Everything is fine if I do all the moves in slow motion but that would take me years to complete a simple project. When I try to knit at a faster pace like regular human beings, both my hands compete for dominance. My shoulders get very tight and sometimes my elbows join the action too. Occasionally I engage the help of my chest, tummy and my right toe.
Some time ago, Bethany of Sweet Bee Buzzings fame introduced Very pink to me. Apparently, the teacher uses a different way to knit. I took a look and was keen to try it out but life got in the way. Or maybe I forgot about it. This week I was working on a sewing tutorial but wanted something shiny to distract me. So I studied very pink tutorials.
Very pink is owned by Staci, a woman with incredible eyebrows. I wanted to email her and ask where she purchased her eyebrows but I'm too shy. Does anyone know?
Anyway, Staci uses a method of knitting she calls FLICKING. Previously, I knitted the continental way. Flicking is very different from the continental way. It's like the English method of throwing, except you don't let go of the right needle EVER. This is supposed to make knitting go faster. Check out the video here and here. I studied the videos like I was preparing for my GCE 'A' levels.
To practise the flicking, I made this dishcloth. Yes, kinda sad I'm still making flat knitted stuff.
Maybe it's my index finger. This finger is crucial for flicking. Maybe my index flicking finger is too short. What's the standard length for a index finger? Mine is 3" excluding nails. I don't know. I keep losing the tension of the yarn. So I end up pressing the right needle against my tummy to facilitate the flick. Or I just do a throw. I mean what's the worse that can happen?
You know what's the worse that happened? A number of times, I used TWO DIFFERENT SIZES needles to knit. Also I knitted the dishcloth over one week. So my tension is crazy uneven. It didn't help that I used a $2 acrylic yarn and it made my face and nose itchy. So I was constantly rubbing my face and nose while trying to control the tension and remembering to flick and not throw. And I forgot to leave last 4 stitches to bind off and had to undo. That kind of messed up my ending.
Well apart from all the mistakes, it does look like a dishcloth, right? Right? I promise I won't gift it to anyone!
2 comments:
Haha--I practiced flicking on dishcloths, too! Now I can't knit any other way. Continental never felt right to me (even though people say you can do it if you can crochet--but I never could get the hang of it), but flicking? It feels so natural now! Thanks for the mention :)
I think your dishcloth is just right :D I don't knit - I made a few simple dishcloths a few years ago but didn't enjoy myself because my hands grumbled the entire time. If you do get that flicking thing, there are a lot of adorable patterns available online for cute dishcloths - I wish I'd picked up the skill when I was younger and had ungrumbly hands, lol. I bet if the WWW had been around back then, like it is NOW, I'd be in dishcloth heaven!
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