Avoiding Holes and Extra Stitches

I was in Canada last week and didn't make an entry for that reason.  It was a great trip but it will be a while before I need to have seafood!

This is what I found when I got home.  I think they were thinking that it was about time.



STUDENT NEWS
I think all of my students are enjoying the fall foliage too much.  I have received very few lessons!  Keep me busier...

TIP OF THE WEEK
I am back on track for fixing mistakes.  One of the things that causes new knitters problems are unintended holes and too many stitches.  There are three main reasons this happens.  Although you can sometimes fix mistakes of this type, the finished product will look better if you rip the work.  I will briefly summarize how the mistakes happen but for full information, see the video.  Holes and Too Many Stitches



Turning the work in the middle of a row (red arrow)--How this happens is you have put the work when you are in the middle of a row and when you pick it up again you work in the wrong direction.  This is basically an unintended short row.  There will be a hole at the turning point and one side will be longer.  There is no fix for this other than ripping out the work.  You can avoid it by always finishing the row before putting the work down.  If that isn't possible, look carefully at your work before starting to knit.  The working yarn should be on the piece on the right.

Knitting twice into the first stitch (light blue arrow)--Since the stitch below the first stitch on the row can look a bit large, some new knitters try to fix this by bringing the working yarn over the needle.  This does make the stitch look smaller but it then looks like there are two stitches on the needle.  If you work both of them you wind up with one more stitch than you want and if you do this every row, you can get MANY stitches you don't want.  The only fix for this is to rip out the work,

Unwanted Yarnovers (black arrows)--On knit rows, if you bring the yarn forward before working the stitch, you get a yarnover.  If you work this on the next row, you get an extra stitch.  The best way to fix this is to look carefully at your work.  The yarnover is easy to spot.  Just take it off the needle.  If you don't do this and you work a few rows, the only fix is to rip out the work.  You could try, "laddering down" the extra stitch but it has a very negative impact on the surrounding stitches.

Do watch the video for more information!

KNITTING SALON
Salon will be on Sunday, October 11, from 2-4pm.

CURRENT PROJECTS
I finished up the Confident Beginner pattern for the spring issue.  This is a vest with a concave edge on the front and a convex edge on the back.  There are very deep armholes.

I'm now working on a linen shirt which has a pleat in the back.  The front is plain.  I'm knitting the sleeves now.  There are a saddle shoulders with cables in the center.