Started with 15 stitches, Knit 3, Purl 9, Knit 3, and now I have 18 stitches?

Question

I have no idea how I cast 15 stitches on, switched to wrong side, knit 3, purl 9, knit 3, and ended up with 18 stitches!

Am I doing something wrong? My next instruction is to purl 3, knit 9, purl 3, which adds to 15, leaving me with 3 extra stitches!

Answer 1

I used to do the same thing when I started knitting about 10 years ago. My first project was a scarf and it turned into more of a odd triangle shaped thing because of my continually "adding" stitches along the way.

It's tough to say exactly what you did wrong without seeing the project. You might have been accidentally wrapping the working yarn around the needle between some of the knit stitches creating a yarnover. The only thing I can tell you to do is to keep on practicing. It didn't take me too long to get the hang of it and I do pretty well now if I do say so myself (considering I don't get to knit as much as I'd like).

If this is something you think you'll keep up with, you might want to considering investing in a good instruction book for future reference. I bought a copy of Vogue Knitting when I first got started and it's proved an invaluable resource for me when it comes to seeing exactly how something is supposed to work.

Good luck!!

Answer 2

There are a few ways you could have done this:
you might have worked the same stitch twice
You might have yarned over by accident because you didn't move the yarn from back to front when you changed from knit to purl or vice versa
you might have inadvertently turned the work and started working the wrong way.
Take a good luck at what the stitches look like on the needle after you knit and purl so that you can spot the difference and then the mistakes. If you're too lost, just rip it out and start again since you're not that far into it. Practice.
We've all goofed up like this. Don't worry you'll get it.
Check out these links for reference, especially ribbing stitch on the first link. There's a video to show you the moving of yarn from front to back and back to front.
Hope this helps.

Answer 3

I've done that too!

Be careful where you put the yarn when you change from knit stitches to purl stitches and also from purl stitches to knit stitches in the same row.

I bet you didn't move the yarn to the front before executing the 'purl 9' after the initial 'knit 3' and made a yarnover by accident which gave you your first extra stitch. Then, you added two more extra stitches while changing from purl back to knit.

I keep the yarn above the work with my right index finger (English style 'throw' knitting) and move it forward or back as needed, without getting it accidentally wrapped around the knitting needle. That's just one way, and you can experiment to find the most comfortable way to make sure you place the yarn in the correct position for the upcoming stitch.

Good luck with your knitting!

Answer 4

It would be clearer if it said, as do some patterns, row 1&2 knit, row 3&4 purl, but that's what it means. When it says knit 2 together, it means put your needle through two stitches and knit them as though they were one. Do that all the way across, so you'll have half as many stitches when you get to the next row. You must be using teeny-tiny needles and teeny-tiny yarn if baby booties have 44 rows. I hope they come out well. If you don't know how to cast off, you can look that up by using Google. They way I do it wouldn't help you because I knit Nordic. It's a bit different.

Answer 5

I just tried...by casting on 15sts, then k 3, p 9, and k the remaining 3 sts...and ended up with 15 sts on needle....think it is the way your are moving your yarn to purl...maybe doing a yarn [e-mail]