I was given a learn-to-knit kit as a gift and I have been trying to learn, but the instructions are very hard to understand, so I tried watching some of these videos. They helped me a little, but I’m just not sure if I am doing it right at all. I’m trying to knit an envelope purse, but I wondered, when you are knitting something, does it increase in length (like it almost falls of the needle) or width? Mine seemed to be increasing in both length and width for a while, but now it just seems to be becoming longer, and nowhere near envelope purse-shaped. Does anyone know what I could be doing wrong, or if it’s supposed to be like that?
My guess is that you’re knitting a stitch twice instead of once and slipping it onto your right needle. Its good to count your stitches after every row no matter how much experience you have, so you know that its only growing up and down and not side to side. If you’re following the pattern for the envelope purse as best as you cna (im not so good with patterns:teehee: ) and its still not shaping up, what I did was just knit a few squares in garter (knit) stitch to get the feel of the needles.
I hope this helps and please contact me if you have any questions! If i cant answer, im sure i’ll find someone who can:teehee:
Yes when you are knitting, width (the number of stitches on the needles) should stay the same it is only the length (the bit hanging off the needles) which should grow.
It is common when learning, or evn when you have been knitting for a long time for that matter, to accidently add extra stitches to your needle, thereby increasing the width. Have a look at the this thread for more help on that: http://www.knittinghelp.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32886
As for it looking like an envelope purse, one of the magic phrases you will hear around here is ‘trust the pattern’ sometimes a pattern can seem to have nothing to do with the object you are making, until magically at the end the finished object somehow materialises!
Oh! Ok! That helps, too. So when you are counting the stitches, and you start out with 18 like this pattern said to do when you are casting on, it will grow in length to be more than 18 stitches? It said to continue knitting until it is 11 inches long. So, does that mean that the width will vary but it will be much more than 18 stitches long?
18 sts is the width and unless you’re purposely putting increases in it according to the pattern, it should stay at 18 sts. 11 inches will be the length from the cast on edge (where you started) until you’re done.
Ok I’m sorry but now I’m very confused. I cast on 18 stitches, and I continued knitting, and now, the piece is nearly coming off the needle at the bottom, and it is about an inch and a half hanging off the needle and about 8 and 1 half inches long on the needle, almost coming off. Is that totally wrong? Perhaps I’m not even doing the knit stitch right! I’m sorry I’m so clueless about everything!
If you are knitting a square, you should ALWAYS have 18 stitches “on the needle”. There should always be 18 loops (horizontal) on the needle just like there were when you cast on.
Each row (horizontal) you knit (knit 18 stitches) adds to the length (vertical) of the square … this is the part that will get longer … hanging off the bottom of your needle.
At the beginning of “How To Questions” there is a permanent message … Sticky: FAQ…Mysterious extra stitches? Look Here! (12345 … Last Page)
Thank you all for your help and advice, but I just figured out what I was doing wrong. I was adding an extra stitch at the beginning of each row when I put the yarn behind the needle. I tried making a practice smaller version of the purse, and now I know what to do I think. I just have to learn to decrease now. Thanks everybody!
Ah yes, that’s common. When you begin a row, if the yarn is up over the needle it can pull up the first stitch so that it looks like two. When you start the next row, it’s best if the yarn is pulled over to the side and you can see just that the first stitch is just one.
