Stitches

Why do I keep adding extra stitches to my knitting?

I started out with 15 stitches (for practice), and three rows later, I have like 23 in a row. What am I doing wrong?

Public Comments

1. This is a written "why" it may be happening - http://knitting-patterns-techniques.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_most_common_knitting_error But this video is up and close - doesn't directly address the error, but is very good in details - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6243932634030112555&ei=CdM6SfK_H5mSrALB3dlp&hl=en
2. here you go this will explain much better because she will show you while knitting how you make that mistake http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI-VlCRqbNU what you are doing you are making accidental increases and it is the common mistake beginners make.
3. When your turn the needles around, always bring the working yarn to the back under the needle tip, not over it. By bringing the yarn back over the needle you may accidentally create a yarn over increase, or pull the last stitch knit up over the needle so it appears to be two stitches that need to be knit in the next row.
4. It can be easy to add extra stitches when you first start out until you get a bit more experience. The above answers have good links however I would just like to add one simple tip that may help and that is to count the number of stitches you have on the needle at the end of each row until you have overcome the problem. If you find an extra stitch, you can undo that row to see where the problem is coming from and it is a lot easier to do when you only have 15 stitches on the row than when you have 115. Hope this helps. Good luck.