? I’m knitting a hat for the first time…I’m about 3″ into it and I just noticed that it’s not knitting flat in a circle (like I could put it on my head)- there is a twist…I hope that makes sense…Anyway, did I screw up or is this normal?…If this is wrong, how do I keep this from happening?…Thanks!
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It sounds as if the cast on stitches were twisted when you began knitting in rounds. If that's the case you'll have to rip it out, I'm afraid, as it can't be fixed. Here's a link to the problem - this extract from Knitty.com might help you see what's happened:
"When you have lots of stitches on the needle, this can be a difficult, but is nevertheless crucial. If you begin to knit with stitches that spiral around the circular needle [in other words, are "twisted"], there's simply nothing you can do about it except rip out and start over once you realize the problem. A few rows on, you'll see a pronounced twist in your work. Really -- rip and start again."
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall03/FEATtheresa.html
Please don't be put off - it's easy to have this happen at least once, but then we make sure it doesn't happen again!
Good luck - Katina
Thanks so much for your help...I'll definitely be more careful next time now that I know where I went wrong...
I'm glad I was able to help!
It does sound as if you twisted the stitches when you connected them as was already suggested and yes you do need to start over.
Another technique for helping with this problem is to cast on your stitches then work 2 rows with the piece flat. On the next row you can connect it so that the piece will continue in the round. You will have a small slit at the base of the item that can be stitched up very easily with the tail yarn. Since you will have to weave in this tail anyway, it doesn't show much more than if you don't have the tiny split. This allows you to see the stitches much more clearly and makes it much easier to avoid twisting the base row. The technique also works well with items knit on double points.
Hope that helps for future projects!
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