What could I be doing wrong?

How-to Questions
1

This is going to be a strange problem to explain without using pics or videos, but I don’t have a camera so I’ll try: I can’t seem to do any knit or purl stitches after each other, or next to each other. Every time I try to do a purl stitch after a knit stitch or try to do both stitches in the same row, a very odd thing happens - I’ll get a weird stitch that crosses over another stitch and then when I go to knit (or purl) that stitch in the next row, I’ll often get an extra loop on the left needle like I slipped (not purled) that stitch. I really don’t know how to explain this any clearly than that. Does anyone understand my problem?

I thought maybe I’m purling wrong but I’ve purled successfully plenty of times. I knitted an all-purl scarf and can do stockinette just fine so I know I’m doing my knits and purls correctly. I just can’t seem to do these stitches NEXT TO EACH OTHER because for some reason they look knotted and messy and I get problems like extra loops on the next row or then I try to knit the purled stitch, it looks like I’m pulling off more than one stitch (some kind of weirdo combined stitch is created…it’s like a stitch criss-crossed with another stitch). I watched several purl videos to make sure I’m not doing anything wrong (I knit English) and I’m sure I’m not. Why can’t I seem to knit these two stitches next to each other??? I’m almost positive there must be some problem with the way I’m purling, but why do I only have this problem when I’m trying to knit and purl in the same row, not when I do stockinette?

Btw, something else: when I first learned the purl stitch, I didn’t have this problem! I could knit and purl in the same room just fine (I know because one day without even knowing what I was doing, I knitted a swatch of seed stitch without any problems). So I know how to do this but for some reason, it just isn’t working right now.

Does anyone have ANY idea what is going on? It is driving me bats and until I figure out what’s wrong, I can’t knit anything except garter and stockinette. :gah:

2

It sounds like you’re not moving the yarn to the proper position between knits and purls. When you purl, the yarn is in front, and when you knit the yarn is in back.

When you switch from knit to purl, you have to move the yarn between the needles to the front. When you switch from purl to knit, you have to move the yarn between the needles to the back.

3

Thanks Ingrid, but I forgot to mention that I’m pretty sure I am indeed moving my yarn where it needs to go.

4

But are you moving it [I]between[/I] the needles? If you’re putting it over the needle, then you’d get that extra yarn-over stitch.

5

In addition to what Ingrid said… are you sure you’re slipping the stitch off the needle properly? If you don’t you could end up with an extra loop there as well. Most often I think it’s adding an unintentional yarn over, but it’s worth it to check.

6

You are doing a yarn over :slight_smile: Are you knitting flat or in the round? When going from a knit stitch you need to simply move your yarn from the backside of your needle to the front and then purl. When going from purl to knit take the working yarn and simply move it to the back side behind the needle. Make sure when knitting it is behind the needle and in front when getting ready to purl. This is a very common mistake and when I first tried to switch I did the same thing!

7

As someone who has recently had a problem which sounds just like this, I would have to agree with ingrid. If you don’t pull the yarn forward between the needles to purl then back again to knit ( without any twisting around the needles) it looks as though you get an extra stitch each time you switch between k and p. Not to mention it is horrible to try to figure out what to knit etc!!

8

Here’s a video that might help:

Jan

9

I’m doing flat knitting, mhaddon.

I’ve watched that seed stitch video before, and videos on purling and I thought that I am pulling the yarn between the needles but maybe I need to check and see again what I’m doing. I don’t know. I can’t understand how I could do it fine when I first learned to purl but now I’m having trouble. So I’m actually regressing in learning? Eek!

10

Not regressing, but alternating knit and purl on a row is different than doing an entire row in knits or purls where the yarn is on one side for the whole row.