True Blue Fiber Friends

Have you noticed when you knit stockinette stitch on the flat that horizontal stripes appear in your knitting? Does the phenomenon disappear when you knit in the round? Do your ribbing stitches zig and zag this way and that? Are there furrows between rows on the private side of stockinette?

You may have a problem with "rowing out."

Rowing out occurs when the yarn tension for the knit stitches is not the same as the yarn tension for the purl stitches. Most often it is the purl stitches which are looser than the knit stitches.

Some ways to combat "rowing out:"

1. Make a gauge swatch in garter stitch using only knit stitches. Make a second swatch with the exact same number of stitches and rows, but using only purl stitches. It may help to knot the tail of the purl sample with an overhand knot so you don't confuse the two swatches. Now compare. Whichever swatch is larger represents the type of stitch that needs tightening.

2. Try knitting combination.

3. Try Cat Bordhi's method for tightening purls. It's very similar to the way Elizabeth Zimmerman purls in her Knitting Glossary, also known as the "Norwegian purl." There's another video showing Norwegian purl on YouTube that may be clearer because a solid colored yarn is used in the demo.

4. Try forming the stitches closer to the tips of the needles.

5. Try tugging the yarn down a bit when you cross from the back to the front of the work, then hold the last stitch on your right needle in place with a finger while you form the next stitch, to keep it from loosening while you work.

6. Try knitting English. Throwing instead of picking sometimes naturally produces a more even tension.

7. Practice practice practice. Practice stockinette stitch and hold your work at an angle to the light. Shadows should help you identify any stripes caused by loose purls. Practice 1x1 rib and look at your columns of stitches. If they alternate between leaning left and right, then you're still rowing out.