I made swatches, so many swatches. I applied the scientific method (observation, hypothesis, prediction, results). I thought I had solved the problem, through some mysterious process, by knitting backwards (knitting where I should purl, and vice versa).

But it wasn’t until I thought I had put the mystery to rest, and sat down to work on my next project (another Fibonacci scarf in garter stitch) that I finally solved it, for real. And the Fibonacci scarf #2 wasn’t even biasing!

The scarf was twisting. After only an inch, I could see a distinct corkscrew develop. After six inches, it was unmistakable. Something was really and truly, quite obviously, wrong.

But what?

I went back to basics. There’s only one thing to a garter stitch - knit stitches, endless rows of them. So maybe I was knitting wrong. This seemed implausible - nay, laughable - but I’m an open-minded person, and it was the only reasonable explanation.

I looked at these diagrams carefully, but it looked fine to me. Then I googled, and finally found Lucia’s article on twisted knit rib. I don’t know why - it didn’t seem to have anything to do with my actual problem - but I read the article anyway.

Lucia mentioned “knitting into the back loop” to produce a twisted stitch. And by “back loop” you mean…. something different… from how you usually…. ohhhhh.

I went back to the knitting diagrams and looked a little more closely. Very very closely. I held my needles up to the screen, and slowly, fumbling, made… my very first un-twisted knit stitch.

With a sinking sensation, I clicked to read the instructions on how to make a purl stitch. Yup, been doing that one wrong, too.

So there you have it, people: if your knitting is biasing or twisting, try making sure that you’re making the stitch correctly. I know it sounds stupid, but hey.





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2 Comments »

  1. Guess who twisted some stitches but not others on one of her earliest projects. (Yes, the one I eventually unravelled and reknit to make a blanket.)

    Comment by Lucia
    11/30/2005 @ 11:47 am

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  2. *weeps quietly*

    Comment by Erika —
    11/30/2005 @ 1:03 pm

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