Craftgrrl

I bought 5's when I was learning too, I didn't know that bigger sizes are easier to learn on. My stitches were so tight my wrist were getting all sore. It's not the needle size though, just the technique that's making your stitches so tight. It just takes a bunch of practice to control the tension, try letting your stitches be much looser than you think they should be and see how it goes.

If you can, return those needles and get shorter ones in a larger gauge. The smaller the number, the smaller the needle. The yarn you purchased should recommend a needle size on the wrapper. If it doesn't, I'd get some 8's. I believe the standard lengths are 10 and 14 inches... the shorter ones are easier to use.

As for having stitches slip off - that sort of thing is about practice. Certain needles and certain yarn is more slippery and might take MORE practice to control, but you get their eventually. As far as the tightness goes, that's usually something that you resolve with practice as well. Just relax and don't force the yarn too much.

What size is the yarn? Somewhere on the paper wrapper there should be a suggested needle size for that yarn. Often the symbol next to or above it is two knitting needles crossed. Are you needles bigger or smaller than the suggested size (higher number is bigger needles)? Number 5 needles are a fairly mid-range size, but I'm guessing you have a worsted-weight yarn, if you got it at Michaels (is it the Lion's Brand Aran wool?) and with that weight you might be more comfortable with something like a size 8 needle. I knit socks with worsted weight on 5s, so it isn't out of the question, but will give you a denser fabric (tighter stitches).

It is not uncommon for new knitters to knit very tight, especially for the first several rows. It takes some practice to figure out how to hold the needles and the yarn at the same time, and how to form the stitches. Take a breath, relax, and concentrate on loosening up. That might help. My grandmother tucks the working needles (the one you are knitting onto) under her armpit as she knit, as that keeps her right hand free to handle the yarn. I knit continental, holding the yarn with the same hand as the needle I'm knitting off of, but that is another thing to learn. I always recommend getting comfortable with the stitch shapes before trying to hold the yarn continental-style.

I'm not sure what you got but I found the wooden needles to be less slippy than metal needles, and like everyone else said, fatter needles are easier to handle.

Congratulations on figuring knitting out yourself though! I took a class and I felt like I was learning disabled because I just couldn't get it. Um, I think I have the hang of it now, but I still have yet to tackle anything more complicated than a scarf.

I think you'll have more luck with larger needles.

I don't personally like straight needles, which are the kind you descibed. They hurt my wrists if I'm knitting anything body-sized. In other words, they are ok for a scarf, but anything bigger is too heavy for my wrists to comfortably support. I use circular needles almost exclusively. You can knit flat items on circular needles, but the weight of the item sits on your lap rather than hanging off the end of the needle. I don't think Michael's has much in the way of circulars, but maybe. Straights are great for learning on, either way. If you really get into knitting, you might want to see if there is a knitting or yarn shop in your area, as they will have a bigger variety of needles, made out of woods, bamboo, and different metals. My favorite needles are made of steel, but lots of people really like wood or bamboo needles because they are less slippery.

Wool-Ease isn't *really* wool yarn. It is mostly acrylic, with a tiny bit of wool. There's nothing wrong with that - it is inexpensive, soft, easy to find, and washable. But I'm a handspinner, so I'm kind of a wool snob. :)

I think Wool-Ease will work for you. It is the nicest of the acrylic choices, in my opinion. I can't say how warm it is, since it never gets terribly cold here, but I think it will work well for your project.

Try the Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool -- that's 100% wool, and a tad chunkier than the Wool-Ease. It only comes in the natural white color, though. :-(

I'm probably not the first (nor will be the last) to reply to this, but hey! We're here to help. :)

I'm discovering that needle-size isn't a hard and fast rule, but, as a beginner, I would recommend that you start using large needles or at least needles recommended for your yarn-type. You can generally tell what size needles you need by finding the row of symbols on the skein wrapper--you'll generally see a box with what looks like crossed knitting needles, next to a box with a crochet hook. Those boxes will *usually* (but not always) contain the size of needles recommended, like US:8 or US:3 or whatever.

US:5 are kind of small, from my limited experience. I'm using US:8's for Red Heart ColorMatch yarn, and I think the Lion Brand Wool-Ease I have also recommends US:8's--or at least the same gauge crochet needle as the Red Heart, so I'm going to assume they're also US:8's.

Smaller needles will give you smaller stitches, and I've found them much more difficult to work with than the larger needles. It may also be a tension issue, which I've found in both knitting and crocheting newbies (including me!) are prone to, trying to pull their stitches very tightly, and making it harder on themselves. The trick I found in both is to just work at it, because as your motions become more automatic, you'll tend to relax (and so will your stitches) into something more uniform.

Hope this helps!