How are you knitting? ie English or Continental? (English - yarn threaded by right hand, thrown over needle, Continental - yarn threaded by left hand, stitch picked and 'scooped' by your needle)
And what are you knitting?
I taught myself English method, and began with purling. Found it incredibly hard to knit - but now knitting is my preferred stitch - I just practiced with a simple lace scarf (very forgiving with your stitch tension) and a simple baby blanket and got to the point where I was comfy knitting.
One thing I discovered when I started knitting (well, purling) was that if I wasn't careful when I'd turn my work while purling, sometimes I'd carry over the thread basically like a yarn over, adding an extra stitch. Losing stitches without the evil drop stitch - you're knitting double some where.
With the slip stitch at the beginning of your work - that'll end up in a bit 'taller' border. At least it does when I do it. Part of it might just be that you knit fairly loose. Are you hitting gauge at all for the yarn? How are you holding the yarn in the hand you're feeding with? Do you have the end secured and controlled with other fingers? You might try: 1) loop around your pinkie, then over your index finger. 2) (method I prefer) Over index, under middle, over ring, under pinkie (and I bend the pinkie to further control the yarn). That'll help shape up the finished product by having more even, controlled stitches.
Depending on what you're knitting, blocking will help the final shape too - esp if you're using wool. Another trick to help even out your stitches - when you're done, tug the entire thing width-wise, diagonally one way, diagonally the other, then height-wise. Not hard enough to break your yarn, but hard enough to make a difference in your stitches.
As far as the yarn splitting - some yarns are just notorious for that, some don't. I don't know what yarn supply access you have, but if you have an actual yarn store, one of the people might be able to help suggest something. I'm not even sure where you're living - but Cascade 220 is a good multi-purpose reasonably priced wool yarn.
Okay, sorry, that was a lot of babble.
Edited to say: Good luck with the knitting! It was a struggle for me at first - but now I don't go anywhere without a project. Wine helps, at first. ;)
no subject
And what are you knitting?
I taught myself English method, and began with purling. Found it incredibly hard to knit - but now knitting is my preferred stitch - I just practiced with a simple lace scarf (very forgiving with your stitch tension) and a simple baby blanket and got to the point where I was comfy knitting.
One thing I discovered when I started knitting (well, purling) was that if I wasn't careful when I'd turn my work while purling, sometimes I'd carry over the thread basically like a yarn over, adding an extra stitch. Losing stitches without the evil drop stitch - you're knitting double some where.
With the slip stitch at the beginning of your work - that'll end up in a bit 'taller' border. At least it does when I do it. Part of it might just be that you knit fairly loose. Are you hitting gauge at all for the yarn? How are you holding the yarn in the hand you're feeding with? Do you have the end secured and controlled with other fingers? You might try: 1) loop around your pinkie, then over your index finger. 2) (method I prefer) Over index, under middle, over ring, under pinkie (and I bend the pinkie to further control the yarn). That'll help shape up the finished product by having more even, controlled stitches.
Depending on what you're knitting, blocking will help the final shape too - esp if you're using wool. Another trick to help even out your stitches - when you're done, tug the entire thing width-wise, diagonally one way, diagonally the other, then height-wise. Not hard enough to break your yarn, but hard enough to make a difference in your stitches.
As far as the yarn splitting - some yarns are just notorious for that, some don't. I don't know what yarn supply access you have, but if you have an actual yarn store, one of the people might be able to help suggest something. I'm not even sure where you're living - but Cascade 220 is a good multi-purpose reasonably priced wool yarn.
Okay, sorry, that was a lot of babble.
Edited to say: Good luck with the knitting! It was a struggle for me at first - but now I don't go anywhere without a project. Wine helps, at first. ;)