Knitting advice

So I’ve been crocheting for a little less than a year and when I started learning to crochet I also picked up a few knit stitches but I didn’t do much with knitting until now since I decided to knit a cardigan, I accidentally figured out a rib stitch but I needed it anyways lol but I was just wondering if anyone has advice because it’s working up so slow lol and my hand is cramping

9 Likes

Very nice stockinette stitches! Definitely understand the slow part, since I wish I knit faster, it can take time depending on what type of knitter you are. There are different tips and tricks for different types that can take off a few seconds and when added up will make you a faster knitter, I suggest searching videos for that and also making sure your tension isn’t too tight or it could cause your hand to cramp up and make you knit slower, I think looking up videos on different knitting hand positions could also work since perhaps the way you hold it now may be putting more strain on your hands, also where you knit and your body position play a part too. I like to knit when I have something in the background so I can zone out or watch something since I feel like I do more work since I don’t really look at the piece too much lol

Also the type of needles you use could play a part since the material will affect how the stitches glide over it, also making sure to do hand exercises for knitting before you start can help as well

5 Likes

Thank you :blush: I have about a week of experience knitting and I’m adjusting to using 2 needles instead of a hook and part of it is probably because I’m using 4 mm needles but I don’t have anything bigger right now and I definitely find metal easier than bamboo but thank you for the advice I feel like some of the cramps come from how I hold the needle and yarn because I’m afraid to drop a stitch

4 Likes

Yeah I definitely understand I’ve done that before too lol, you can actually fix dropped loops by using a crochet hook! I’ve also seen video on how to fix a hole/gap with no live loop so that definitely helps knowing it can be fixed, there’s also something called a safety line/life saver(?) Can’t recall the name but it’s putting some yarn in the live loop so if you drop a stitch or need to frog a row you can frog to that line and it’ll save the loops to put your needles again since that yarn would be there to protect it :smile:

5 Likes

I did fix one dropped loopwuth a crochet hook but I got lucky enough to catch it on the next row before it completely came undone

5 Likes

I remember the first time I dropped a stitch and it was too late to catch it and I thought I had to redo the whole thing again lol :rofl: so glad others share their ways to fix it lol

4 Likes

This is some beautiful stitching!
My biggest advice is to keep your tension loose! It helps both the cramping and the speed… If you’re gripping too tight, your hands will cramp, and it takes longer to insert the needle into the stitch…
I’m still slower than I’d like to be, but that’s because I’m kind of a speed demon in crochet (plus, on average, crochet works up faster than knitting anyway)

4 Likes

Ah! the same happened to me when I started knitting, thats the reason I kind of gave up and took on crocheting :sweat_smile:
maybe try not holding on to the needles very tightly, and also you can rest your elbows on a table, instead of holding them up.
Hopefully I helped some!
(also your stitches look very neat and pretty!)

4 Likes

You’ve already got some great advice here, but I will say I started with knitting and picked up some crochet so I could use it on a blanket for edging. I now basically only crochet and one of the reasons is that it at least feels soooo much faster! So that might be something to consider (that it will just feel slower). At the same time, my mom is a pretty fast knitter, so it’s not that you can’t go fast, just that it might feel that way coming from crochet.

4 Likes