I'm learning to knit and I can cast on just fine. I can also knit stitch quite well. I have not learned the purl stitch yet as I cannot figure out what I am doing wrong. Whenever I knit stitch, the last stitch always has a big loop in it that I cannot remove. I've tried pulling from all different places but the loop stays there. One time i thought I fixed it, but I ended up with 11 stitches when I started with 10.
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6I don't knit so I can't really help, but I suspect a picture of your knitting showing this loop might prove useful.– walrusCommented Mar 5, 2019 at 10:44
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4When you say "the last stitch" do you mean the final stitch in each row? Or do you mean the final stitch in the very first row, right after you cast on? A photo would definitely be helpful!– Cabled MusingsCommented Mar 6, 2019 at 2:05
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1A picture with the problem would help a lot. Also, a picture with the desired result would help, for comparison.– virolinoCommented Nov 21, 2019 at 5:53
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3 Answers
From what you are saying it sounds like you are getting a loop at the end of your run of knit stitches when you go to purl stitch. If this is the case, I have experimented to confirm the cause and believe you are not bringing the yarn around the needle to the front before you purl.
Do not bring the yarn over your needle. This could possibly be why you are also getting an extra stitch (11 stitches instead of 10). It needs to go around it to the front (bring it in between the 2 needles to get it to the front). Knit stitch has the yarn at the back, and purl stitch has the yarn at the front.
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...unless you’re doing Norwegian purl, which is a purl technique that starts with yarn in back. Commented Apr 12, 2019 at 18:49
As I understand what you said, you are not using any purl stitches, just stockinette/knit stitch. The larger loop at the end of the row is a common problem, the solution that I have used is to always slip the first stitch (do not knit it), then continue knitting across the row. This has the effect of knitting that first stitch only every other row instead of every row, which tightens the yarn so the project is better able to keep its shape on the sides and helps prevent the large loop.
@111 has the answer for the big loop (slip the first stitch, aka move between needles without knitting), but I'd like to add that ending up with extra stitches is also a common problem. Make sure that when you're knitting, you don't accidentally wrap the yarn around your needle; your knitting is especially vulnerable to this when you're picking it back up after setting it down or stopping what you were doing. This is a legitimate technique called a "yarn over", which creates stitches. If you see holes in your work as well as extra stitches, this is likely what's happening!
The good news is that you can fix this long after you've passed them through a technique I call "tink and tighten", where you tink (undo knitting) from above, removing the extra stitch, and then tighten all the stitches around the dropped ones to distribute the extra yarn.
