Too loose edges

#1

I was knitting with 3 DPNs the peak of the hat I’m working on (I [I]was[/I] going to use 4 needles, but a friend lost one of them:sad:), and when I got to round 6, I noticed how awful the edges between the needles looked (I believe they’re called “ladders”?). They were about an inch apart. After suffering for a while, I decided to rip off the knitting I had done with the 3 needles and wait for my friend to get me a new set of 5.0mm DPNs (I’d get one myself, but it turns out NO ONE sells them here, so I have to wait for a relative of my friend to arrive to my city).

How do I tighten the strands between the needles? And does using 3 DPNs give the same result as using 4?

#2

Are you saying that you are working in the round with 3 dpns holding your stitches (and knit with a 4th) but had wanted to use 4 to hold the stitches (and knit with a 5th)? Or are you trying to knit with only 2 needles holding your stitches and are knitting with a 3rd needle? If you are trying to do the latter I can see where you would have problems. It is hard to do a circle with only 2 holding needles. But if you mean 3 holding needles, that is common and should not be a problem as long as the needles are long enough to comfortably hold your stitches without them wanting to fall off. Three or four holding needles should both give a good result if the stitches fit on the needles comfortably.

When I work with dpns I try to pull the needle I’m starting the next stitches on up close to the needle I’m leaving behind with the first stitch. I usually make that first stitch and the next one quite tightly and that takes care of ladders pretty well. If you don’t have at least 3 needles holding the stitches you put a lot of stress on the change places and it would be hard to avoid ladders.

#3

I’m wondering the same thing. It would leave those huge ladders if you only have the work on two needles. If you are using a total of 4 and the stitches are on 3 needles that is normal. That’s the way I usually do it. Make sure the first stitch on each needle is a knit stitch and when you do that stitch pull the two needles close together and then knit it. I kind of hold them together with my fingers while am knitting at least the first several stitches.

#4

I thought that it was pretty logical to use 3 DPNs (2 holding the stitches, 1 for knitting). I guess I was pretty wrong XD. I’ll just wait for my friend’s uncle to arrive then.

#5

That method works if you just have a few sts, like to cast on a round blanket or top of a hat, but more than 15 sts or so, can stress the sts at the ends of the needles so they stretch out. Do you have a set that’s just up or down a size? Using just one needle of a different size shouldn’t matter for a hat. Or if you have a circ the same size, you can use that instead of the missing needle.