Sometimes I Impress Myself

I know, what an arrogant statement especially from a Canadian slash Midwestern American, but those who know me also know such a statement is rare for me. Nonetheless, this week I did impress myself.

On October 19 I wrote about the Continental knitting workshop I took in the post called: Pickers and Throwers. So it is now as I write less than one week since I learned a new way to knit, six days to be exact I'm impressed. Those six days have been spent practicing the new style of knitting, in fact, it's the only style used. And on one point Judy, the instructor for the Continental workshop, was wrong; I have fallen in love with this new style far short of a month in time.

The movement is different so I'm not using that throwing motion to create a stitch. Instead a much more refined picking technique is used, which leads to much less stiffness/soreness after a couple of hours of knitting.

I do have the knit stitch down, not to the point where I don't have to look, but I'm good enough that I switched from English to Continental style of knitting on my first West Desert Hood. After close examination I can't tell a difference in how the FO (finished object) looks. In fact, if anything the tension is more consistent with the Continental style. Considering how long I've been throwing (over 40 years) this less-than-one-week improvement is remarkable. Thus, with regard to knitting in the Continental style, I have impressed myself.

Then there is purling. It requires a flick of the left index finger down to hold the yarn in place long enough to snag the stitch.

This is pre-flick, it will be the next movement to finish the stitch

See how the yarn in green on the top picture is still sitting on top of the needle? One needs to use the left index finger to push the yarn down and around to pull the stitch back up to the right. If you think it sounds awkward to do, it's even more awkward when you try to do it. The actual movement is still developing. I have tried wrapping the yarn twice around that index finger (the tension was too tight), doing a quick flick (the new stitch wasn't consistently snagged) and now I'm just slowing everything down so I can figure out what works best for me. Luckily with the West Desert Hood after every 1,260 stitches that are knit a mere 180 purl stitches are required. So to conclude this discussion, let's just say my skill is emerging with the Continental purl stitch.

So there you have it, I did impress myself this week and didn't really realize to what extent until I tried to describe it to Paul. He did his best to understand my enthusiasm, but then this was a personal journey for me, not him. He did listen patiently as I babbled on and on. (I know, that must be hard for you to imagine. :-) Finally, an old dog can learn a new trick and actually enjoy it as well.

I leave you with a close-up of the West Desert Hood. See if you can locate where the knitting technique changed.

For the curious it started in the second row of blue/green pane and moved north to the pink at the very top.

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Flagel Knitting Files

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