Friday, August 29, 2008

Ever Wanted to Knit Backwards ?


Well, here's my new Flickr tutorial to explain it all. I always hated purling and wanted to be able to work freeform and short rows without turning. I found some instructions in a book and sort of figured it out. The only thing was, I had to re-orient each stitch on the next row-boooo.
Fast forward to a few days ago. I was working on my newly learned entrelac technique, when I visualized the purl row from the other side and tried inserting the left needle into the back of my last stitch. I wrapped the yarn around the front of the needle, slipped the right needle out, and VOILA, had a purl stitch without turning. And it was just as easy as doing a regular purl stitch on the other side.
After that, I was able to speed up my entrelac significantly and now I'm excited about doing more entrelac.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Entrelac Success +


Last month a member of my knitting study group taught me how to do entrelac (basketweave) knitting. I have been wanting to figure it out for 20 years or more but could never get my head wrapped around any written instructions. After some hands on help, I discovered how easy it is and started to plan a little halter top for my 6 year old niece. Well, as I was knitting it, it was taking alot longer than I thought it would and looking alot bigger as well. Another niece who is 10 is happy to have it so I am working on finishing it up for her. After coming back from vacation I took it up again and while working, decided to try to work a purl stitch from the knit side and lo, and behold, it worked ! So the plus in my title of this post is: I CAN KNIT WITHOUT TURNING NOW !!! As soon as the project is finished, I'll be posting photos.