Ilona Gehlhaar wrote:
The funniest situation I had,
[snip]
Mine wasn't nearly that good.
I had a dental appointment and some errands in the same
village. The appointment ended just at lunch time, so I
didn't want to do the errands afterward, but I couldn't be
sure how long I'd be, so I didn't want to do them before.
Finally, I decided to plan on getting to the appointment an
hour early so that I could run my errands in a leisurely manner.
So I got there about the same time as a woman who had an
earlier appointment; we hung up our coats and sat down on
opposite sides of the room. I took out my knitting, she
folded her hands in her lap and watched me. After half an
hour or so, she said "I'd never have the patience to do that."
I'm knitting continental style. I'd try to do the English
style, after I'd seen someone knitting this way at a fair
in Edinburg, but changed back to continental very quick,
because it took far more time forcing my hands to do some
awkward movements. Like being a beginner. But I will try
again.
My "natural" method is English and it's still a trifle
awkward to knit Continental -- I've gone to Continental full
time because of mouse damage, but tend to swap back when the
going gets tough. Though I've learned to hook the yarn with
a finger of my right hand in tight spots, so I don't have to
let go of the needles as often as I used to.
Mouse damage aside, the enormous effort was worth while even
though I don't knit two yarns at once very often -- when I
*do* knit stranded patterns, it's such fun! (The thrill is
rather like the time my sister cranked a farm tractor up to
ten miles per hour while I was standing on the drawbar.)
I managed it by knitting a jumper -- American sense, a
sleeveless over-dress -- from the top down in a pattern that
alternated one pattern round, one plain round. I committed
myself to working the pattern rounds with my right hand and
the plain rounds with the left -- I had to persist because
my gauge would change if I didn't, but I never had to knit
the awkward way very long.
The jumper is still hanging in my closet; I outgrew it
before I'd gotten any wear out of it. {pout}
For several years, I left a streak in my stocking-stitch if
I knitted a few stitches with the yarn in the other hand,
but my English and Continental match now, and I can switch
back and forth to spread the strain.
--
Joy Beeson
http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/
http://roughsewing.home.comcast.net/
http://n3f.home.comcast.net/ -- Writers' Exchange
http://www.timeswrsw.com/craig/cam/ (local weather)
west of Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A.
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