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Saturday, July 16, 2016

I tried Portugese Knitting. Here's what I discovered.

A few years ago, prompted by a class on Craftsy, I ventured off the beaten track and tried my hand at Continental knitting. I had read that it is easier on the hands and faster than English knitting. All this was true. Unfortunately it took me a long while for my stitches in Continental to be a regular as my stitches in English. Thus I was not able to immediately  apply the new method to the projects I was already working on.
In fact it turned out that the only way I could make Continental work for me was to do everything the instructor on Craftsy said not to do, such as wrapping the string around my finger to control the tightness. Really I think I might have picked up the skill quicker if I'd had less 'instruction.'

Meanwhile, I'd also heard of a thing called "Portuguese Knitting" and had vowed to learn that skill once I could afford the Craftsy class. There was no need to wait though; The two videos below were more than sufficient to teach me all I needed to know. The first video teaches how to do a knit stitch; the second, how to do a purl stitch.



It took me about two minutes of watching the video to "get it." I started out first on some scrap yarn, but quickly moved to my major project.The knitting was coming out fine and there was no need to spend more time practicing.
One thing I do recommend is to get a Portuguese Knitting Pin. Because while you can wrap the yarn around the back of your neck, this makes it hard to pick up and put down your knitting at a moments notice, especially if you have long hair.
If you are learning to knit for the first time, I highly recommend that you start with the Portuguese style. It will save you having to learn it later when your hands start aching or you want to knit faster.

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