Loose bar between decreases?

How-to Questions
1

Hi guys!

I’m working on a pair of mittens (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/deep-blue-sea-shark-mittens) and I’m having trouble figuring out why there’s a loose bar between my decreases - it looks like a ladder going up the the top of the mitten where it curves (it looks like it’s in between the SSK and k2tog when decreasing at the top of my mittens - also on the thumbs, but less severe)

Any thoughts on how I can fix this? (And how I can prevent it from happening in the future? I’ve actually had to redo the mittens a few times as I was modifying the pattern - for some reason the instructions knit up differently than the pictures - and kept having the same result)

Thank you!

Rachel

2

Are the decreases right next to each other?

3

Hi Jan - yes, the decreases were right next to each other.

A sample round would be: k2tog, k8, ssk, k2tog, k8, ssk

(BTW - I edited my post before I saw your response to describe it a little better after I realized I wouldn’t be able to attach photos, in case that helps you visualize the problem better!)

4

Posting a photo does help a lot of times. Best way is to resize it and then attach using the paper clip. :wink:

I can see why there is a gap or loose area since they are done side by side. I’m assuming they are done on each edge of the fingers?

5

Trying the photo again - hopefully it works this time!

Yup - they’re on each side of the fingers. So, along the edge of my index finger and along the edge of my pinky finger.

6

Doing the decreases next to each other does leave a small gap and expose the bar between the decreases. The fact that it’s also at a crease emphasizes that gap. At first I thought loosening up on the decreases would help, but it didn’t. Tightenind up on the second decrease does seem to help. The other possiblity is to leave one knit stitch between the decreases (as long as that doesn’t make the remainder of the pattern too confusing).

7

Thanks for your reply! As I was knitting I made all the decreases pretty tight (not super tight, just made sure to pull them good), so I’m not sure if that helped or hurt the problem.

Do you have any tips for tightening up the bars after the fact? I made a mess once trying to tighten up kitchener stitch after I threaded everything rather than as I went along, so I’m a bit scared to go in here without a gameplan… :slight_smile:

8

I think that these holes may close up when you block or when you wash the mittens. The stitches will even out with any luck.
I always need to go back and tease the Kitchener graft to make it look good. Take you time with it and it’ll work. It’s amazing to follow the path of the yarn.

9

Thanks for your advice! Hopefully it will work out with blocking.

I’m always drawn to irregular yarns so following the path can get complicated :slight_smile: