"Wrong" is a strong word
I am still bemused, and only that -- not despondent, self-shaming, or irate, at the discovery I made last night. I have been knitting my purl stitches incorrectly all this time. I wrap my yarn clockwise (i.e. front to back) around the needle rather than counter-clockwise (back to front).
Actually, I have suspected for some time that I wasn't doing something quite right. My stockinette stitches never seemed to have those beautifully aligned sides that I see everywhere else. Also, there was a little wiggle to my stitch columns. Then, when I attended Yarn Harlot's talk Sunday and knitted for the first time, the woman next to me commented on the "interesting" pattern I had in my stockinette. That was when I knew something was wrong.
So I revisited Stitch n' Bitch last night. First I double-checked my knit stitch. No problems there. Then I looked at the purl instructions and copied them step for step with my needles and yarn. A-ha!
Now I have to retrain my hands to do the stitch correctly. That's a drag because I've gotten very fast with my purl stitch and am able to do it without watching 60% of the time. In fact, I was knitting WHILE reading Stitch 'n Bitch.
But as I said at the beginning, this isn't really a setback. What I continue to love about knitting is its forgiving nature. The fact that my purls have been reversed so far has, at worst, resulted in slightly wavy stockinette. I'm certainly not going to rip out the cardigan fronts and back that I've finished. Nor will I change my stitch for the arm. I'll do the whole sweater in my quirky little stitch. Maybe I'll even keep doing it this way forever and it will be MY signature stockinette. Doulicia stitch. I'll sell you the pattern for $5.
Actually, I have suspected for some time that I wasn't doing something quite right. My stockinette stitches never seemed to have those beautifully aligned sides that I see everywhere else. Also, there was a little wiggle to my stitch columns. Then, when I attended Yarn Harlot's talk Sunday and knitted for the first time, the woman next to me commented on the "interesting" pattern I had in my stockinette. That was when I knew something was wrong.
So I revisited Stitch n' Bitch last night. First I double-checked my knit stitch. No problems there. Then I looked at the purl instructions and copied them step for step with my needles and yarn. A-ha!
Now I have to retrain my hands to do the stitch correctly. That's a drag because I've gotten very fast with my purl stitch and am able to do it without watching 60% of the time. In fact, I was knitting WHILE reading Stitch 'n Bitch.
But as I said at the beginning, this isn't really a setback. What I continue to love about knitting is its forgiving nature. The fact that my purls have been reversed so far has, at worst, resulted in slightly wavy stockinette. I'm certainly not going to rip out the cardigan fronts and back that I've finished. Nor will I change my stitch for the arm. I'll do the whole sweater in my quirky little stitch. Maybe I'll even keep doing it this way forever and it will be MY signature stockinette. Doulicia stitch. I'll sell you the pattern for $5.
posted by doulicia at 9:29 AM
4 Comments:
HA! I was doing this too! Retraining is a pain, I frogged quite a bit in the process
Do you do international orders... both my mom and I want to know if you'll take Canadian currency?
Seeing as we both knit "european" style... we are bizarre knitters to begin with!
So, five looneys okay with you? :-)
k
I did this at first too! It took me forever to figure out why the purled rows of my stockinette looked more like y's than v's. Glad to know I'm not alone. :)
Babylady, Tara, if you were doing this, too, then I guess I can't copyright the Doulicia stitch. Rats!
And yet, it's reassuring to know I'm in such good company.
k -- sorry, that's $5 each. You think I'm going to let you share with your mother. Sadly, however, the whole thing is off since others stumbled on this discovery before me. I'll be sure to hit you up when I refine my drop-stitch pattern or my whoops-that-was-a-purl-row pattern!
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