Advice Given on Pothos Laddering Problem

The girls over at the Six Sock KAL forum have been just so helpful on this problem I'd been having regarding the laddering effect when moving onto the new needle using dpn's.

I have copied the advice the girls have given below just incase it helps with any of you other sock knitters who may or may not have the same problem but its also a point of inspiration for me to see everytime I look at the pic of my pothos socks and to give it another go !

I haven't tried out any of the advice yet but will report back on how I get on and which method suited 'me' best as I'm sure different methods will suit different sock knitters.

Here goes:

1. Try to knit with 5 needles instead of 4. When you have the stitches on 4 needles
the angel between the needles doesn't get so sharp as when you have the stitches on 3dpn's. This makes it easier to avoid ladders.

Avoiding ladders IS harder when purling than when knitting as the yarn travel on the outside of the work (between the stitches). When you knit the yarn is on the inside between stitches (= inside lane).

2. One knitter suggested shifting your stitches by 1 on each round of the leg. You will not get a ladder because each row starts in a different place. Have you tried blocking the socks or even just washing them? Does that eliminate the ladder?

3. When I'm working on the cuff or the foot, I will move anywhere from one to three stitches from one needle to the next. This readjusts the tension of the stitches on that needle and helps reduce the laddering. One of my girlfriends also recommended that when you start the stitches on a new needle pull the first three stitches of that needle very tightly. I have tried both methods and seen some success.

4. My suggestion would be not to knit the very first stitch on the new needle
tightly...knit it normally, then when you knit the second stitch, snug it up, and maybe even snug up the third stitch a bit. Often when you snug up that first stitch it makes the ladder effect even worse. Hope this helps!

5. I usually use Magic Loops to knit socks so avoiding ladders is easy as you swap
the last 2 stitches on the needle to the other side. THat way you never leave a
ladder. When you're using dpns, you might want to try the same trick but you'll have to keep a marker so you can tell where needle 1 should be. From there, it's easy to transpose the pattern.

6. The best thing that works for me is to always be changing the place I change needles. I do not get ladders if I always work at least three (or more depending on patternings) from each needle before starting to use the one I just emptied.

It may take a bit of a while to relearn if you are used to beginnning with the emptied needle right away. But, I find it prevents ladders better FOR ME than the other ideas about tightening certain stitches and so on. All that seems to do is mess with the tension.

However, more often than not the ladders tend to disappear with the first wearing and washing.

7. I don't know if this will help--maybe you're doing this already--but when I start a needle with a purl stitch, I make sure the working needle (the one you're knitting on to) is over the old needle (or the cable,if doing magic loop) and the yarn is coming from under. Then I pull tight. (If I'm knitting, my working needle is under the old needle.) This way, there's nothing getting in the way of the yarn when you start a new needle.

I wish I'd seen no. 6 before I completely frogged my sock last night, I might have had the confidence to continue with it. Never mind I will try again incorporating the advice given by the girls at the forum. Thank you girls again !