[Dans]

Hi all,

There's quite a few experienced knitters here so I thought I would pose this question to you all.

I knit quite tight and tend to have to go up at least 1mm in needle size to get anywhere near the right tension. I've never got a tension square perfectly right, but for hats and slippers it's not mattered too much. But I'm now knitting a jumper for the future MIL. I really want it to be as good as can be. The tension I need is 10cmx10cm over 18stitches and 20 rows. I've gone up 1.5mm on the suggested needle size and I have 18 stitches over 10cm. The tension square isn't finished yet (18 rows in) but it's looking to be 8cm over 20 rows at best.

If I understand correctly this will just affect the length of the jumper and the length of the sleeves? There's no shaping and it's all stocking stitch until a few rows of pattern at the top, so would I be ok just added a few more rows to get the desired length? 

I'm not sure how to get the tension right for number of rows as well as stitches, as if I go up another needle size it will be wider than 10cm for the 18 stitches.

I hate tension squares! 

Any advice much appreciated!

Dans

[Fleecewife]

Hi Dans. 
 
How do you knit so tightly?  I'm the opposite and knit too loosely    Maybe if you hold the yarn differently your knitting will loosen up.  Just wrap the yarn around a finger, rather than gripping it between finger and thumb, if that is what you do.
 
I always knit tension squares but I don't bother with the vertical one if it's a straightforward pattern, so I would just add extra rows to get the required length, width being more important to keep accurate.
 
When knitting your square, it's a good idea to cast on more stitches than suggested, so that the part you measure doesn't include the edges.  So for your square cast on 30 stitches, then just measure your 10cm in the middle of that.  It will give you a more accurate tension result.
 
 

[jaykay]

Exactly what FW says  Get the number of stitches right, you can adjust the length as you knit.

Don't hate tension squares, nothing worse than a whole project being wrong for the sake of doing them 

I suppose now isn't the time to do it, as you are about to launch into MILs jumper, but I would work on the tension thing, knitting too tightly is a pain - literally, it'll make your hands ache when you're as old as us and I think it slows you down too.

Partly it can be how you hold the yarn and it can also be that you need to deliberately make yourself relax your hands and arms.

Good luck 

[Dans]

Thanks guys.

I've gotten a lot better at knitting loosely, I used to bend the metal needles but can now knit with bamboo needles. I might have a look at holding the yarn differently. Currently it is wrapped around my little finger and weaved through the other fingers, but it somehow ends up going around my middle finger twice.

I think I'm fairly relaxed when knitting. I get car sick when I concentrate too much on anything in the car, but can knit quite happily as long as it isn't complicated.

I had a very blonde moment last night. Checked the pattern as I couldn't believe I was so far out on the tension square and it was 18x24rows not 18x20, so I ended up dead on 10cm square.

I tend to knit my tension squares with a 2 row, 2 stitch border, with the border in reverse stocking stitch and the tesnsion square in stocking stitch (unless the pattern says otherwise). Is that a wise choice?

Thanks again

Dans  (who may have some knitting at work with her today  )

[jaykay]

Currently it is wrapped around my little finger and weaved through the other fingers, but it somehow ends up going around my middle finger twice

OK, there's the issue. Just reduce the number of wraps/fingers involved, which then lets the yarn move more easily. I remember having to alter this for myself as a teenager, for the same reason.

Just had to pick up some knitting to check - mine goes once completely round my middle finger and then my little finger closes on it but it isn't wrapped round it.

I think a border on a tension square helps keep it flat - but I think Fleecewife's advice to make the square bigger than the measured size is good, it means you are measuring without any edging effect (either actual edge or joining border edge)

[Ina]

I hate tension squares! 

So do I!

I don't tend to bother with tension squares and "proper" patterns... I knit a square with the size needle I think would be right, then maybe change the size - and when I like the look of it, measure what I've got; and from that I work out how many stitches I need to make the garment! Which generally means I can't use a pattern as it stands, but always have to adjust.

And all your advice on how to reduce the tension is so much Chinese to me, as I knit the "continental" way, and it's all different... Tried to knit "British" before now, and got my fingers all muddled up!

[Bionic]

Ina, whats the 'continental' way of knitting?
Sally

[jaykay]

continental and English knitting styles


Lol, it adds that sentence on its own and you can't edit it out. Oh well, the link works anyway.

[Bionic]

Thanks Jaykay, that was very interesting.  I never knew there was a difference until Ina mentioned it.
I am tempted to give the continental a go as it seems faster but I am worried that I may upset my current style, particularly as it is my tension is usually pretty good.
Sally

[jaykay]

There is always much discussion about the merits and disadvantages of both and some people get hot under the collar about it, They both have both pluses and minuses (ie knit stitches are faster but purl is much more difficult for many under the continental system, they put different strains on different bits of your hands and wrists)

So the general view is 'stick with the way you've been taught'.

[Fleecewife]

You can use both at the same time for two colour knitting     Knit your usual way for the background colour then hold the minor colour in your other hand and use the other method.  For me that's the British way for the main colour and the Continental way for the pattern colour.   I haven't done much of it because I can't be bothered with fiddly stuff, but it did seem to speed things up as both colours are always in a hand.

[Bionic]

Fleecewife, that sounds as if it would work.  I have some two colour stuff going on (although not touched it for a while) I might try it when I resurect it
Sally

[Fleecewife]

 

[Ina]

So the general view is 'stick with the way you've been taught'.

I agree with that. I would have liked to master the "British" way, too, though - for stranded knitting, which I simply find too complicated! Should have started that earlier in life, I think...

[Lesley Silvester]

I wonder if it would work to do the knit rows the continental way and the purl rows the English way.  Might be worth a try.