[KBeans]

hi!! im valarie. i have been researching knitting for the past week and got my yarn and needles last night. i absolutely love that link form this board to knittinghelp.com, that place rocks!!

i already know ohw to cast on and then get to knitting the first row and such, but im having a problem...it's always too tight! i can't seem to loosen my original cast on and then as i knit the first row it gets even tighter. im not sure if it is just me or the needles or the yarn.

i got 5.5 needles and my yarn says worsted medium 4 (not sure what all that means) but it said that 5 & 5.5 needles would be used for that yarn and that is what i have....so i figure the problem is me

any tips or help??

[Lindsey608]

You can try casting on with a needle a few sizes bigger and then switching back to smaller needles to knit your piece. Or just for practicing, go ahead and stick to the bigger needles! I learned on size 6's and 8's with worsted weight yarn.

Oh yeah.. I also wanted to ask, what kind of cast on are you using? The backward loop method is a good beginner one and is really stretchy!

[KBeans]

im using long-tail...maybe i will give a different cast on a try. and im definitely going to pick up bigger needles.

I'm just re-newing my knitting (did it in school many moons ago) and am a basic beginner... knit and purl is about my limit lol

I've found I've been holding the piece of wool going to the ball too tight... hence making my stitches tight, try and hold it loosly so it creates looser stitches... also deffo agree with above on bigger needles.

Not sure what type of needles you have... I started with plastic (think they were plastic!) and bought metal ones last week... metal are MUCH better!

[survey77777]

A big part of it is just relaxing. Try knitting a few rows without worrying about whether your stitches are even and then look back at it. I found that for me the relaxation came with time, and it didn't take long. The first thing I knit was a blanket for my first niece...and it's by no means perfect...but it's still loved. I think it's kind of fun to be able to see your progress like that. I know many would tell you to knit a whole bunch of practice things, but personally I'm more of a just leap right in kind of person. So before I even made a swatch I knit an entire layette set. I could see so many mistakes in it when I first made it, but looking back on it now, I'm actually pretty impressed that was my first project.
Happy knitting!