Musings on Different Knitting Techniques: right-hand yarn hold vs left-hand yarn hold

So much has been made of the split between knitters who hold their yarn in the right hand while knitting (frequently referred to as English style or throwing) versus those who hold their yarn in the left hand while knitting (frequently referred to as Continental style or picking). I have to admit to being someone who has followed this issue for a long time and to having read numerous blog post, articles, and writing about this in books. 

I was taught to knit with the yarn held in my right hand. Soon after I began knitting regularly, I was very lucky to have a master knitter who owned my LYS teach me how to tension my yarn a lot more effectively over my right index finger, under my middle finger, and over my index finger. Here is a link to a video of the way I tension my yarn: right-handed yarn hold (in the image to which I have linked, the knitter tensions in the same way that I do, except he adds one more tensioning point by wrapping the yarn around his pinkie in addition to tensioning over the index finger, under the middle finger and over the ring finger as I do).

My mentor was an extremely fast and effective knitter, so I was highly motivated to learn her technique. I found that with a little practice, I took to this method well and was very pleased with the results and the rhythm I was able to establish very quickly while knitting. This has been my primary mode of knitting for the last 20 years.

However, soon after this I began to encounter some knitters who knit with the yarn held in their left hands. Both of my friends with whom I first encountered this technique had learned to knit in other countries (one from Russia and another from Sweden). They both knitted in a similar manner in terms of how they held the yarn, but my friend from Russia actually created her purl stitches differently. I later learned she was knitting using a Combined method. It absolutely fascinated me that people could knit so differently and still produce very similar results. Even at the time, I had a small desire to learn what they were doing, but I was so used to my own method that it didn't really occur to me to do much more than giver their methods a half-hearted try in order to at least see what it was all about. I never seriously considered switching styles at that time.

Later, though, I began reading a lot about these different styles on knitting blogs, and I was fascinated to see how many knitters who held their yarn in the left hand were "coming out" to speak about the discriminatory comments they had faced over the years, being told they were "knitting wrong." I never understood that and always wondered why people were so quick to try to put those who do things differently into a category of "the other." I applauded these women for beginning to share their stories and for making these less well-known styles of knitting known to the general knitting public and for eventually making it so that these styles have become more than acceptable. In many instances, knitting with the yarn in the left hand has become more "normal" amongst the knitting community on the web than knitting with yarn in the right hand seems to be.

Which brings me to my own story.  Eventually, I began thinking that instead of half-heartedly trying to knit with the yarn in my left hand, maybe I should really try to switch. I had a few motivations to learn to do it well. First of all, I wanted to knit Fair Isle and wanted to use the two-handed method. In order to learn to do it well enough to make stranded knitting rhythmic, I figured I should really practice it alone first. I did this and became fairly proficient with the knit stitch. Of course, purl is another thing all-together when it comes to holding the yarn in the left-hand (one reason why I still prefer holding the yarn in my right hand for most knitting). No matter how proficient I have become holding the yarn in my left hand for the knit stitch and no matter how much I have practiced, I can't say I have ever become as comfortable with it as I am when holding the yarn in my right hand.

When I use my index finger to flick the yarn up over the needle, whether for the knit stitch or the purl stitch, I feel like my hand is a well-oiled machine. Everything just flows and it feel awesome. When I hold the yarn in my left hand, it feels a bit like work, and I find myself having to really concentrate. I can't take my eyes off the needles like I can when I use my right hand. I can't execute k2tog, ssk, yo, or m1 without thinking about it. I certainly can't execute the purl stitch without a lot of effort and concentration. And I still haven't found a really comfortable way to tension the yarn. I have tried them all, but none feels perfect in the way that my right-handed technique does. 

The one that I have found that works best for me when it comes to a left-handed yarn hold for the knit stitch is the one that I recently saw Elizabeth Zimmerman using on her dvds. She simply holds the yarn over her left index finger and tensions the yarn with her folded fingers against her palm. When I saw this a couple weeks back after purchasing her amazing dvds, I realized that she was tensioning her yarn in the same exact manner that I do when I crochet. This made me realize that maybe if it works for me for crochet, it would for knitting. Sure enough it does ... but only for the knit stitch. The problem for me comes into play when I try to purl and there doesn't seem to be enough tension to make it work. E.Z. seemed to manage, but she was famous for liking to knit a lot more than she liked to purl, which is one of the reasons she was so enamored with garter stitch and knitting in the round. Unfortunately, I am not quite as enamored with garter stitch or knitting in the round as she was, and I really want to continue to be able to purl comfortably. 

Lastly, knitting with the yarn in my right hand just feels right! I love the rhythm I get into when I do it this way, and even if I am not as fast as some who knit with the yarn held in their left hand are, who cares. First of all, I know plenty of knitters who hold the yarn in their right hand who are incredibly fast, my mentor being one of them. I am just not a speed demon at anything. However, I want to enjoy my knitting not win any speed contests. So much of my life needs to be lived in the fast lane as it is -- work, kids' schedules, etc. -- why should my knitting be a contest. I have decided that I will continue to use the right-handed hold as my primary method of knitting. I will continue to work on improving the rhythm of my left-handed hold for stranded knitting and for projects where it might be useful, such as something containing a lot of seed stitch. However, I don't think I will ever switch entirely.

It is nice to have more than one technique to depend upon, though, because we can never learn too much in life. Now I just wish that everyone would realize the value in all of the many ways that one can knit and be content to allow everyone to enjoy their own styles. Unfortunately, it seems that all too often one group or the other wants to make the other group feel like they are doing it "wrong." For far too long those who knit with yarn held in the left hand were the victims of that mentally; however, it is starting to seem like the tide has turned and now those who hold the yarn in their right hands are the ones who are all too often being criticized. This should not be. We all have different styles and sometimes those styles might correlate with how our bodies are designed. Isn't the most important thing that we do what makes us feel the most comfortable when it comes to our hobby?

By now you might be wondering why I have chosen to use the awkward phrasing of "knitters who hold the yarn in the right hand" and "knitters who hold the yarn in the left hand" instead of more common labels such as "Continental/English style" or "pickers/throwers." The reason for this is that after reading the excellent explanation that June Hemmons Hiatt gives in her book, The Principles of Knitting: Methods and Techniques of Hand Knitting, I became informed that the terms Continental and English-style were inappropriate. She points out the terms contain a Western bias since they exclude so many other parts of the world that have been knitting for as long if not longer than those in England and other parts of Europe, using these techniques as well as others that haven't even been discussed in this post (thumb knitting, sometimes called Portuguese knitting) (Hiatt 4). Hiatt uses specific labels for each method use with each of the larger categories, which she generally refers to as "right-hand methods" and "left-hand methods." However, when I have referred to them in this way when speaking with fellow fiber arts enthusiasts, I find that they sometimes think I am talking about which hand does most of the needle work rather than which hand holds the yarn.

The reason I don't like to use "throwers and pickers" is that I find those terms to be limiting. There is nothing about the way that I knit by tensioning my yarn over my right index finger that resembles a throwing motion in any way. Throwing also has a negative connotation to it since so many knitters who prefer to hold the yarn in their left hands seem to have a caricatured image of knitters who hold the yarn in their right hands: wildly out of control knitters, making exaggerated sweeping motions every time they complete a stitch. This in no way resembles the controlled, precise motions of my knitting mentor, nor of myself for that matter. On the other hand, "picker" has an inelegant sound to it that I feel does not capture the precise, efficient motions of many of the knitters who hold their yarn in the left hand that I have seen. Meg Swansen is an excellent example of someone who is not only incredibly quick when she knits, but who also makes knitting look beautiful as she performs it for the camera.

So, I choose to use the wordier phrases that refer to which hand holds the yarn when I categorize the two basic knitting styles that seem to be predominant in Western culture. I also think that by doing so, the two become more equalized and the emphasis is on a choice of how to hold something, not on a label that might contain connotations, even if they aren't intended by the speaker/writer.  I know that a lot has already been written about this topic, but I would love to hear from others out there who have wanted to weigh in on their own experiences. Feel free to share your own thoughts/ideas in the comment section below, but please remember to be respectful of everyone's style when commenting.

Remember that knitting isn't about speed unless you want it to be in order to knit for profit or for competition. If you are enjoying what you are doing no matter how you are doing it, you are doing it right!

Works Cited

Hiatt, June, and Jesse Hiatt. The Principles of Knitting: Methods and Techniques of Hand Knitting. New York: Touchstone, 2012. Print. 

Adventures with Fair Isle

Although I have been knitting for 20 years and have a lot experience under my belt, one area in which I need more practice and have dreams of unmet accomplishments is Fair Isle knitting. As you probably know if you have read my introductory post on this blog, knitting Arans and other types of textured designs has been my primary focus for much of my knitting "career." If you check out my Ravelry profile (suzknittyspinner), you will see that I have knitted several cabled sweaters of varying difficulties (and even more than are pictured on Ravelry since I wasn't always great about taking photos) with Alice Starmore's Inishmore being my most prized achievement. My dream is to knit one of Alice Starmore's Fair Isle designs now that I have one of her Arans under my belt.

However, during all those years of dreaming about and knitting cables, I always had a desire to learn Fair Isle (stranded) knitting, too. Lack of time due to a busy work and family-life schedule kept me from pursuing this dream as intensely as I would have liked to have done. I did make some small steps towards my goal over the years, though. I began by knitting hats, starting with a very easy hat and slowly trying others:

I highly recommend this simple pattern from Homespun Handknit: Caps, Socks, Mittens & Gloves, the Mushroom Cap and Mittens by Jacqueline Fee, as a way to begin to practice your stranding technique. If you have done any reading about Fair Isle knitting, you probably know that there are several ways to hold the yarns when stranding. You can hold them both in one hand, or you can use two hands by knitting English-style in one hand and Continental-style in the other (as Elizabeth Zimmerman and Alice Starmore recommend). I choose to strand using both hands, but because I am an English-style knitter, I had to learn to knit Continental-style with my left hand. Before I even started the hat above, though, I practiced Continental-style knitting on a scarf. Once I felt fairly comfortable with it (after over five years of practicing it, I am still not nearly as comfortable with it as I am English-style -- can't teach an old dog new tricks!), I tried this hat. Since the pattern only requires you to strand the yarn for one stitch at a time, it was fairly easy to get the hang of stranding and to get into a flow with my knitting. The yarn used was also a sport weight yarn, so that made the stranding a bit easier to manage for a first project.

After this hat, I tried another Mushroom Cap in different colors for my niece as well as a stranded hat of my own design (using one of Barabara Walker's motifs from one of her Treasuries) for my other niece:

Making these simple hats and especially choosing the motif for the second hat was a lot of fun, and I began to feel like I might be getting the hang of stranded knitting (these hats weren't technically Fair Isle since they were only using two colors without changes in the colors in the background), so I decided to try something that looks a little more complicated but really isn't, The Fake Isle Hat by Amy King.

It was so much fun to knit that I made another:

After my success with all of these hats, I began to gain confidence and decided to try some mittens at a slightly smaller gauge, so I began Beth Brown-Reinsel's Nordic Mittens, and this is where things began to get a bit more tricky. Working on double-pointed needles is usually a breeze for me since I was fortunate to have a knitting teacher who got me going on socks as my second knitting project (long before socks on two circs or Magic Loop existed). However, dpns while stranding was not my strong suit (and still isn't, which is why I am now using Magic Loop for stranded mittens). Here is what I started and have to this day not finished:

Unfortunately, I put these mittens aside when I began feeling frustration from trying to strand across the gaps between dpns, and my enthusiasm for Fair Isle withered a bit for awhile. I then decided that maybe I needed a class, so for my 40th birthday, instead of having a party, I asked for a weekend-long knitting class on Fair Isle with Beth Brown-Reinsel. It was awesome, and I learned so much. That class renewed my interest in Fair Isle, so I began an Ivy League Vest by Eunny Jang. 

It was a bit slow going at first since the gauge of the Shetland wool is finer than anything I had used previously. However, I began to feel like I was getting a rhythm, and then I made a mistake in the pattern! I intended to find it and fix it, but life got in the way, and before I knew it, this project was put in hibernation along with the Nordic Mittens. They both sat in a closet for over five years. However, this is the year that I plan to finish both of them. For some reason, cable knitting came very easily to me, but I have had to work at Fair Isle. I am now at a point, though, where I really want to be able to say that I met the challenge and have become a proficient Fair Isle knitter. Hopefully, I will be able to do that by the end of this year.

I will be posting later this week with some tips about how I have jump-started both of these projects and the ways that they seem to be coming along more smoothly this time.

Please share your experiences with learning Fair Isle knititng or any questions you might have if you are just starting to learn this technique in the comments below. Click on "no comments" to get to the page where you can add your own comment. I would love to get a discussion going here about this subject. I have a lot of great ideas for further posts that can link you to many of the helpful resources and tips I have picked up along the way even though, as you can see, I have been very slow to put them into practice. I have studied this subject a lot more than I have practiced it over the years. :)

Getting Interested in Crochet Again

When I began this incredible fiber arts journey I have been taking over 20 years ago, it was crochet that started it all. I had learned to crochet from my great grandmother, or as everyone called her, "Mum Jo." She was one in a line of talented stitchers, going back at least as far as her own mother. I am fortunate to have a few of their works in my possession, including crocheted afghans, dollies, table clothes, and a piece of knitted garter stitch cloth. Mum Jo's daughter, my grandmother, was also a very talented seamstress.

Given how much the needle arts was a part of the lives of the women in my ancestry, it is surprising how little of a role they played in my childhood. I learned latch-hook rug making as many kids do (but never finished a project), learned to sew a button from my grandmother, and later took a sewing class. None of these pursuits really made much impact on my day-to-day life as a child, though. In fact, I remember reading, drawing, and swimming being my primary interests. Luckily, though, Mum Jo took me aside one summer day when I was visiting her and introduced me to crochet. She gave me some homely tan, acrylic yarn and a crochet hook. She taught me to make a foundation chain and to single crochet. She may have taught me double crochet, too, but I can't remember that. All I know is that I worked on a single crochet ripple "afghan" for awhile, but only ended up with less than five inches completed. It then sat in my closet on a shelf for over 10 years.

Every time I would go home to visit my parents, I would peek into my old closet and see that crochet. I often regretted giving it up and wondered if I could start again, but by that time, Mum Jo was in her 90s and had given up crochet long ago. I didn't know who to ask for help, yet the crochet kept calling me. Finally, during a visit home in my early 20s, I decided to bring the crochet back with me and to ask a colleague to help me get started again. She was a talented quilter, but I knew she also crocheted a bit. She got me going on single crochet again, and then I bought a pamphlet from a craft store to learn the rest. I caught on quickly, and before I knew it, I was hooked!  Many late nights were spent pondering over stitch patterns, planning afghans, and finally crocheting them. Not long after that, a friend introduced me to knitting, and eventually when I got the hang of it, my crochet took a far back seat. However, I always enjoyed it, and lately it has been calling to me again -- mostly due to a blog I found that really inspired me: Attic24. Lucy's glorious colors and inviting afghans caught my attention and have held my attention for awhile now. Lately, I decided to begin one of her Granny Stripe Blankets, using an assortment of Vanna's Choice colors that I had accumulated for an abandoned granny square afghan. I am so pleased with the way this afghan is taking shape and am enjoying choosing the color combinations very much. Here is the work in progress:

And a close up to illustrate the color combinations:

My plan is to edge the afghan in a way that predominately highlights the blue since the room I am making it for is decorated with blue accents. We have a red trunk/coffee table in the room, too, hence the red stripe running through the afghan every so often. The couch is a tan color, which ties in well with  the earth tones in the blanket. This project has brought me more confidence in my sense of color and has inspired me to look at ways of using color combining more in both my knitting and crochet.

After being bitten by the crochet bug again, I decided to whip up a quick hat as a Christmas gift for my neighbor's new baby girl. They had generously brought us homemade pumpkin roll for the holidays, and not being a baker myself, I had been wondering how I could return the gesture. Crocheting an adorable hat seemed like just the thing!

If any of you have thought about trying crochet, I encourage it since it compliments knitting well. From a practical standpoint, crochet can be used to make a great provisional cast-on or to secure steeks in stranded knitting. It can also be used to make practical or pretty edges. I have also found that there are times when taking a break from one repetitive motion to work in a completely different repetitive mode really helps me to prevent the onset of tendonitis. This is especially true since I predominately knit using English style (right-hand yarn hold) and crochet in the traditional left-hand yarn-hold manner. Even though, I sometimes switch to Continental Style knitting (left-hand yarn hold) to relieve repetitive stress, crochet feels even more natural to me and is, therefore, great for mindless stitching in the evenings. I have gotten more proficient at Continental style knitting through practice, but it is nowhere near as effortless for me as English style knitting or crocheting is, having done both of these needle work techniques for over 20 years.

Knitting will always be my greatest passion, but it is fun having other fiber arts calling my name, and crochet is definitely one that will steal my attention from time to time!