Questions from a newbie

How-to Questions
1

  1. can someone explain the right side vs. the wrong side? when knitting a scarf, is there a right side and a wrong side??? the part that confuses me is I have been told that the knit row is the right side; so if you combine both knit rows and purl rows, you will have both types of stitches on each side, so I don’t understand how this works.

  2. after knitting a few rows, does it matter where the knit rows are in relation to your LEFT needle? should the knit rows be on the left side of your left needle or should I swing them around so that they are sort of in between my two needles? what is the difference?

  3. I lost track when counting my rows while knitting and am having a difficult time counting them now that they are already knit. is there an easy way to do this?

thanks for any advice you can give me. I just started knitting a week ago and love it but as you can tell I am a bit confused! thanks again!

2

  1. The right side would typically be considered the “knit” side, it depends on the pattern. Usually if you are combining knit/purl stitches to make some kind of pattern, the instructions will tell you which is the right side (RS) and wrong side (WS).

  2. The stitches you are working should always be on the left needle and the completed stitches on the right needle…regardless of what side or stitch you are on. When I first started, I just made sure that if the left needle is straight up and down with the tip pointed up…all the work should be on the right side of the needle every time you start a row.

  3. You can buy a row counter or just make little hash marks on a piece of paper to keep track.

I wasn’t totally sure what you meant in number two so I hope that is what you meant.

3

#1. The right side is the knit side which you can usually identify by the V’s. The wrong side, or purl side, will be the “bumpy” side. I just looked at something I made with a knit2 purl2 pattern, and it seems both sides look the same, and they don’t look any different from the RS or WS.
#2. I’m with Kemp/Cheryl… not sure what you mean.
#3. I learned to count the V’s made, and that should be accurate, but I think, technically, you count the row you’re knitting (the part on the needles/cast-on like row).

4

BMW, when you do a scarf, you will generally use a stitch like ribbing, or garter, or basketweave, or some kind of lace, that is reversible–looks the same on both sides. In that case, there isn’t a “right” side because they are both the same. In Stockinette stitch, where you knit a row, then purl a row, the knit side (V) is the right side and the purl side (bump) is the wrong side–but that’s more so for sweaters, sleeves, bags, gloves etc, and really should be referred to as “inside” and “outside” instead of right and wrong (IMHO—let’s start a revolution!!!)
If you are K-ing and P-ing in the same row to create a pattern like a letter, the side where the shape is backwards is the inside/wrong side. If you’re doing a symetrical shape, like a heart, star, moon, clover, horseshoe, then the shape will be the same on both sides, but you’ll see that the shape “pops out” on one side, and “sinks in” on the other. If the pattern doesn’t tell you which side is the right side, you get to pick :slight_smile:

I think I understand you’re 2nd question–I had this question too when i was first starting. When your right needle is empty, and you’re about to work the stitches on your left needle, the rows that are complete should be coming towards you… that is, if you hold the left needle straight up and down (point up) the “hangy” will be on the right side of the left needle. The left side of the left needle will just show the loops of each stitch around the needle. If you hold the left needle parallel to the ground, with the ppoint on the right and the end of the needle on the left, your stithes will all be hanging down, and the loops going around the needle will be on top.

For your third question, if you’re knitting something like a bag that has 300 rows of stockinette stitch, or whatever you’re doing where you need to keep track of rows, but don’t want to count each one of a large number, you can buy these hangy stitch marker things and hang them on a stitch every 10 rows: they can be hung on the needle, too, but they’re geat for marking individual stitches too. I call them the padlock style markers (can I FIND a picture? no! Sheesh!)

Hope that helps!!!

Hildie