DPN’s, the problem I am having is with the gap in between the needles. No matter what I do, I can’t get rid of that gap and it about 2x the size of the ribbing in the rest of it. The ribbing in between the needles are clearly visible but all the others are not. I have tried to make the first few stitches on the needle tighter but that has done nothing. I wish I could post a picture but my husband took his camera on a business trip.

Those are called ladders and they are a pain in the neck aren’t they! Try holding the needles a little differently. I try to hold the ‘joins’ together and it seems to help a lot.

Here’s a few articles that might help, too.
http://www.knitty.com/issuesummer03/FEATtheresa.html

Is that what those suckers are called! I decided that I am going to frog it and start with 4 needles and see if that helps:frog:. Its sad cause 2 of the 3 splits are fine, but that 3rd one is just too sloppy looking.

Thank you Jan for all your help! When I saw I had a response, I knew it was you!:hug:

I have this problem too with DPNs no matter what the stitch. I just try to hold those two needled close together, but I still notice it.

I am just keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that when I block the sleeves for my sweater that those sts will tighten up and I will be the only person who notices it.

i found that rather than just knitting tighter, it was better to tighten up the working yarn whilst working the second stitch on the needle, it just helped to ‘lock’ the tension.

If i find i am still having problems with ladders, then i like to swap stitches from the end of one needle to the start of the next (or vis versa) so that the pull isn’t always in the same place. For example if i was doing 2x2 ribbing i would slip the first 2 stitches on needle 3 onto the end of needle 2 and work them there for one round, and then on the next round slip them back onto needle 3 and work them there. By alternating the position of the join between the needles you dont get the distinctive ladder forming.

I would do the same as Tarrentella. I find that this works quite well.

I tried that a while back when working on some thick socks, and all I accomplished was a ladder that spiraled around :?? The only thing (so far) that’s worked for me is to knit over 4 dpns (set of 5). If I do get a ladder, it is barely noticeable, and not at all once I wash and such. I also still make sure to keep the yarn tight while doing the second st. Just knitting the first one tight doesn’t help as much for me.

Another suggestion for the laddering:

Although you’re bound to have at least a tiny bit of laddering, I find that the worst of it appears when you’re purling the stitches on the end of the first needle and then knitting the stitches at the beginning of the next. It seems impossible to get purled stitches tight. However, if you place one of the knit stitches at the end of the first needle and the next knit stitch at the beginning of the next needle the gap tends to be smaller as it is easier to get side by side knit stitches tighter between needles.

Did I explain that right?

3 needles:

1st needle has eight stitches - k2 p2 k2 p2 (slip 1 stitch from needle 2 onto needle one) k1

2nd needle - k1 p2 k2 p2 k1

3rd needle - k1 p2 k2 p2 (slip 1st stitch from 1st needle onto 3rd) k1

You can always slip stitches to the correct needles once the ribbing is completed.