Help with garter stitch "holes"

#1

Hi all:

I’m brand new (quick intro from a friend, and a few hours on my own so far.) It’s really exciting to be at the beginning of a whole new hobby!

I’ve been practicing the basic garter stitch. Stopping at the end of each row to look back, I find I am often making some sort of error that makes two stiches appear to cross over each other on the needle. After knitting back again, I end up with a “hole” in the knitting at that location.

I was wondering if this is a common mistake, and if so, what am I doing that I should be watching out for?

Thanks much,
–FritzM.

#2

Hello and welcome. That is a VERY common mistake when learning. Just be sure when you insert your needle to knit a stitch, that you insert it into the ONE loop of the yarn on the left needle, and when you pull a loop through, that you are just pulling ONE strand of yarn through. Many beginners put the needle through the loop on the needle AND the stitch below that without noticing (because it is behind, it’s kind of hard to see). Hope that all makes sense. :smiley:

#3

Do youself a favor. Don’t go back to fix mistakes at this point. Just knit. Knit the whole skein if you want. You’ll even see a noticeable difference between the beginning of the work and the end.

And don’t forget about purl. :fingerwag: Just as important as knit and needs practice, too. :wink:

Welcome to the forum!

#4

I started paying some extra attention the where/how I was inserting the right needle at the start of each stitch, and that has cleared it up.

It has also helped to knit a little more loosely, and space the stitches on the needles. Things were bunching up behind the left needle and that was indeed were I was getting into trouble.

Thanks for the help! As for purl – on my second swatch I’ll try stockinette, okay? :slight_smile:

 --FritzM.