How to Keep Knitting Tensions Even

Controlling the tension in your knitting can be as simple as weaving the working yarn between your fingers.

The ease with which yarn feeds into your knitting is called “tension.” Methods for controlling knitting tension abound, involving yarn manipulation or gadgets devised to slow the speed at which you pull the working yarn along as you knit. Knitting tension affects the fabric you are knitting. If it’s too tight, your stitches will be pinched and tight. If it’s too loose, the stitches will be uneven and loose. If your tension is inconsistent as you knit, the resulting garment might not fit as intended.

Instructions

1. Loop the working yarn around your index finger. Creating another path for the yarn to travel creates a slight resistance in the yarn, allowing it to feed into your knitting more evenly.

2. Add a loop around your pinky in addition to the one around your index finger. Various things can cause an inconsistency in knitting tension from day to day. Dry air allows yarn to glide more smoothly over your fingers, requiring you to increase the tension. Moisture caused by humid weather might cause friction in the yarn as it passes through your fingers. On a dry day, you might need to add this extra loop around your pinky.

3. Loosen your grip slightly on your knitting needles. If you grasp them too tightly, this puts pressure on the yarn and on your hand muscles, resulting in tight stitches. Alternatively, if you hold the needles too loosely, the resulting loose tension will cause sloppy, uneven stitches. Try holding onto the needles a bit more tightly.

4. Test various combinations of yarn and needle types. Softer yarn with shorter fibers tends to slide over needles more easily than coarse, long-fibered yarn. Wood and bamboo needles provide more tension than metal needles, which enable yarn to slide across the needle more smoothly. If you are knitting with a soft yarn on metal needles and find your tension too loose, try switching to wood or bamboo needles for that project.

5. String the yarn around your neck and then loop it around your index finger. This technique will increase tension and help when your tension is too loose.

6. Use a tool specially made for controlling tension. If simple methods of manipulating the yarn do not help you, or if you suffer from hand pain, tools such as the Cro-Knit tension keeper might help you.

References

• Knitting Guru: Controlling Tension
• Purl Bee: Not Too Tight Tutorial
• KnittingHelp.com: Mastering Yarn Tension
• Patternworks: Cro-Knit Tension Keeper