The saying goes....To err is human, to repent divine; to persist devilish ~ Benjamin Franklin And how does that pertain to knitting you might ask? I will tell you how.
I taught myself to knit. The book I had showed the English, throwing method of knitting. I had to knit with the yarn held in my left hand (aka Continental knitting,German-Style Knitting, left-hand knitting or European knitting) I knit this way as it was easier for me because I was use to holding the yarn that way while crocheting.
Moving on…when I knit in stockinette stitch the fabric veers off to the right. I was at spinning group and asked about it and was told I was probably twisting stitches. I decided it didn’t matter because I could block it out. The infamous… "You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink" ~ Dorothy Parker
Today I was reading The Knitting Answer Book and got to the part about twisted stitches. It read “If you knit with the yarn in your left hand, you may be bringing the right needle up under the yarn (instead of over it) to form a knit stitch …”
So I went and got my knitting and knit a stitch. Yes I am that dense that I have to have it in front of me to know how I do it. Anyhow, I put my needle thru the stitch and went under the yarn, lifted the tip of the needle up and over and pulled it thru. I went on the internet and watched not one but two videos which confirmed I was doing it wrong. See how it slants to the right?
I was going to dismiss this again because how much of a difference could it really make. But then I figured for shits and giggles I would give it a try and see. I sat back down and tried it the right way and it wasn’t that hard to get in the hang of doing it the right way so I kept on. Well what a HUGE difference it made. The man even noticed the difference and that in its self is HUGE! The bottom 1/2 I knit the old, wrong way and the top is done the right way. The stitches on top also lay flat while on the bottom the one side is higher than the other. I still have to work on the tension thing a little but it still looks better.
Excuse the yarn…I spin the same way I knit, slightly avant garde…I guess I have to work on that also.
I taught myself to knit. The book I had showed the English, throwing method of knitting. I had to knit with the yarn held in my left hand (aka Continental knitting,German-Style Knitting, left-hand knitting or European knitting) I knit this way as it was easier for me because I was use to holding the yarn that way while crocheting.
Moving on…when I knit in stockinette stitch the fabric veers off to the right. I was at spinning group and asked about it and was told I was probably twisting stitches. I decided it didn’t matter because I could block it out. The infamous… "You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink" ~ Dorothy Parker
Today I was reading The Knitting Answer Book and got to the part about twisted stitches. It read “If you knit with the yarn in your left hand, you may be bringing the right needle up under the yarn (instead of over it) to form a knit stitch …”
So I went and got my knitting and knit a stitch. Yes I am that dense that I have to have it in front of me to know how I do it. Anyhow, I put my needle thru the stitch and went under the yarn, lifted the tip of the needle up and over and pulled it thru. I went on the internet and watched not one but two videos which confirmed I was doing it wrong. See how it slants to the right?
I was going to dismiss this again because how much of a difference could it really make. But then I figured for shits and giggles I would give it a try and see. I sat back down and tried it the right way and it wasn’t that hard to get in the hang of doing it the right way so I kept on. Well what a HUGE difference it made. The man even noticed the difference and that in its self is HUGE! The bottom 1/2 I knit the old, wrong way and the top is done the right way. The stitches on top also lay flat while on the bottom the one side is higher than the other. I still have to work on the tension thing a little but it still looks better.Excuse the yarn…I spin the same way I knit, slightly avant garde…I guess I have to work on that also.
"The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing" ~ John Powell
I did learn that I should have tried doing it right when they told me a year ago what was wrong. I did learn how to do it the right way and will continue in this manner since it looks a thousand times better.
"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing".~ George Bernard Shaw
3 comments:
Hey, don't feel bad - - twisted stitches are good things! Use them where you pick up stitches or make stitches in gussets of socks or mitten thumbs and you won't have as many or as big holes! Also twisted stitch ribbing is neat, but you have to do something with the purls on the back side - -- - I think it is knitting into the other leg of the stitch - - which I didn't know either. Grace
Hi Judy - I'm so glad you found my book helpful!
Oops! I forgot you couldn't tell who was posting that. I'm Margaret Radcliffe (should be obvious), who wrote the Knitting Answer Book.
And with my spinning, I just go with the flow. The yarn comes out however it wants to come out.
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