OK, so I’ve only been knitting for a couple of weeks and have only done a couple dishcloths so far where gauge isn’t a huge concern. But knowing that I really, really want to knit garments and socks, I want to start now to get a grip (no pun intended!) on my knitting tension. I seem to be knitting far too tightly, to the point that it’s sometimes hard to get the tip of the right needle into the stitches on the left needle.
I’ve been knitting Continental style because as a long-time crocheter I’m used to holding the yarn in my left hand. I’m trying to change how I hold the yarn, however, and happened on these videosand hope this method of holding the yarn will work for me. Old habits die hard so I’ve gone back to a practice swatch for a little while. So far at least, the purl stitch is coming easier using this method of holding the yarn. But my knitting is still awfully tight. Years ago, when I crocheted a LOT, it was always too tight and I never could make garments because I couldn’t get the gauge right even by using a larger hook. I do not want to have that happen with my knitting!
Anyway, my questions: do you have any tips on controlling and adjusting tension? Any pictures of your favorite way to hold the yarn in your left hand?
And while we’re at it, any good, clear pictures of how to measure for gauge?
I sure hope this all makes sense. Maybe I’m over-thinking things here, does good tension just “happen” with more experience?
You don’t have to change how you hold the yarn, but you’re probably ‘grabbing’ it the same way you do for crochet, which wraps it around the the needle ‘backwards’ for knitting. That creates tight twisted stitches. You can keep wrapping it the same way, but knit into the leg of the st closest to the needle tip on the next row instead of the ‘front’ leg. That’s the first thing you should check - look at the knit and purl videos for how to wrap the yarn.
Also, if you tend to pull the yarn after you make a stitch, don’t do that; doing the next stitch will tighten the previous one.
Thanks for the input, Sue, but that’s one thing I’ve paid special attention to, how I’m grabbing the yarn to form the stitch. I tried to learn to knit many years ago (in high school, more years ago than I care to think about!), and it always felt “backward” to me because the yarn is grabbed opposite to crocheting. Anyway, I’ve spent a lot of time viewing videos and looking at pictures to make sure I’m not twisting the stitches. I’ll pay attention to whether I’m pulling the yarn after making a stitch and see if that might be the problem.
I knit Continental. Listen to what Sue said about pulling the stitch after you work it. But also when you hold the yarn in your left hand with the yarn stretched across from your index finger so you can grab it with the needle, have the yarn straight, but don’t have it real tight, stay relaxed, don’t be tugging on it with however you tension the yarn. Another thing that I know can happen with crochet is that after each stitch you need to move the loop down to the part of the hook that sizes the stitch and not keep it out on the tip. Don’t work the next stitch until the first one is away from the tip so that it is sized. The same is true with knitting, make sure the new stitch is down on the right hand needle far enough to get itself sized properly before working the next stitch. If both of those things don’t give you enough “slack” try pulling each stitch loop out a little with the right hand needle after you make the stitch. After doing that consciously for a while, you will get to where you can get that looseness in there without feeling like you are pulling each stitch out.
Like Sue said you probably do not need to change the way you hold the yarn from the way you do to crochet, just learn to do it looser.