the secret to even knitting

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Ever wondered why your back and forth knitting was so uneven? I know I did for years…

the secret to even knitting. little home by hand blog.Maybe this is something only I struggled with but I could never get it right and it was getting incredibly frustrating. Knitting in the round (as with socks) the knitting would look lovely and even but whenever I had to knit back and forth (alternating knit and purl rows) the knitting would be loose and ugly.

With the new cardigan I started it it was becoming a real problem.

the secret to even knitting. little home by hand blog.The wrong side was even worse.

the secret to even knitting. little home by hand blog.I needed to start fresh anyway so I decided to try and vary my knitting technique. I wanted to see if I could find out what was causing the problem. I had tried this before without success but now it finally worked! It turned out that the problem was my purl stitches and the solution was ridiculously easy:

With every single purl stitch I need to give it a little tug right at the end after slipping the stitch from the needle. So, make my purl stitch, slip it from the needle and tug to tighten. I can’t believe it took me so long to find this out! It immediately turned my knitting from the hot mess above into this:

the secret to even knitting. little home by hand blog.the secret to even knitting. little home by hand blog.Amazing, right? Again, I might be the only one with this problem but finding the solution made me dance for joy with a silly grin on my face so I had to share!

It gave me a huge motivation boost too so I have been knitting away like crazy for the last few days.

the secret to even knitting. little home by hand blog.the secret to even knitting. little home by hand blog.Did you ever have this problem? Or find your own solution to a knitting issue?

 

15 thoughts on “the secret to even knitting”

  1. youpili

    Hello Kristina !
    I had the same problem with my last cardigan and found another solution (in fact, a friend of mine told me what to do in this case…)
    Here it is : you can use a smaller (0.5mm smaller for example) needle for purl rows, it will give you smaller purl stitches, the same size of your knit stitches. Hurray ! So, for knit rows, your right needle is the smaller needle, for purl rows, the right needle is the bigger one. For me it worked, but maybe not for everyone?
    Have a nice day !

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  2. Dora

    Hello! What a lovely blog, I have been reading it a lot lately. I also have problems with my purls being loose.
    Is there a way that you can post a picture or video tutorial for this? Thanks!

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  3. sallock

    What a difference! I’m glad you found a way to solve your uneven knitting. I’m having a similar problem with Fair Isle knitting. It’s the first time I do that and snugging it tighter after every stitch won’t always help. Sometimes I correct those looser stitches when weaving in the ends. Nice colour btw!

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  4. Vonna

    I did indeed. When I knitted English style (working yarn in my right-hand) I didn’t have that problem but when I switched it to my left hand and started purling the Norwegian way I had the same problem. Tightening the stitches helped even things out for me as well.

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    1. Kristina Post author

      Thanks, Vonna! Is the norwegian way the same as I do it? You can see my way of knitting in the pictures, I work with my right hand but have the yarn in my left.

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  6. Erin Slonaker (@pepperknit)

    That issue–where your knits and purls are not the same size–is called “rowing out.” Most knitters have at least a little bit of it, but working to keep your tension the same for both stitches is definitely the solution! Nice job fixing it.

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