Slip Knot and Row 2 trouble. Can someone help me please?

#1

Hello all,

I started knitting yesterday, and everything was going fine. I made the slip knot, casted on, and completed every stitch. The only thing left is the initial slip knot. Several tutorials have told me to treat the slip knot like every other stitch, but it does not behave like the rest of the stitches. Did I tie the knot too tight? How do I stitch the slip knot in?

Also, when I get to the second row, I’ve read to just switch hands and continue doing what I did for the first row. However, the yarn gets knotted strangely when I try to pull it off. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong, but I would appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks,

Matt

#2

I quit using slipknots for a cast on a few years ago, but if you counted it as a stitch then just go ahead and knit it. It may be too tight, you don’t have to cinch them up really close when you start.

Have you taken a look at the video Demo of a small project that’s on the Tips page? It shows how to cast on, knit a few rows and bind off. That may help and also review the knit stitch videos to see that you’re making it right.

#3

So I don’t have to use a slip knot? Yay!

And about the demo video, I’ll go give it a look now.

Thank you!

#4

So I casted on according to the demo’s method. It came out like this:

But when I tried to create my second row, I ran into the same problemt that I was having before:

When I create the x with the needles, and wrap the working yarn around counter-clockwise, then pull it through the initial loop, it comes out looking like this:

What am I doing wrong? :frowning:

#5

So I casted on according to the demo’s method. It came out like this:

http://img691.imageshack.us/i/091230003632.jpg/

But when I tried to create my second row, I ran into the same problem that I was having before:

http://img689.imageshack.us/i/091230004008.jpg/

When I create the x with the needles, and wrap the working yarn around counter-clockwise, then pull it through the initial loop, it comes out looking like this:

http://img709.imageshack.us/i/091230004035.jpg/

What am I doing wrong? :frowning:

#6

Are you dropping the old stich off the needle?

#7

This is not topic related, but MattWants2Knit, are you a budding male knitter?

#8

Suzzeq- Yes. But everytime I do that, my hanging thread gets entangled with the new stitch. It’s almost like I’m unraveling the old one instead of making a new one. Am I not supposed to?

Trvvn5- Yes, I’m trying to be! LOL, it’s harder than it looks.

#9

Sometimes it’s easier to look at pictures instead of moving video. Try this: http://www.learn2knit.co.uk/knitting.php
Also, don’t worry that’s it’s seeming to be very difficult at the moment-- it will get much better! It’s not just learning how to do it, but how it works, and once you get that, you’ll be fine.

One thing to keep in mind-- when you start knitting your first row, the first stitch especially, but even the first 2 or 3, don’t have much to anchor them, and so the yarn tends to sort of pull and get very long, you end up with a very big, loose stitch on the new needle. Eventually you get used to managing that, pulling it extra snug and then holding it with your unused fingers as you go along.

Hopefully this doesn’t confuse things more, but here are the steps, written out:

  1. The cast on loops are on your left needle, the right one is empty.
  2. Insert the tip of the right needle into the first loop (the one closest to the pointy tip) of the left needle.
  3. Wrap the yarn, from back to front, around the tip of the right needle.
  4. Grap the yarn with the right needle tip and pull it through the loop-- which is still on your left needle-- so that now you have a loop of “new” yarn on your right needle.
  5. Pull the old loop off of the left needle, and now you have 1 stitch on your right needle.

That’s it. Do the same steps again until all of the stitches from the left needle are now on the right needle. Then switch the full needle to your left hand and put the now empty needle into your right hand and start all over again.

Maybe don’t worry about how the stitches look or are behaving for a while. Just keep going and just try to get the hang of the motions without getting too picky about how it looks. It will help you get it, aand that will help you figure out your mistakes.

#10

You can hold the tail out of the way as you knit into the first stitch; some people like to knit it with the first 2 or 3 sttiches. You hold it with your working yarn and just pretend it’s one strand instead of 2.

#11

Or this: http://www.ivillage.co.uk/homegarden/homemaking/crafts/articles/0,,695942_713886,00.html

Or this: http://www.craftleftovers.com/blog/archives/915

Also, look on youtube for other videos. Sometimes seeing it in someone else’s hands might make more sense to you.

#12

Your pictures are a little blurry but I’d like to ask which cast on you are trying to do? There are a lot of them and I’m not 100% sure from your picture. The most common, good, all-around cast on is the long tail cast on. That may be the one you have there, but not sure.

Are you holding the needle with the stitches on it (after you have cast on) in your left hand as you knit the stitches off with the needle in your right hand? I ask because both of your last two pictures have you holding the empty needle in your left hand.

If you are doing regular right handed knitting you want to hold the needle with the stitches on it in your left hand and knit them onto the one in your right hand.

I also wonder how you are holding the needle with the stitches on it? I have taught people to knit and find that a few folks try to have the knotted up looking edge of the cast on at the top of the needle in the left hand. If you are doing long tail cast on, and knitting right handed the left hand holds the needle with the stitches so that the yarn is coming from the end of the needle you are working from and the knotted edge should be at the bottom. The place you stick the right needle in to knit is just to the left of the loop on the needle and just above the “knot”.

Another comment I have is that when you have yarned around and pulled the new loop through and are ready to ease the first loop off the left hand needle to do it gently and don’t pull it a long ways away from the left needle. Just ease the loop gently off the left needle, no pulling hard, and keep the needles close to each other. That way you won’t pull out a long loop.

When you move the right hand needle to the left hand after the first row be sure you hold the growing fabric pointing down into your lap, with only the stitch loop at the top of the needle as you are ready to begin the second row.

The first row of knitting is always the hardest. In fact when I teach folks to knit I like to have the cast on done for them and a few rows knit already. That makes it a lot easier. After they get the knit stitch down well, [I]then[/I] I teach them to cast on and do the first row. So learning on your own and having to cast on first thing and do the first row is harder so don’t be discouraged.

#13

Yay…another boy knitter.

#14

Thanks so much, everyone! I’m going to do some more experimenting and researching. I’ll come back with my results! :slight_smile:

#15

Did you ever find a solution? Your pictures look like the same problem I am having when I cast on with the long tail method like the demo videos. I was doing okay with an english version but when I started trying this method out I ended up with that long loop at the end (the first cast on stitch).