Combined continental was how my grandmother taught me to knit. It took me the longest time to figure out why when I followed patterns, my K2tog always leaned the wrong direction. Once I understood the difference between left-leaning and right-leaning increases and decreases, following patterns was a lot easier. With this method of knitting my flat Stockinette is much faster than most knitters I know. You did a great job of explaining this method.
This is so funny! I've knitted like this for decades, didn't know it's called combined knitting. And had similar "problems" with k2tog! I do sometimes get the gaps every 2nd row, but if I use smaller needles it evens out.
I am a 66 years old grandma,I am a selftaught knitter learned to knit more than 50 years ago and just realised what was going wrong with my knittng.Thank you sooooooo much! xxx
I am an English great grandmother and was taught to knit by my grandmother 60 years ago. I thought the way I was taught, and have always knitted, was the only way to knit. Watching you tube I discovered the continental style which the majority of the rest of the world uses. I have never had the ‘rowing out’ problem that you are demonstrating. Is this problem peculiar to continental style. I have tried knitting with the yarn in my left hand but find it very awkward to do, I am naturally right handed so maybe that’s why. I love your videos, always cheer me up, we may not share a knitting style but we do share a sense of humour!
Thanks so much for watching! Yes, it's less of an issue for right-handed "throwers," but it can happen for them too. If your knitting style works well for you, then it's exactly the "right" way to knit! :D
Im an English style knitter. I had no idea that this problem existed. Perhaps this is why the modern knitting world has embraced the idea of blocking and using mohair to disguise their “imperfect” tension…let’s just say..I’m glad I’m an English style knitter. Love your videos btw.
Thank you for this explanation. My grandmother was from Eastern Europe and taught me how to knit in the Continental Combination style. Every woman I knew growing up knit this way. When I had more time and joined a knitting group about 12 years ago, no one knit the way I did. Everyone said I was knitting wrong. Most were throwers, English style, and other Continentals did their purls differently, but hated purling. I liked purling as wells knitting, so I didn't understand what they were talking about. My tension was always even and I don't mind color work in purl. I figured out that I needed to remount my decrease stitches, but that's not a big deal.I'm so glad that I learned that way!
This is interesting. I'm a continental knitter. And I have noticed from time to time that I "rowed" out but only here and there not regularly. I will definitely try (NOT mid project I promise!) because the combination purl just looks easier. And quicker. Thanks Nicole!!
I am a continental knitter. It is how I learned. I always hated to purl. Many years ago (pre UA-cam, so I don't know where I saw or read it) I found what I thought was Norwegian purling but must have been Eastern. I am a lazy knitter and saw no reason to remount my stitches and ended up doing my knit stitches mounted with the leading leg in back. Lace was a bit tricky at first as I had to figure out K2tog and SSK were different. A side effect for me was that my row gauge improved. I don't know anyone who knits like me, which I assume is Eastern, but it works for me. Also find it is easier on my hands.
Great video and demo. Thank you! When I first learned to knit I held my right hand needle in my armpit English cottage style, except this is how my Spanish family and friends held the right needle, so I thought it was Spanish LOL. Years later I learned to hold the yarn continental style and liked it much better. I had similar tension issues as yours. I tried continental combination knitting and the change was not much. I must have been doing something wrong. I gave it up and tried Eastern knitting. I knit and purl totally in Eastern style and I got the results I wanted, beautiful even tension. My gauge also changed. It got much tighter so much so that now I consider myself a tight knitter when doing Stockinette stitch. I switch back and forth between Western and Eastern depending on the project especially if the stitch pattern is a sea of Reverse Stockinette! I Eastern knit when I do ribbing and cables as well.
This is awesome! I didn’t know why my transition from knit to purl stitches in ribbing was wonky…now I better understand. Thank you! As a fairly new knitter, it may take time to wrap my head around this to incorporate these tips in my knitting, but I’ll get there. 😊
I’m an English knitter, however, I do sometimes pick my net stitches if I’m on a really long row like making a blanket or something, because I get tired of throwing. For the pearl stitch, however, on a long stretch of stitches, like a blanket, I knit backwards. I can’t pearl with my left hand, as in Continental, it just won’t work for me. However, I have a friend who has only ever crocheted, and she wants to learn to knit. I’m going to share this video with her, so if you can see this method, I have started her on knitting a washcloth. She also is left-handed, which makes it difficult for me as a right handed person to show her how to knit. I think that this will help her to see a method that may be comfortable for her, and because you showed the anatomy of the knit stitches, that will also be useful to her to see how the knitting works. I too, gave her an lesson in knitting anatomy, but your lesson on knitting anatomy is much better than mine.
I’m a combination knitter and much faster than my friends! It helps because I am a project knitter also. Nice tension and beautiful ribbing are my greatest joy! Thanks for letting others know just how wonderful combo knitting is!
Yay! I'm on a mission to reach the folks who are struggling with tension. Combo knitting isn't for everyone, but it can make a huge difference for some :D
This was so helpful, thank you! I've only been knitting for about 3 weeks and quickly switched to working stockinette in the round projects because my purling was so loose when knitting flat. I started the Tolsta tee yesterday and found my purling in the round was looser than I wanted too. I'm just through the german short rows so now I'm trying to decide if it's worth ripping back to the collar and starting again so things are more even. Either way, I am so happy I found this video. Thank you for showing the anatomy of a stich on the larger yarn, I hadn't quite wrapped my mind around that yet.
Yay! It makes me so happy when new knitters pick this up early. As for ripping back and re-doing, that's entirely up to your comfort level. I'm pretty fussbudgety, so I tend to re-do anything I'm not 100% happy with 😋
Oh my 😳 the difference in the size of those swatches!!!!!!! I’m an English knitter but don’t (seem to?) have this rowing out problem. MY issue is with ribbing where I get a big gap between the K and P stitches. I’ll have to re-watch this video as I didn’t know if you were going to address this until I saw you did at the end. Great discussion thanks Nicole!!!!!!
When I learned to knit almost 3 years ago I tried first english style (not for me), then I discoverd continental style, I practice it ...and then I started my first project: a sweater with cables 😂😂😂. You may be wondering what came out? You won't even imagine what I did 😂 Soooo, I knited the knit stitch in western continental style and the purl stitch in...eastern continental style 😂😂😂 And at that time I didn't even know that there are two continental methods. Of course I frooooged what I've knited, I sterted again to practice and I made a hat (like a normal biginner kniter) and only after some months I found out about this eastern style. But now I knit my knit stitch in regular continental style and purl stitch in...a kind of portuguese style 😅😂 I mean I use my left thumb when I purl. My tension is great, but I think this eastern style is faster and I will try it with my next project. Thanks! You are such a funny and cute lady, I discovered your podcast a few days ago and now I managed to watch almost all your videos because I like you so much and you provide good content and you are a great knitter and etc etc etc 🤗🤗🤗 Hope you know you are great! ❤️❤️❤️
I really need to give continental another try. I’ve “thrown” mostly, I’ve “flicked” a fair bit, but shouldn’t get the hang of continental. I did try “Russian”-style (where the yarn is held in your left hand, and held very close to the tips, usually pinched between your index and middle fingers), and that made my left hand hurt… but maybe from the movements being new (I also have small hands, so. ‘Yay’). I think it’s time to start practicing for my TV knitting again, thank you!!
After 16 years of continental knitting its not every day I learn something new about it, though I always wondered why my flat knitting was never as perfect as in the round. I can almost always get stitch gauge but not row gauge like you mentioned which is why I started knitting a swatch during this video with some cotton I want to design a tank top with. Ive done a patch in combination and a patch above it in continental to compare, and I'm currently adding on another section like that in a needle size up to test the drape. After just an hour or so trying it I'm already faster at purling this way (and I was pretty quick at it to begin with), and I can definitely see the difference it makes in the fabric. This may have changed the way I knit forever!
That sample you show with the obvious "stripes" of slightly looser stitches was what I was creating for years before I even realized it WASN'T supposed to look that way! When I got married, my wife had impeccable tension, every stitch and every row was uniform! Huh! That's not like mine! It took an additional 30 years of experimentation to find how I could accomplish what my wife did so effortlessly. I, by the way knit continental, and my wife knit english style. Turns out continental style inherently creates looser purls than the knits are, so those obvious stripes result UNLESS it is mitigated by changing the tension on the purl rows. Yeah .... long time to learn how to do that!
I am a thrower and recently discovered combination knitting really helps to tidy up my wonky ribbing. Much of my knitting seems to be in the round these days. Now I am very curious to see a comparison of flat knitting in regular stockinette and combination.
Now I’m working on learning continental knitting. But… I’ve learned that you can use a smaller size needle when purling to even out the tension. Now I’m combination knitting (which was quite easy to learn), but while knitting stockinette, the stitches tend to lean the opposite way from the previous row. I figure it has something to do with the twist of the yarn - like you’re twisting the yarn in one direction for the knit stitch then untwisting it for the purl stitch. Blocking helps a bit. Something to explore further using various yarns. Thanks for the advice. 🧶
You're right that yarn twist can affect how your stitches look. If you have a ball winder, you can try winding a ball twice, then pulling from the outside of the cake instead of the middle. This can help quite a bit with keeping twist under control 😊
@@Knicoleknits Thanks for the reply. I do wind my ball twice, reversing the crank direction…. And pull from the outside when I knit. Every little bit helps.
I've seen this method a couple of times and as a recent self-taught knitter I did quite a bit of eastern wrapping in error, I have to say I haven't the need for this method simply because I'm a tight knitter... I've actually had to try to loosen my tension because I had to go like 3 needle sizes up just to meet gauge... It was ridiculous. Of course I figured that this is typical of new knitters NOW but when I just started recently it was discouraging for me. Everything is working out for me bc I know I will never be able to do continental knitting because of my RA and with my ulnar deviation in my hands it's a miracle I can knit at all 😅 It took a while to keep the counter clockwise wrapping as a standard... No way I'm going to jumble that up... 🤷🏽♀️
Thank you for the tip :) Probably another way to solve this problem is to take one needle a size or a half size bigger if it is hard to switch to combined knitting 🤔. Actually my mother also showed me the combined way at first, but I gave the knitting up that time. And then when I was learning knitting years later from YT I realised that "it was wrong". Now I knit continental way and switching to combined knitting will take some time, but I see it is worth the effort due to such neet and regular effect :) Though when I was watching me kniting I realised that it might not be the problem of purl, but of the knitted stitches. I mean when I knit I don't block the knitted stitch by my right hand finger so it is more tight then when I purl. When I started blocking it (putting my right hand finger on the knitted stitch) the yarn did not tighten so much so it was similar to the purl stitches. It may be just my case of course, we all hold needles and needlework differently :)
You’re right - some folks do use different needle sizes or tips for knit and purl rows! That is a workaround if changing up methods is too much. Finding the right method can be a big challenge! 😊
So, all those knitters that told me I was wrapping my purls backward, should just have let me alone, but told me to do my knit stitches from the back loop???Sheesh. I canNOT wait to go to knit group tomorrow and go na-na-na-na-nahhhh. Now my reverse stockinette looks better than their 'traditional' ❤😂
I’ve been knitting combined continental for 10 years now and haven’t found a stitch or technique yet that I can’t do. You just need to understand when to change the stitch mount to match the pattern instructions ☺️
It’s primarily a Continental issue, but anyone can have tension issues with any knitting method. The trick is finding the right one that works for you and your hands 😁
Thank you for explaining the right and left leaning decrease, and the anatomy of a stitch. I wonder if this is even an issue in Norwegian knitting? I’m a very raw learner, so I’m flummoxed by all the terms still, but Norwegian purling really helped me!
I tried Norwegian purling so long ago, I can’t really remember much about how it worked, except that I found it difficult. This was pre-UA-cam, so I probably didn’t learn it correctly 😋
@@Knicoleknits I tried looking at Arne & Carlos, with his cha-cha-cha explanation, and didn’t get it. Then I found this lady: her explanation is really brilliant: ua-cam.com/video/iB7d_BXTdb4/v-deo.htmlsi=HSPtmAPLar0ue6wO . But, of course, I haven’t got enough experience to grasp how that all works with increase, decrease, and all the other fancy stitches I’ve not yet involved myself with. In any case, thank you for your many, many informative videos, and your never flagging enthusiasm. ❤️❤️
This was very helpful. I'm a lifelong combination knitter. Do you have anything on how to handle cables abd reverse purl stitches and when the pattern calls for knitting through the back loop???
I'm a combination knitter but if I'm knitting two together I don't reorient them, I just knit them through the back loop together. Is there a benefit or a difference to remounting them?
I was taught the 'throw the yarn over the left needle' method. It's not as fast as holding the yarn with your left hand, but that is all I knew. I've tried the other way and I get frustrated quickly and return to throwing🤨. I am making a sweater now with ss and the wrong side looks good. Is that because of the way I knit? Love your vids!
Thanks for watching! I believe that "throwers" (right hand carry) generally have fewer issues with rowing out or uneven tension than "pickers" (left hand carry), so your good-looking reverse stockinette is likely due to the way you knit 😊
Great tutorial, thanks. Do you knit combination for all projects? I've considered combination knitting but always got put off by having varied stitch mounts if I was working something that had knits and purls scattered together, or slip stitch colourwork, for example. After seeing that it's what you do I'm tempted to reconsider, but I'm worried I'm setting myself up for hassle and twisted stitches when my tension seems to be "good enough".
I do use combination for everything. Once you get the hang of it, you don’t have to think about remounting every time - it’s just something you’ll do naturally. Give it a try and see how you feel about it. You’re the only one who can say if it’s “worth it” for you 😊
Thank you for this explanation Nicole! I was wondering if I try this technique on a piece with cables that is knit flat, will I need to remount the stitches in the cables before cabling them? Now that I am getting a bit more experienced with my knitting I am trying experiment with different methods to finesse the overall look of my work and I think this might be a good one to try.
Perfect. Pls can you help? I never manage to get the sides of my knitting perfect. Loose knit stitches on one side... Tighter knit stitches on the other.. Why? Thankyou
It’s hard for me to evaluate this without seeing what you’re actually working on, but it’s not at all unusual to have slightly different tension near the edges of a flat piece of knitting. Are you a fairly new knitter? If so, it might be something that just smooths out with practice. 😊
If you knit up to the armholes and then have to knit back and forth, do you knit through the back loop up to the arm holes or regular knitting? Great tutorial by the way.
It’s all going to be regular knitting when you’re working the round. It’s only when you’re working back and forth and purling on the wrong side that you need to correct the stitch on the right side by knitting into the back loop. 😊
Thats how I knit but I do it because it hurts my hands less. I knit thru back loop. Ive had a few people ask me if I knew that I was doing that, well yeah, ha ha I like how it looks, its faster, my hands hurt less. For some reason though, the 6mm circular needles still hurt my hands. Don't know why. I finished a long, long piano scarf (88 keys) and had to use long straight needles, bamboo no less. Crazy.
Have you tried square needles? I used them for quite a while. They seem to be easier to hold if you have hand issues. Might be worth experimenting with :)
I am a Continental knitter and I learned combined from several knitters on Craftsy. I was reasonably happy with it, but I struggled to reinterpret patterns, so I learned a different way of tensioning my yarn and switched back. You make a compelling argument for combined, though.
Combined continental was how my grandmother taught me to knit. It took me the longest time to figure out why when I followed patterns, my K2tog always leaned the wrong direction. Once I understood the difference between left-leaning and right-leaning increases and decreases, following patterns was a lot easier. With this method of knitting my flat Stockinette is much faster than most knitters I know. You did a great job of explaining this method.
Thank you so much! ☺️
This is so funny! I've knitted like this for decades, didn't know it's called combined knitting. And had similar "problems" with k2tog! I do sometimes get the gaps every 2nd row, but if I use smaller needles it evens out.
I am a 66 years old grandma,I am a selftaught knitter learned to knit more than 50 years ago and just realised what was going wrong with my knittng.Thank you sooooooo much! xxx
Hooray! I find that no matter how long I've been knitting, there's always something new to learn 😊
I am an English great grandmother and was taught to knit by my grandmother 60 years ago. I thought the way I was taught, and have always knitted, was the only way to knit.
Watching you tube I discovered the continental style which the majority of the rest of the world uses.
I have never had the ‘rowing out’ problem that you are demonstrating. Is this problem peculiar to continental style.
I have tried knitting with the yarn in my left hand but find it very awkward to do, I am naturally right handed so maybe that’s why.
I love your videos, always cheer me up, we may not share a knitting style but we do share a sense of humour!
Thanks so much for watching! Yes, it's less of an issue for right-handed "throwers," but it can happen for them too. If your knitting style works well for you, then it's exactly the "right" way to knit! :D
Im an English style knitter. I had no idea that this problem existed. Perhaps this is why the modern knitting world has embraced the idea of blocking and using mohair to disguise their “imperfect” tension…let’s just say..I’m glad I’m an English style knitter. Love your videos btw.
Thank you for this explanation. My grandmother was from Eastern Europe and taught me how to knit in the Continental Combination style. Every woman I knew growing up knit this way. When I had more time and joined a knitting group about 12 years ago, no one knit the way I did. Everyone said I was knitting wrong. Most
were throwers, English style, and other Continentals did their purls differently, but hated purling. I liked purling as wells knitting, so I didn't understand what they were talking about. My tension was always even and I don't mind color work in purl. I figured out that I needed to remount my decrease stitches, but that's not a big deal.I'm so glad that I learned that way!
You were so lucky to learn it from the start! Good job ignoring the “you’re doing it wrong” crowd 😁
Appreciative of the jumbo stitch visual for my old eyes
I was not aware that the way that I knit is called combination knitting. Very cool. Thank you. ❤
This is interesting. I'm a continental knitter. And I have noticed from time to time that I "rowed" out but only here and there not regularly. I will definitely try (NOT mid project I promise!) because the combination purl just looks easier. And quicker.
Thanks Nicole!!
I hope it's as game-changing for you as it was for me 😊
I am a continental knitter. It is how I learned. I always hated to purl. Many years ago (pre UA-cam, so I don't know where I saw or read it) I found what I thought was Norwegian purling but must have been Eastern. I am a lazy knitter and saw no reason to remount my stitches and ended up doing my knit stitches mounted with the leading leg in back. Lace was a bit tricky at first as I had to figure out K2tog and SSK were different. A side effect for me was that my row gauge improved. I don't know anyone who knits like me, which I assume is Eastern, but it works for me. Also find it is easier on my hands.
If you’re getting a result that you like, then you are doing it RIGHT 😁
Great video and demo. Thank you!
When I first learned to knit I held my right hand needle in my armpit English cottage style, except this is how my Spanish family and friends held the right needle, so I thought it was Spanish LOL.
Years later I learned to hold the yarn continental style and liked it much better. I had similar tension issues as yours. I tried continental combination knitting and the change was not much. I must have been doing something wrong. I gave it up and tried Eastern knitting. I knit and purl totally in Eastern style and I got the results I wanted, beautiful even tension. My gauge also changed. It got much tighter so much so that now I consider myself a tight knitter when doing Stockinette stitch. I switch back and forth between Western and Eastern depending on the project especially if the stitch pattern is a sea of Reverse Stockinette!
I Eastern knit when I do ribbing and cables as well.
Thanks for sharing your story! 😊
This is awesome! I didn’t know why my transition from knit to purl stitches in ribbing was wonky…now I better understand. Thank you! As a fairly new knitter, it may take time to wrap my head around this to incorporate these tips in my knitting, but I’ll get there. 😊
There’s so much to learn with knitting, no can absorb it all right away. I only know what I know because I’ve been knitting on and off for 40 years! 😋
I’m an English knitter, however, I do sometimes pick my net stitches if I’m on a really long row like making a blanket or something, because I get tired of throwing. For the pearl stitch, however, on a long stretch of stitches, like a blanket, I knit backwards. I can’t pearl with my left hand, as in Continental, it just won’t work for me. However, I have a friend who has only ever crocheted, and she wants to learn to knit. I’m going to share this video with her, so if you can see this method, I have started her on knitting a washcloth. She also is left-handed, which makes it difficult for me as a right handed person to show her how to knit. I think that this will help her to see a method that may be comfortable for her, and because you showed the anatomy of the knit stitches, that will also be useful to her to see how the knitting works. I too, gave her an lesson in knitting anatomy, but your lesson on knitting anatomy is much better than mine.
Thanks for sharing this with your friend! I hope it helps her 😊
I’m a combination knitter and much faster than my friends! It helps because I am a project knitter also. Nice tension and beautiful ribbing are my greatest joy! Thanks for letting others know just how wonderful combo knitting is!
Yay! I'm on a mission to reach the folks who are struggling with tension. Combo knitting isn't for everyone, but it can make a huge difference for some :D
I’m with you! People hate to purl. This purl is so easy to do continentally. And produces such an even tension.
This was so helpful, thank you! I've only been knitting for about 3 weeks and quickly switched to working stockinette in the round projects because my purling was so loose when knitting flat. I started the Tolsta tee yesterday and found my purling in the round was looser than I wanted too. I'm just through the german short rows so now I'm trying to decide if it's worth ripping back to the collar and starting again so things are more even. Either way, I am so happy I found this video. Thank you for showing the anatomy of a stich on the larger yarn, I hadn't quite wrapped my mind around that yet.
Yay! It makes me so happy when new knitters pick this up early. As for ripping back and re-doing, that's entirely up to your comfort level. I'm pretty fussbudgety, so I tend to re-do anything I'm not 100% happy with 😋
Oh my 😳 the difference in the size of those swatches!!!!!!!
I’m an English knitter but don’t (seem to?) have this rowing out problem.
MY issue is with ribbing where I get a big gap between the K and P stitches. I’ll have to re-watch this video as I didn’t know if you were going to address this until I saw you did at the end. Great discussion thanks Nicole!!!!!!
I’m so glad you liked it! 😁🥰
First I have heard of Continental combined knitting. Interesting. I detest purling in Continental so this may work. Thanks
When I learned to knit almost 3 years ago I tried first english style (not for me), then I discoverd continental style, I practice it ...and then I started my first project: a sweater with cables 😂😂😂. You may be wondering what came out? You won't even imagine what I did 😂 Soooo, I knited the knit stitch in western continental style and the purl stitch in...eastern continental style 😂😂😂 And at that time I didn't even know that there are two continental methods. Of course I frooooged what I've knited, I sterted again to practice and I made a hat (like a normal biginner kniter) and only after some months I found out about this eastern style. But now I knit my knit stitch in regular continental style and purl stitch in...a kind of portuguese style 😅😂 I mean I use my left thumb when I purl. My tension is great, but I think this eastern style is faster and I will try it with my next project. Thanks! You are such a funny and cute lady, I discovered your podcast a few days ago and now I managed to watch almost all your videos because I like you so much and you provide good content and you are a great knitter and etc etc etc 🤗🤗🤗 Hope you know you are great! ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you so much!! Keep trying different styles - you’ll know the right one when you get to it 🥰
I really need to give continental another try. I’ve “thrown” mostly, I’ve “flicked” a fair bit, but shouldn’t get the hang of continental. I did try “Russian”-style (where the yarn is held in your left hand, and held very close to the tips, usually pinched between your index and middle fingers), and that made my left hand hurt… but maybe from the movements being new (I also have small hands, so. ‘Yay’). I think it’s time to start practicing for my TV knitting again, thank you!!
Give it a try! I hope it works for you 😊
After 16 years of continental knitting its not every day I learn something new about it, though I always wondered why my flat knitting was never as perfect as in the round. I can almost always get stitch gauge but not row gauge like you mentioned which is why I started knitting a swatch during this video with some cotton I want to design a tank top with. Ive done a patch in combination and a patch above it in continental to compare, and I'm currently adding on another section like that in a needle size up to test the drape. After just an hour or so trying it I'm already faster at purling this way (and I was pretty quick at it to begin with), and I can definitely see the difference it makes in the fabric. This may have changed the way I knit forever!
Yay! I’m so happy it’s working for you 🤩
Thank you so much!!
That sample you show with the obvious "stripes" of slightly looser stitches was what I was creating for years before I even realized it WASN'T supposed to look that way! When I got married, my wife had impeccable tension, every stitch and every row was uniform! Huh! That's not like mine! It took an additional 30 years of experimentation to find how I could accomplish what my wife did so effortlessly. I, by the way knit continental, and my wife knit english style. Turns out continental style inherently creates looser purls than the knits are, so those obvious stripes result UNLESS it is mitigated by changing the tension on the purl rows. Yeah .... long time to learn how to do that!
I feel you! It took me forever to figure it out too. However you knit - all knitting is good knitting! 😆
This tip is so great! I'm using it in a mosaic project, and it makes the colorwork look so much tidier! Thank you!
Yay! Thanks for watching 😊
I am a thrower and recently discovered combination knitting really helps to tidy up my wonky ribbing. Much of my knitting seems to be in the round these days. Now I am very curious to see a comparison of flat knitting in regular stockinette and combination.
Now I’m working on learning continental knitting. But… I’ve learned that you can use a smaller size needle when purling to even out the tension. Now I’m combination knitting (which was quite easy to learn), but while knitting stockinette, the stitches tend to lean the opposite way from the previous row. I figure it has something to do with the twist of the yarn - like you’re twisting the yarn in one direction for the knit stitch then untwisting it for the purl stitch. Blocking helps a bit. Something to explore further using various yarns. Thanks for the advice. 🧶
You're right that yarn twist can affect how your stitches look. If you have a ball winder, you can try winding a ball twice, then pulling from the outside of the cake instead of the middle. This can help quite a bit with keeping twist under control 😊
@@Knicoleknits Thanks for the reply. I do wind my ball twice, reversing the crank direction…. And pull from the outside when I knit. Every little bit helps.
I've seen this method a couple of times and as a recent self-taught knitter I did quite a bit of eastern wrapping in error, I have to say I haven't the need for this method simply because I'm a tight knitter... I've actually had to try to loosen my tension because I had to go like 3 needle sizes up just to meet gauge... It was ridiculous. Of course I figured that this is typical of new knitters NOW but when I just started recently it was discouraging for me. Everything is working out for me bc I know I will never be able to do continental knitting because of my RA and with my ulnar deviation in my hands it's a miracle I can knit at all 😅
It took a while to keep the counter clockwise wrapping as a standard... No way I'm going to jumble that up... 🤷🏽♀️
I am a combination knitter, dont see them a lot on the internet. At first i thought i was doing something wrong :D
There is no wrong way to knit!! 😁
Thank you for the tip :) Probably another way to solve this problem is to take one needle a size or a half size bigger if it is hard to switch to combined knitting 🤔. Actually my mother also showed me the combined way at first, but I gave the knitting up that time. And then when I was learning knitting years later from YT I realised that "it was wrong". Now I knit continental way and switching to combined knitting will take some time, but I see it is worth the effort due to such neet and regular effect :) Though when I was watching me kniting I realised that it might not be the problem of purl, but of the knitted stitches. I mean when I knit I don't block the knitted stitch by my right hand finger so it is more tight then when I purl. When I started blocking it (putting my right hand finger on the knitted stitch) the yarn did not tighten so much so it was similar to the purl stitches. It may be just my case of course, we all hold needles and needlework differently :)
You’re right - some folks do use different needle sizes or tips for knit and purl rows! That is a workaround if changing up methods is too much. Finding the right method can be a big challenge! 😊
This was a great tutorial. Thank you ! Im going to try this
I think I will have to try it. Thanks.
So, all those knitters that told me I was wrapping my purls backward, should just have let me alone, but told me to do my knit stitches from the back loop???Sheesh. I canNOT wait to go to knit group tomorrow and go na-na-na-na-nahhhh. Now my reverse stockinette looks better than their 'traditional' ❤😂
Ha ha! 😂
Every lesson on stitch anatomy is welcome. How does this work with patterned stitches, e.g., brioche?
I’ve been knitting combined continental for 10 years now and haven’t found a stitch or technique yet that I can’t do. You just need to understand when to change the stitch mount to match the pattern instructions ☺️
@@Knicoleknits TY
Thank you! Super video!
Thank you very much!
Is this a Continental issue because I knit English and have never had a problem with rowing out?
I knit English style and have this issue, particularly with rib knit.
It’s primarily a Continental issue, but anyone can have tension issues with any knitting method. The trick is finding the right one that works for you and your hands 😁
Thank you for explaining the right and left leaning decrease, and the anatomy of a stitch. I wonder if this is even an issue in Norwegian knitting? I’m a very raw learner, so I’m flummoxed by all the terms still, but Norwegian purling really helped me!
I tried Norwegian purling so long ago, I can’t really remember much about how it worked, except that I found it difficult. This was pre-UA-cam, so I probably didn’t learn it correctly 😋
@@Knicoleknits I tried looking at Arne & Carlos, with his cha-cha-cha explanation, and didn’t get it. Then I found this lady: her explanation is really brilliant: ua-cam.com/video/iB7d_BXTdb4/v-deo.htmlsi=HSPtmAPLar0ue6wO . But, of course, I haven’t got enough experience to grasp how that all works with increase, decrease, and all the other fancy stitches I’ve not yet involved myself with. In any case, thank you for your many, many informative videos, and your never flagging enthusiasm. ❤️❤️
@TorchwoodPandP Thanks for the link! I probably won't change to Norwegian purling, but I'll watch nonetheless because I do like to "know" things 😀😋
This was very helpful. I'm a lifelong combination knitter. Do you have anything on how to handle cables abd reverse purl stitches and when the pattern calls for knitting through the back loop???
What you need to do is re-mount the stitches with the leading leg in front and THEN knit them through the back loop
I changed knitting methods in the middle of a project. I'm still busy with the project, I'm hoping blocking will fix it though🤣
Fingers crossed for you! 🤞😋
I'm a combination knitter but if I'm knitting two together I don't reorient them, I just knit them through the back loop together. Is there a benefit or a difference to remounting them?
I’m pretty sure if you don’t remount them, you’re not making a right leaning decrease. This only matters if you’re doing paired decreases 😊
I was taught the 'throw the yarn over the left needle' method. It's not as fast as holding the yarn with your left hand, but that is all I knew. I've tried the other way and I get frustrated quickly and return to throwing🤨. I am making a sweater now with ss and the wrong side looks good. Is that because of the way I knit? Love your vids!
Thanks for watching! I believe that "throwers" (right hand carry) generally have fewer issues with rowing out or uneven tension than "pickers" (left hand carry), so your good-looking reverse stockinette is likely due to the way you knit 😊
Great tutorial, thanks. Do you knit combination for all projects? I've considered combination knitting but always got put off by having varied stitch mounts if I was working something that had knits and purls scattered together, or slip stitch colourwork, for example. After seeing that it's what you do I'm tempted to reconsider, but I'm worried I'm setting myself up for hassle and twisted stitches when my tension seems to be "good enough".
I do use combination for everything. Once you get the hang of it, you don’t have to think about remounting every time - it’s just something you’ll do naturally. Give it a try and see how you feel about it. You’re the only one who can say if it’s “worth it” for you 😊
Thank you for this explanation Nicole! I was wondering if I try this technique on a piece with cables that is knit flat, will I need to remount the stitches in the cables before cabling them? Now that I am getting a bit more experienced with my knitting I am trying experiment with different methods to finesse the overall look of my work and I think this might be a good one to try.
You do not need to remount stitches for cables! You would just move them and knit them through the back loop just the same as any other knit stitch 😊
@@Knicoleknits great thanks for the clarification!
Perfect. Pls can you help? I never manage to get the sides of my knitting perfect. Loose knit stitches on one side... Tighter knit stitches on the other.. Why? Thankyou
It’s hard for me to evaluate this without seeing what you’re actually working on, but it’s not at all unusual to have slightly different tension near the edges of a flat piece of knitting. Are you a fairly new knitter? If so, it might be something that just smooths out with practice. 😊
If you knit up to the armholes and then have to knit back and forth, do you knit through the back loop up to the arm holes or regular knitting? Great tutorial by the way.
It’s all going to be regular knitting when you’re working the round. It’s only when you’re working back and forth and purling on the wrong side that you need to correct the stitch on the right side by knitting into the back loop. 😊
What about the right side purls?
Thats how I knit but I do it because it hurts my hands less. I knit thru back loop. Ive had a few people ask me if I knew that I was doing that, well yeah, ha ha I like how it looks, its faster, my hands hurt less. For some reason though, the 6mm circular needles still hurt my hands. Don't know why. I finished a long, long piano scarf (88 keys) and had to use long straight needles, bamboo no less. Crazy.
Have you tried square needles? I used them for quite a while. They seem to be easier to hold if you have hand issues. Might be worth experimenting with :)
I knit Continental but i purl Norwegian and i do not row out. Did you try Norwegian purling to see how it compares when you were testing?
I tried Norwegian purling many years ago, but I struggled with it. It is another good option for “pickers” though 😊
I am a Continental knitter and I learned combined from several knitters on Craftsy. I was reasonably happy with it, but I struggled to reinterpret patterns, so I learned a different way of tensioning my yarn and switched back. You make a compelling argument for combined, though.