My Knitting is Bunching Up: Fix It!

It happens to the best of us. We are happily working up a knitting pattern when your yarn just starts to misbehave! Despite following the directions and stitches exactly, your yarn just keeps squeezing together, shrinking your knitting project into a confusing little mass. Sometimes bunching up is entirely common, and you may need to block your knitting pattern to force it to keep your its intended shape. This is not an uncommon knitting technique. Check your knitting pattern instructions to see if the project requires blocking. It should tell you if this is the case.

If you are working on a simple knitting pattern and it still misbehaves, however, you might be doing something wrong. Learning how to knit is a process and sometimes following knitting video instructions just does not do the job.  Luckily, preventing this annoying problem has an easy solution.

Yarn bunching up while knitting can often be the fault of the yarn you are using and how you are using that yarn. While some yarns are stiff and can be pulled tightly as you knit, others come with some stretch. Cotton yarns are especially stretchy. Before working with a specific type of yarn for a project, be sure to read up on that brand and that make of yarn. These tips can help prevent you from pulling the yarn far too tightly. Unfortunately there is not an exact science to prevent yarn from bunching. Knitters just slowly learn the right amount of pull and tightening to use while working up a pattern. If you are experiencing this problem, consider checking out the reviews and information on the yarn you are using. Oftentimes this information can offer knitting tips and tricks on how to work with the specific yarn you are using.