Improve Your Knitting Tension With These Small Changes!

What should you do when you aren't happy with your knitting tension? Sometimes a very small change can make a big difference!

0:00 Intro
0:15 Comparing swatches
2:19 What is rowing out
4:46 Better tension knit
9:30 Better tension purl
11:27 Other purling tricks and techniques
15:32 Outro

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[Suusie]

This is a revelation. I’ve been knitting over twenty years and one thing I’ve discovered - I never stop learning! Thank you.

[Rosie]

I watched this while I was halfway through knitting a jumper and looking at the jumper you can literally see the point at which I watched it.

[robaaron]

Lightbulb moments for me were at 6:53 when you said, “measure it” on the needle, and again at 8:30 where you said, “…my needles are doing the work of measuring, and I’m just doing the work of wrapping.” I’ve only been knitting for a year, and I’ve never thought of it this way before. Tension makes so much more sense now. Thanks!

[lifelearner]

I fixed both my tension problem and my arthritis aches with just one small change: I learnt how to use the Portuguese method. And of course, purling with this method is so fast. I passed on this method to our 'teacher' in our knitting group (she's a professional hand knitter), and she's so impressed she now uses it almost exclusively.

[dolores]

thank you for the tweaks in both English and Continental knitting

[jax]

One thing I've definitely learned as a knitter is to let the needle do the work! Overdoing your movements is just going to make your work look funky as well as kill your wrists

[goldibeer]

😁 I actually learned to do the combination style of knitting at around 14:00 from my mum/aunt and it worked perfectly fine until I tried lace knitting. Only then did I realize that I’m doing twisted knit stitches. It took me another 14 years to find out I’m also twisting my purl stitches which is why I kept having trouble knitting. But then again, I’ve always been more of a crochet person 😉

[LouiseNoname]

“Wow” is all I can say! I’ve been crocheting for several years and never had tension problems - only been knitting for a few months but had lots of trouble mastering tension. These small changes have already significantly improved my tension and how neat my stitches are. Thank you so much!

[carolellenwood]

Perfect demonstration of Continental and English k &p. Great info on tensioning. I have never understood the Norwegian purl, but now I do.

[sandraauld]

55 years of knitting and I learned so much! Excellent!

[mayazc]

Thank you for this video. This was the first time I saw backward knitting. It was fun

[riennablaise]

Thank you so much, this goes straight to my "saved" list. For me as an absolute beginner, everything was a lightbulb moment: you can measure your stitches?! :) But just in general, your pace of explaining is superb and I really appreciated the care you took to mention and show all the different details.

[magdavremec]

This video is very useful. I changed my way of purling 3 years ago and solved my tension problems. It' s always nice to discover simple solutions for knitting problems and have that pleasant feeling of progress. Thanks for videos like this one 😃!

[aggierowe]

Thank you so much! This is a topic that I have never seen covered in depth. I used to blame the yarn for the resulting uneven fabric until I realized it may be my tension.

[mtnyogi]

I have been knitting for 40 years! Learned from a friend. So greatful for you tube and videos like this that clarify things I have struggled with for years!!!! ❤

[halliehasslinger]

What a great video! Sometimes knitting videos can be rambling or hard to follow, but not yours! I love how thorough (yet to the point) you were in explaining the different ways the tension could be off. I also really enjoyed the pros/cons of different purling styles. I often see videos of these purl "hacks" but traditional purling seems to give me the best tension. Thanks for sharing! ❤

[camajfiberarts]

Wow!! No one mean no one of the thousands of knitting friends I have on Facebook ever ever recommended that. They probably don’t know it. Thank you!!!

[gyoftkv]

Thank you so much! This video adresses my problem exactly. Also, I realized I lived in the illusion that there is a correct way of knitting and purling, correct way of holding yarn etc. Thanks for showing me that correct purle is the one that works for me 😊

[RHG]

Thank you for this - you are so clear in your instructions and suggestions - very helpful!

[МаринаАстахова-йп]

Thank you for this video. I had recently faced a problem of tension with cotton based yarn and was going to change needle size but your video revealed me a lot of other ways for coupling with it. And I have never seen so many ways of purling.