Knit for Brains dot Net

Posts Tagged ‘Portuguese Knitting’

(To learn more about Portuguese knitting follow the link to the youtube videos in Information box on the right, further down the page, or visit andreawongknits.com to order her DVDs.)

Hi,

As I practice more with Portuguese knitting, becoming more aware of the rhythm and movements and reading my stitches, I’m finding ways to refine my knitting technique. I also found I was getting into a bad habit of “nursing” the yarn as I work a stitch, meaning using my index fingers to secure, hold and manipulate the yarn and loops rather than trusting the right needle tip to move the yarn. I realized part of this was due to a flaw in my technique where I was pulling the yarn to the right for purls and left for knits, trying to keep the right needle in front of the left, and this left the yarn at an insecure position, so I felt I needed to hold it with my fingers.

Fortunately that was easy to remedy. In Portuguese knitting you do insert the right needle through the front loops and bring it up between you and the left needle to pick up the yarn. My error was thinking I had to push the right needle to the left or right and then up on top of the left needle – my side of it – to finish the stitch. Again, this is the wrong trajectory and doesn’t hold the yarn securely. So I forced myself not to use my index fingers to stabilize the yarn and loops and this forced me to discover how to do it right.

For purling, you insert the right needle from the left and up in front of the left, then flick the yarn around the needle with your left thumb, then PUSH the right needle under and back and slightly to the right – diagonally away to the right as if toward where your right knee would normally be. Moving in this direction keeps the yarn on the needle tip and there’s no need to use your fingers to secure it. For knit stitches it’s the reverse direction you want to go. Pull the new loop you are making toward your left bicep, more or less.

(Remember that the essential difference between knit and purl stitches is that in a knit stitch you pull a new loop toward you and in purling you push a new loop away from you. Knowing this also makes it easier to read your stitches and know what you need to do next or how to fix what you just did!)

By refining my technique in this way I find it’s not only easier but my knitting fluidity and speed have increased significantly.

Thanks for stopping in to the blog today!

- Eric

I am very pleased to say that the first comment (it’s attached to the Knit for Your Brains – Really! post) my young blog has earned comes from Andrea Wong herself, author of the DVD Learn How to Knit Portuguese Style, with which I learned to knit that style, one of the two I favor.

I wrote to Andrea with some questions to clarify yarnovers in her style and she kindly replied as follows:

Andrea Wong created the Portuguese Knitting DVD. Visit her site to order.

“Purl- YO-purl: When you finish the first purl you have the yarn below right hand needle. Use your left thumb and flick the yarn counterclockwise around needle and purl next stitch.”

There you go. It was easier than I thought. I was deliberately wrapping the yarn around the needle but it seems yarnovers in PK are almost automatic.

By the way, you will get a k-yo-p yarnover if you don’t move the yarn under the needle before doing the pearl stitch. I haven’t tried yet, but I betcha a p-yo-k yarnover is done by not putting the yarn on top of the left needle before doing the knit stitch.

Thanks Andrea!

Just got the Andrea Wong Portuguese Knitting DVD and it is great. Plays fine in my computer – someone said it wouldn’t play on any of her DVD players. I tried it on my Sanyo DVD player for my TV and it works fine.

This is great! As I was first attempting – literally – to get a grip in knitting I kept thinking I needed to be an octopus to knit. Controlling the yarn tension and moving the yarn around the needle in the continental or English style of knitting is insanity-making for me, and probably for many newcomers. But I bet that even seasoned knitters would love this just for watching a few seconds of the lessons in Portuguese knitting.

The stitches are fluid and simple, and the knitting pin controls both the trajectory and tension of the yarn just so beautifully. From knit to pearl you don’t have to move the yarn from back to front, but with a flick of your thumb you move it to be over or under the right needle depending on what stitch you are doing. In effect, this puts it behind or in front, but as the yarn is always coming from your pin or pendant its still easier than moving front to back or back to front as in other styles.

I’ve only watched a minute or two and felt the tension leaving my body. I feel so much better about learning to knitting. I admit, I’ve barely learned the knit and pearl stitches English style and have hated every minute of it. Now I’m free! You’ve got to learn this method!

Sunday I joined Netflix to get the knitting dvd they had and it arrived yesterday, but I may not even bother with it. It is called Knit Stitches in Motion. I guess I should see if there’s anything on it that is generally useful, or maybe patterns. I’ll let you know. (UPDATE: not worth your time, even for learning other styles.)

Again, I haven’t watched much yet, but I’ve heard that they also use hooked knitting needles sometimes as well. That would be handy as well, but it looks like if done right you wouldn’t need them. I may modify a pair of my bamboo units to see how that works. I fiddled with knitting with a couple of crochet hooks and it was a lot easier to control the yarn, but that was with English style. I didn’t need to fret about losing the yarn off the tips of the needles when pulling it through the stitch. In Portuguese knitting the angle of the needles and the yarn almost guarantee you won’t lose it. Yea!

I’m thinking of starting a movement to have continental and English styles banned and all the books burned. Memory and mention of them should be removed from all books and web sites, like how Rameses removed the name of Moses from all monuments in Egypt! Just kidding of course. But that’s how much I like the Portuguese style of knitting. It was so much easier to learn. Give it a try.