Thanks for clarifying, Mary. I had always thought of this as Portuguese knitting. Andrea Wong used to attend Schoolhouse Press’s 2.75 Retreat (or maybe 3 as I went to that one also at some times).?
I used it to knit a whole sweater which i wanted to do in reverse stockinette.
Melisande,
When I knit by flicking with my right hand, my yarn is tensioned by my ring and pinkie fingers holding it against my palm. When my fingers flick forward, they loosen and then tighten as my index finger comes back.?
When I knit continental, I wrap the yarn around my pinkie finger on the left hand because my left hand doesn’t do this as consistently. This means I have to manually allow more more yarn as I knit. You should experiment with different ways of tensioning. Another thing you could do is do what the crocheters do. I try that sometimes. You wrap the yarn around your index finger a few times and then drop a loop when more yarn is needed.?
I think you’ll find you get a tighter tension with Portuguese knitting.
My loosest tension/gauge with the same needles and yarn is with Continental, then my right hand flicking and then Portuguese knitting.?
On Tue, Feb 25, 2020 at 2:13 PM Melisande R. Wolf via Groups.Io <melisanderwolf=
[email protected]> wrote:
My tension has gotten oddly looser and looser over time.? It’s something I’ve been meaning to ask the Mongers about because socks just don’t wear as well when not knit at a tight gauge and I’m at the point where I’m lucky if I can get 7 stitches per inch using the same yarn (and smaller needles) than I used to be able to 8 spi effortlessly and up to 9 on smaller needles.? I’m just not willing to knit regularly with needles smaller than a size 0 so I really can’t keep going down in needle size.
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Maybe tensioning around my neck will help?? I’m game to give it a try.
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Melisande
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Some years back in the Knitting Circle at my office (this is ATT and the club is called Fiber to the World) we had a Portuguese-American knitter who tensioned around her neck (she’d learned from relatives on a summer visit). She was blindingly fast and her tension was perfect. It was impressive and a bit intimidating at the same time.
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Lise in NJ
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I’m fascinated by this and need to watch the video.? I find that purling requires more movement from me than knitting since I purl with my thumb and knit with my finger (I am a Continental picker unless I’m doing stranded knitting, which is with two hands and bothers my shoulder a fair bit because of all the movement).?
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I will also confess that I purl much more loosely than I knit.
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Of course, I’m already imagining a dog getting tangled up in my knitting if I tension the yarn around my neck, especially Tzeelah, who prefers to spend my late evening knitting with as much of her in my lap as I can be persuaded to permit.
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Melisande
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From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of mary_007usa via Groups.Io
Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2020 1:26 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [yarnmongers] Koigu shawl is done
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Love those energizing experiences!
In Peruvian knitting the yarn is tensioned through a knitting pin affixed to the left shoulder (for a right hander). In turkey or Greece, the yarn is usually tensioned around the neck.? One of the benefits is even tension between knit and purl. Purling is easier that knitting with this method.? I often do garter stitch by just purling every row, b/c required very little movement of the fingers and hands.
Andrea Wong, a proponent of the method demonstrates at around 1:35 min into this video:
One of the physical benefits from an occupational therapist's perspective is that the knitter never has to let go of the needles, which reduces stress on the hands and arms.? Both needles are always fully supported by the arms and shoulders.? If a knitter has a repetitive stress injury and is an English thrower, they must release the right needle to throw the yarn around the left needle and even that little bit of added weight and stress can prevent healing.
Mary.
