One of my favorite things to do while knitting (or otherwise) is to watch knitting podcasts. In addition to the inspiration and sense of community, sometimes you learn something pivotal! Oh, the things I wish I knew from the start!
I struggled with my gauge after switching to continental knitting. It was too loose! Kristy Glass had a podcast episode (below) with Patty Lyons, who explained so clearly (and hilariously) how to properly size knitting stitches.
The short and sweet version is: make sure that your needles stay in contact with each other during the entire process of making each stitch. That’s it. Of course, Patty explains it in much more detail and gives a great demonstration.
This was a really simple change to implement. It took a little bit of concentration at first, but soon it was second nature. My stitches were fixed! My gauge was finally reasonable for the yarn weight and needle size! I highly recommend that all knitters, and especially continental knitters, watch this video to understand how to use your knitting needles to make the size of stitches you need.
I hope this little gem of a video helps you with your knitting gauge, too!
Knitting Tension Video
For more context start here:
P.S.
Patty is full of little tricks like these for all aspects of knitting. I recommend her book, Patty Lyon’s Knitting Bag of Tricks (and some other knitting books, too).
- Lyons, Patty (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 208 Pages – 10/11/2022 (Publication Date) – David & Charles (Publisher)
- Lyons, Patty (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 160 Pages – 10/01/2024 (Publication Date) – David & Charles (Publisher)
Final Thoughts
In order to properly use your knitting needles to size your stitches, make sure your needles are always touching! Otherwise, the working needle is just a stick that you use to grab yarn and pull it through a stitch. I am convinced that this single tip is what fixed my knitting tension and gauge.
