Going around with my circs!!!!

[whimsy]

Ok - I'm trying the circs again. This time with a pattern with more stitches to it. That did help a bunch - not to be fighting with it so much. So I am just happily knitting my little heart out.

Then it comes time to change to straight needles, no biggie, goes smooth enough. But - here comes the trouble.....

My straight needle stitches look different than my circ stitches. The needles are the same size and I'm trying to be as close on tension as I can.

Does this happen to anyone else? WHY do the circs want to make me cry??? I'm a nice knitter, really I am!

[littleturtlemama]

it's not the circular needles, it's your tension.

when you are knitting on the circs, you are only *knitting* you never do the purl stitch. When you switch to straight needles and flat knitting, you are doing knit and purl. Purl stitches have a tendency to be a touch looser tension-wise, becuase there's an extra little jump to get around the needle (very slight, but still there) There's actually a term for this, it's called "rowing out." If you look at the back of your flat knitting, you'll see that every two rows kind of bunch together. The bigger space between is the next purl row.

This usually gets better with time,a s your tension evens out. However, it might not ever go away completely. The best way to get spot-on even tension is with the combination method (see annie modesitt's site http://www.modeknit.com for great pics and tutorials) but I think it's a bit difficult to learn when you are a newbie.

[pmcgary]

some tension difference can also be from the actual difference in the needles.....in that your work is resting on a cable when on the circs....Also no two pair of needles (nor any two circs I would suppose) will be EXACTLY the same size --- or so a number of patterns/books say...They discourage using "mixed" pairs of needles for this reason. Of course I haven't a clue as to how much difference would be needed to see a difference in gauge.

You could see what happens if you knit flat with the circulars. I hardly ever use my straight needles any more. Even for flat work!

Thereasa is dead on too...I have been reading knitter's guild stuff and htis is one of the things they watch closely too.

[BethyM99]

Theresa never ceases to amaze!! That is a wonderful link. I will have to give that a whirl. I had forgotten how much I hate to purl until I started making this Ribby Wrap. First flat thing I've done in a long time!!

[littleturtlemama]

some tension difference can also be from the actual difference in the needles.....in that your work is resting on a cable when on the circs....Also no two pair of needles (nor any two circs I would suppose) will be EXACTLY the same size --- or so a number of patterns/books say...They discourage using "mixed" pairs of needles for this reason. Of course I haven't a clue as to how much difference would be needed to see a difference in gauge.
This is more an american problem (where we use aribitrary # to designate size), compounded by the use of needles from more than one company. For example, clover's size 5 might be 3.5 mm, whereas Susan bates size 5 might be 3.75 mm. The best way to alleviate this is to go by the mm given for the needle (which is what they do in the UK) so that you'll always have the correct size, no matter what the needle "says" it is ;)

[whimsy]

Thanks Theresa! I checked out the combo knitting. It seems to work well if I alternate rounds of combo and reg. knitting. Keeps the "legs" switching leads. (my own little knitting dance)


BTW - I always wondered why every 2 rows would bunch together!