Good looking results

:knitting: :knitting: I understand directions and have knitted 3 mittens but am not satisfied with appearance. How do I prevent “ladders?” . I get them regardless of using “continental” or English method. I am ready to give up kintting and I just started

Thanks!

There’s a few ways to minimize ladders, though sometimes they even out when you wash the mittens. If you use dpns, maybe switching to 5 needles will help; with circs, if using Magic loop, you may need longer needles and going to a single loop will work better. You can also rotate the stitches on the needle - when you finish a needle, instead of switching to an empty one, knit a few more sts onto the R needle, then switch. If you do that every 2 or 3 rounds, it keeps the split between stitches moving around so it’s not at the same place all the time.

Are you using circular needles or dpns? With either, keeping the last stitch on the needle you’ve just finished and the first stitch on the next needle as close together as possible helps, IME. With circs knitting the first few stitches somewhat tighter helps too.

For me, the best way is to change the last stitch of each needle as you knit up. That way the ladder is broken up into a spiral and you can’t notice it. You can do this every row or just every few rows. This techknitter post explains everything about ladder-fixing.

If you have managed to learn dpns, don’t let those little ladders get you down! :sun:

When I’ve been forced to use dpn’s for small circumference knitting, I really try hard to work the end stitches with the very tips of my dpn’s. I try NOT to open the stitch too early. I squeak from the last stitch on one dpn to the first stitch on the next dpn with trepidation…