help me learn to knit with DP needles, please.

[kiskidee]

the stitches are slipping off the other end. is there a little gadget i can buy to keep them on?

any other tips? I want to learn to knit a sweet little hat and learn to use dpn.

[DutchOma]

There are stoppers that you can buy to stick on your pins to transport them, or you could use a cork? Or a circular needle?
The main trick though with dps is to hold all 3 or 4 pins so that your hands stop the stitches sliding off

[Miaou]

Have you got too many stitches on your needles, kiskidee? If you have got them over three, could you spread them over four instead?

[kiskidee]

I thought that stoppers may exist.
I think that i will have to get really clever to hold all 3/4 pins at the same time.

No, not too many stitches Miaou. Just that I have never used dpns before and using a cotton so i think it may be more slippy.

[Miaou]

Might need to knit a bit more tightly?

[DutchOma]

I find it handy to knit on three rather than four needles, have the stitches on two and knit with the third. You get a slight ridge where you change needles, but if you are careful to pull the thread tight at the beginning of each row, that ridge disappears very quickly. It is the Shetland way of knitting, the first thing I was told when I got there. "Only socks get done on 4 pins," they said. Another way is to knit with bamboo needles, which are less slippy than steel or plastic ones.

[kiskidee]

I will try the 3 needle method Dutchoma. I think my knitting is fairly tight already. It is when I have just started and there is so little fabric to hold on to that I am struggling to keep the stitches on.

I don't own any bamboo needles yet. Being on Mat leave is supposed to keep my spending down.

[florenceuk]

try knitting the first few rows flat (leave a nice long tail for seaming) and then joining (I usually cast on an extra stitch and then knit them together). Putting the needles on a flat surface (like a table) might also help to stop all that jiggling around. I use 5 needles BTW for everything, but I am only a novice!