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12/1/2004 1:54:04 PM
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Cate
Posts 2212
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Please tell me that it is worth it. I have knit about 10 rows of an HW swatch. My hands are rebelling. Instead of each stitch sitting nicely on the needle and being a consistent size, I find the stitches sneaking onto the points and getting too small. I want to be able to knit with a color on each hand. Who else has tried to do this after a long time of knitting with the yarn in the right hand.
Cate
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12/1/2004 1:59:53 PM
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Libby
Posts 7209
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I have the opposite problem. I am a continental knitter and decided to learn english so that I also could knit two handed in fair isle. the problem I had was that my tension was just too tight and then when I loosened it up it worked fine. The othe thing was that it just took forever becasue I`m not used to knitting that way. but enough knitting in that fashion i figured it out. although I was still very very slow.
libby
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12/1/2004 4:45:37 PM
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Jamie
Posts 3462
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Hi Cate, If I remember correctly, my left hand had a hard time doing an entire row (even 20 sts) in cont. st. I often use the technique with 2 color rows and it seems to work well, it`s much faster and my sts are even enough. Just work with it a while and then try with a fair isle swatch. Perserverence! I`d love to break away from English style but don`t seem to be able to, except for 2 color rows (and I have never mastered cont. in purling). Jamie
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12/1/2004 5:51:49 PM
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bets
Posts 18976
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Cate-
I was raised to knit Continental, and had to teach myself to knit English for a two colored Norwegian monstrosity-I forgot to do it with this last sweater, and I lived.
BUT-how do you handle the needle when you crochet? My knitting style is VERY similar to my crochet style, and if you`ve ever even crocheted an edging onto a hem or neckline-THAT is the motion you need.
Does that help?
Bets
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12/1/2004 7:41:06 PM
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Cate
Posts 2212
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Bets,
It is more a problem of keeping the tension from being so tight. And getting the yarn in my left hand to read my mind.
Cate
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12/1/2004 8:07:51 PM
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bets
Posts 18976
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Cate-
Are you putting those unattractive dents into your fingers? Stop it, it`s not pretty!!!
(Patience, grasshopper!)
B
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12/2/2004 9:30:20 AM
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Guest
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Cate, I knit continental, and I knit very loosely. I just let the yarn run over my finger - i don`t do any of the wrap it around this and that that I have seen English style knitters do - What tension I do get is totally from two fingers sqeezing the yarn between them.
Now that I have made it clear as mud for you...
Theresa
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12/2/2004 9:44:47 AM
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Alice Trueman
Posts 1784
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Hi Cate
I learned to knit Continental from a Norwegian friend when I was 21 after having knit English since way before I started school. So I knit and purl the way Aase does, and probably her mother, grandmother, great-grandmother. This is not book-learning, just folk tradition. It is not nearly as complicated as those pictures in books. People say that I knit very fast.
Your tension is too tight or just wonky probably because you are wrapping the yarn around too many fingers. I`ll try to walk you through what I do:
Hold the left needle against your left index finger, with the stitch to be knitted at the upper-edge of this finger. Place your left thumb just below (to the left of) this stitch. Apply enough pressure with your thumb to hold the needle steady - but not the amount you would use to stop an artery from bleeding - and use this thumb to move along the stitches. Arrange the yarn over the top of your index finger, under the next two fingers, and over your baby finger. Tension is produced by pressing your fingers together against the yarn - again, no death grip, but about the pressure you would have if you were sitting with your hands folded together piously.
Right needle - I place my right index finger on top of the right point, so that it can assist if necessary, and my right thumb three to four stitches past the stitch in progress. Then this needle goes into the front of the stitch from left to right, goes anti-clockwise around the yarn, and pulls a loop through the stitch. As I pull the loop through, the old stitch flips off the needle and the new one is on the right hand needle. The yarn just slides along as you need it.
Knitting two-handed fair-isle - if you use the Philosopher`s Wool technique of never carrying a yarn over more than one stitch without anchoring it (no long floats), then your knitting will not pull together the way fair-isle sometimes does if you are not very careful. Plain and patterned bits will be just about the same tension, with even stitches. Also, the yarns never get tangled up - just sit with one ball on each side of you.
I`ve knitted a row across DD`s red poncho whilst explaining this. Had to keep looking at what I was actually doing.
Alice
Salt Spring Island
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12/2/2004 1:04:38 PM
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thechartreuseshepherd
Posts 1913
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I was taught the old German way - using my left hand. I wrap my yarn around my finger 5 or 6 times and use that finger to control the tension. As I knit, I unwrap the yarn from the finger.
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12/2/2004 5:05:09 PM
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Guest
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It`s so worth it! I changed from E to C after having knit right-handed for about 3 or four years, and as a result I have become much, much faster. The only problem was that I started a sweater for my DH, then boyfriend, got bored, set it down for about 9 months- during which time a series of socks and hats were my experients for changing hands- and then picked it up again. To say the last six inches or so from the bottom bells out would be a generous understatement. :)
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12/2/2004 8:58:32 PM
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Marta
Posts 2140
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Alice,
This explanation is a masterpiece! You manage to describe perfectly all those movements that one learns to do and become almost instinctive after a while. I find myself saving your "lessons" - with proper attribution - for future reference!
Marta
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12/3/2004 4:40:52 AM
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Cate
Posts 2212
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Thanks to all for your suggestions. It is getting easier. I am going to knit some gloves and see how it goes.
Cate
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