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Gibson Girl
Chatty Knitter
USA
148 Posts |
 Posted - 11/10/2011 : 08:36:29 AM
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| I'm with those of you who knit back and forth - I'm a lefty so LH is "picking" and RH "throws". It keeps both hands involved in different rows resulting in less fatigue, I think. I've tried to get the RH to learn new tricks but alas, it was too much trouble and slowed me down. As I do a lot of intarsia and lacy patterned sweaters I always have the pattern in front of me. I can't imagine knitting the sweater I'm on trying to figure out the "purl" side of the stitches. I go back and forth knitting what I see on the chart. After 50 years of knitting this way I have no trouble with a consistant fabric. |
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Wen
Permanent Resident
Australia
3242 Posts |
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minh
Permanent Resident and Destasher Extraordinnaire
USA
3416 Posts |
Posted - 07/09/2012 : 6:58:17 PM
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I'm a thrower 90% of the time but when it comes to color-knitting, I usually pick with the left hand and throw with the right hand. A couple of months ago I took a class on Continental knitting and learned several techniques to make picking easier (I wasn't resting my middle finger on the needle and was pulling the yarn too far). I am not ready to make the switch but I have learned enough to make fair isling easier and faster!
http://minkyknits.blogspot.com |
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donnawatk
Seriously Hooked
673 Posts |
Posted - 07/10/2012 : 03:54:11 AM
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| I knit English, Ive taken a couple of classes for continental knitting. I haven't found a method that works for me. I have been told continental would help with my bad wrist. Donna |
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Grand-moogi
Seriously Hooked
Australia
783 Posts |
Posted - 07/10/2012 : 07:01:08 AM
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Good grief! Reading this thread is making my head spin. I had no idea there were so many different methods of knitting. I thought I was a fairly experienced knitter but I think I thunk wrong.
Thankyou all for the ideas and opinions. I will probably work through them slowly and maybe look up a few things on You Tube so I can understand what you are all talking about.
I knit a hug into every stitch |
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ikkivan
Gabber Extraordinaire
USA
434 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2012 : 06:24:32 AM
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[sells Continental as being better to avoid hand injuries, because there is less movement]
I'd have to think seriously about a claim such as this ... about five years ago, I "forced" myself to learn the Continental method because of pain in my right forearm and wrist, so what happens? I end up with wrist surgery (carpal tunnel) on my LEFT hand! Duh.
I mostly knit using what I always thought was English, but from some videos I've watched, it evidently is more correctly known as English "lever" knitting. Whatever it is, I have very little motion and certainly nothing like what I see in videos showing so-called English knitting (I think those who favor Continental always show the most awkward examples of English knitting to make the Continental method more appealing).
Anyway, I knit mostly using the English lever method, but whenever I do stranded colorwork, I knit with both methods, one color in each hand. For me, two-color knitting goes very fast and I love it. I know I still knit only with one method at a time, but there's something in my brain that says using both hands is twice as fast. Ha.
I'm happy with the way I knit and have grown past trying to make myself use whatever is supposed to be the "best" way. What is best is what works for the knitter!
Donna, with intentions always bigger than her available time. (OkieDokieKnitter on Ravelry) |
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Ceil
Permanent Resident
USA
1572 Posts |
Posted - 07/14/2012 : 7:39:07 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by draymer
...Knitting Daily TV sells Continental as being better to avoid hand injuries, because there is less movement....
I don't know that there >less< movement. Perhaps >different< movement, and I WILL say that movement is needed, no matter what the method!
I switched to Combination knitting over five years ago, and like it, although it seems to confuse things when knitting lace. (Knitter beware.) And one pattern I knitted from Knitty.com didn't work well with Combination, so I wound up knitting it entirely with Continental. I was developing thumb pain with English, but that may have been more because my movements were bad. At that point I switched to Combination, so I never did explore what might work when knitting English. For starters, I >could< learn how to carry the yarn in my RH. I kind of drag it around, never got that figure out!
Ceil
(Ravelry: ceilr)
Time is never a factor when joy is involved. |
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azblueskies
Permanent Resident
2300 Posts |
Posted - 07/19/2012 : 8:37:42 PM
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I knit English and Continental but tonight I tried Portuguese knitting. Wow! I don't like to purl but it's so easy this way,the tension was really nice and it may even be a bit speedier. I've been switching back and forth between English and Continental lately because my hands sometimes hurt and I get muscle cramps so I'm anxious to see if the Portuguese method helps.
azblue
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So much to learn, so little time. |
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Chayah
Permanent Resident
1924 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2012 : 08:16:11 AM
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I was taught a European style as a child but taught myself Continental about 10 years ago. I like it very much and have stuck with it. I do a sort of "scoop" purl stitch which is very easy. I have not been successful in learning other styles or other cast ons, so I just do what I like. Happy knitting, Chayah
"Each breath really is a new beginning of the rest of our lives." Jon Kabat-Zinn |
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weavingway
New Pal
43 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2012 : 1:42:55 PM
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| marjotse: Thank you, thank you. I have always knitted with one needle pined down. I thought I was the only one. That leaves both hands free, tension is even, it is quick and yet I watch other people knit with both needles moving and I have even tried it and end up going back. I am sure any way that a person knits is how you learned and what you are most comfortable with. I see no reason to change |
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Margie
Permanent Resident
1013 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2012 : 7:00:44 PM
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I knit both ways. Grandmother taught me to throw and I learned picking over the course of a few evenings in front of the TV. I'd get the sts backwards at first. Now it's natural and my choice.
I also purl WYIB. Saw a woman at my LYS doing that, asked to learn and love it. Now I'll have to look up Portuguese knitting and look into that. I have books showing pictures of various ways but no instructions are given. Ratz.
Margie and Mimi (my hearing dog who doesn't knit -- yet)
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Do you go both ways?
