Lilysunshine

I have been a knitter for at least 20 years now. I have been a frustrated knitter for that many years too.
My mother taught me how to knit when I was a child. I can’t remember when, but I was probably 8-ish. Then I remember the first scarves, the first dolls’ clothes. And then the first jumpers and the likes. But I was frustrated and feeling guilty. Why?

My mother is a thrower. An ‘english’ knitter. As was my grandmother. She holds the working yarn over the index finger of her right hand and ‘throw’ it around the needle. When I first learned to knit, I didn’t have enough control of my fingers and knitting to do that, so I learned as probably all the kids around the world learn (at least the right handed ones): I held the yarn between the thumb and the index finger of my right hand, dropping the right needle every time I needed to wrap the yarn around the needle.

Well, you might think, nothing wrong with that! Except that at some point during my early training, something went ‘wrong’. And I’ve only discovered that very recently. I didn’t wrap the yarn around the needle the same way my mother, an ‘english’ knitter, did. We have always assumed I was doing it wrong. Well, my knitting looked right, but my stitches on the needles were not ‘in the right directions’. My mother always complained about it when she was picking up my work. But none of us actually took the time to identify what I was doing wrong. We didn’t know that I wasn’t wrapping the yarn in the ‘right’ way.

If my knitting was ok looking, where was the problem then? The problem was that I had NEVER been able to learn how to ‘throw’ the yarn while it was being held over the index of my right hand! I have tried many many times but it just wasn’t working. For many years, I have been ashamed of my knitting: I could not imagine knitting in public, it was already difficult to knit in front of my mother (even though she never said anything derogatory and always complimented the finished work). I was ashamed because I was still knitting like a learning child, holding the yarn between my thumb and index. I was quite fast this way, but still…

Many many years have passed and after a long break from knitting, I came back to it. I discovered Ravelry. I also had to ‘re-teach’ myself to knit, because I had learned in French and I was now knitting in English! I discovered that there were several ways of knitting. And that the one my mother was using was just one of those. I also discovered that there was nothing wrong with my knitting! A few videos later, I discovered that what was different between me and my mother was that we didn’t wrap the yarn the same way. I was a Combined Continental knitter!! No wonder why I couldn’t throw with my right index, it just doesn’t work!

Knowing that my knitting wasn’t wrong was so empowering. It was like a revelation. You could almost imagine a well of light coming from the sky down to me. That’s how I felt!
So I wrap the yarn like a Combined Continental knitter. Then maybe I could learn to hold the yarn like a Continental knitter? I watched the videos again. Took my knitting. Wrapped the yarn around my pinky and held it over the index of my LEFT hand. It was slow, painful and tight to start with. I had to be careful about the way I was doing my knit stitches (because I like my purls and didn’t want to change that too!). But after a couple of rows, it started to feel more natural. I didn’t need to be so tensed and my knitting became looser.

I am still in the early stages of being a ‘proper’ Combined Continental knitter, but I am enjoying it. I don’t know if I am as fast as before, but I don’t feel much slower than before too, oddly enough. I don’t have to drop the needles so I guess I’m not losing as much time there!

Mum, look, I’m knitting like a grown-up now!! See, it is never too late to learn something new!

None, nada, rien