Tutorial for combination knitting
It’s needleworkmonday and what I am doing? Yeah, you are right: crochet. Oh wait, actually this is wrong, I am knitting. I can’t believe I write this down, because I am such a big fan and defender of crochet. But recently my fingers on the left hand were stressed and I could not go on to crochet as much as I liked. So, I changed my addiction hobby and started to knit in honest.
My knitting style was to date western and continental. Means I hold the yarn in my left hand and my stitches are mounted with the leading leg in front. With this method my knitting was too loose, and it rowed out, because the right and left stitches were not equally tight. Very frustrating…more so, because I knitted so slow (ok, in comparison to crochet, knitting is perhaps always slow)
I started to research and stumbled across a knitting style which is called “combination” or “continental combined” and I think I found my method :-D
With this knitting style my rows had a tighter and more even tension. But the biggest benefit for me is, that the purl stitch is much easier than in western continental knitting. I made a short video to show you this knitting style.
Combination knitting means, that you hold your yarn in the left hand (hello fellow crochet-fans) and work the knit stitches with western orientation and the purl stitches eastern – therefore the name ‘combination knitting’. This style is (in my opinion) easier for the hands, because if you are used to it, the movements are very small. Also, the movement of the purl stitch is more like the western knit stitch, which means for someone like me who learned western knitting, it is easier to have an even tension in purl and knit stitches.
So, what to do:
For the knit stitch you insert the needle in the back loop and fetch the yarn.
For the purl stitch you insert the needle in the front leg, bring the yarn in front and under the right needle and fetch the yarn.
And because videos are so much easier to understand, I made some for you :-D
the knit stitch
the purl stitch
I hope I inspired you to try different knitting styles :-D
Which is your preferred method? English, continental, eastern uncrossed, Turkish or Greek knitting?
Thank you so much for sharing this knitting tip and the videos with us! Wow, so I didn’t know there were different names for knitting. I have soooo much to learn about it. All I know is casting on and knitting lol! I’ll definitely keep these in mind once I’m ready to move to the next level, I am SO beginner knitter right now. I love that pretty green yarn you used for the tutorial!
Happy you liked it, it was my first test to use dtube... and I must say it was not so compliant, I had many times an upload error (I googled, and this seems to happen fairly often). But ok, finally I succeeded without burning the computer. And I did not want to publish the videos as single posts on steemit, but I was inattentive, and it happened nevertheless.
The yarn - yes so lovely green - I want to make cardigan (what else :-D) with a lace detail at the button band (a leaf border, therefore the green). But lace is new for me and I made yesterday some false starts, I must practise.
The combination knitting is easy (for me) much easier than the normal western style (I dare to assume you knit western and English). How do you knit? Do you hold the yarn in your left or right hand?
And congratulations for your first pattern… resteeming :-D
That’s what happened to me when I made my short snippet video. I didn’t want to post it as a single post on Steemit. Do you know how not to do that? I’m wondering because I don’t want to do that again.
I believe I knit with my left hand just like I crochet with my left (weird because I’m right handed). I’m not sure what the style is called but I know it’s just the basics.
Thank you so much for the Resteem!!! 😃
Argh... I again tried to google a solution, but I am also unable to not publish dtube videos on both platforms. I could not find a setting option which allows you to publish only on dtube. If you are more successful let me know... (I only found an option to add a longer text for the steemit blog under advanced settings)
And wow, left hand crochet without being lefthanded? This is really fascinating and probably very seldom, did you learn from someone lefthanded? or is it just by chance? I for example use the mouse with my left hand (although being righthanded), because I hurt my fingers during the excess writing for my doctor thesis. This still may be the reason I have problems to crochet right now (I hold the yarn in the left hand, and this frozen position is hard on my middle finger)
Ah man! Hmmmm I wonder if someone has posted a video of how to achieve this on DTube? I know there’s a tutorial somewhere out there in the universe!! I’ll let you know if I find something. 👍🏽
Well it’s funny how I ended up being a left handed crocheter. The person that taught me is right handed. I tried and tried to get it right with my right hand but just couldn’t get it. It was awkward and so uncomfortable that I quit 3 times before trying one last time. My teacher suggested I tried doing it with my left hand. I was like “yea right that’s even weirder.” So I proceeded with the suggestion and before you know it I was hooked on crocheting and got the hang of it. I never went back to my right hand again.
Oh wow your poor fingers. 😟 I’m just glad that you are still finding a way to do what you love inspite of. 😉
I am not good at knitting... maybe I can try a new method like you have suggested if I decide to try knitting again! Right now I'm going to stick to crocheting!
I am so with you. I love crochet, but my fingers told me to stop (ahhhh so sad) I hope they get better, so that I can continue crochet. But knitting is a good replacement :-D
The color of the nail polish fits the color of thread)))
I had to laugh during filming, because I did not match nail polish and yarn on purpose... but you are right, I had a green day :-D
Great tutorial, @neumannsalva! I see that you are quite skilled in your craft! Love the green nail polish, BTW. Happy #NeedleworkMonday to you!
Thank you! And as I said above: it was really by chance, that yarn and nail polish had the same colour. I was so fixed on filming and on understanding dtube, I did not notice it up to the end... and then I laughed. And, I like the praise, I am (sadly) not very skilled at knitting, but I am learning. (I loved crochet... now I try knitting) I wanted to help other beginners to choose a knitting style which is easy and good for the joints. I started knitting one or two years ago (but not in earnest) and always thought the knitting style my friends used, is the only one - far from true :-D Now I know better.
Do you knit? I already now you can sew - your lamp shade is beautiful!!!!
I enjoyed the videos @neumannsalva and it got me thinking; I think I use this combination method :) I am not a very even knitter though :) probably because I always rush ...
had to laugh, because I am so impatient myself. I want to finish
everythingmy knitting as fast as possible. Sometimes this leads to very improvised solutions 😁Where did you learn knitting? I learned it long ago from my mother I think and she showed me continental western style knitting.
My mum taught me as well; one of her cousins also tried as well but she was left-handed... and looking at the mirror wasn't easy :) I have tried other methods because not many people around here knit like that and I always want to fit in ... but this method helps speedy people ... as you know
I am quite alone with this knitting style here too. I tried to finde more infos on ravelry and youtube, because I want to try lace knitting. But sadly there is not so much out there (I figure some things out, but still learning)
Learning to knit from someone who is lefthanden - wow! But perhaps very useful if you want to knit with two colours (one on the left, the other on the right side 😊)
https://steemit.com/@mdnurunnabi