My friend Lukas is a new knitter. He knits into the back of the stitch and I’m not exactly what he is doing when he is purling. Anyway, I helped him pick out some yarn to make a felted project and this is his swatch. It’s Lopi and he’s using 13 needles. The swatch is about 8 inches long and about 5 1/2 inches high. I’m going to put it in my washing machine cuz I can control the hot at my house. He only has laundrymats that can’t control the heat. So my question is a) is this combination knitting? b) will it effect his felting? c) how do we caluclate how many stitches to CO for his project depending on how much it shrinks?
Combination knitting?
Here’s a close up
It’s hard to tell with dark yarn in that picture, but they do look sort of twisted. He can untwist them on the back if he wants to. I don’t think it will make any difference for felting though. A lot of times the stitches are completely obliterated anyway. That’s why I tend to stick to garter or if it’s in the round I do stockinette.
LOL Yeah, now I can see and they do look twisted.
I used to knit/purl this way
makes for VERY tight stitches
hard and not fun to work
Here’s all you ever wanted to know about combination knitting by Annie Modesitt.
I used to knit combined. If you do it correctly, your knits and purls with look the same as when you knit either English or Continental. Knitting combined is essentially backwards and so there are some differences. I think when doing things like ssk and k2tog the slant is different and so you have to sub one for the other depending on the direction you want the slant to be. Then if you are doing stitches like twisted ribs, you have to knit in the front of the stitch instead of the back to twist.
Otherwise, you shouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
He’s not knitting combined, just twisting the knit sts. Show him how to knit into the front leg of the stitch so they don’t.
He seems to be a classic combo knitter… (notice, only alternate rows of knits are twisted.
He needs to be able 'see an open stitch" and to see a twisted stitch (as he is about to knit/purl and work the stitch) so that he knows how to work it.
stitches that on the previous row were PURLED will be mounted differently on the needles.
Standard European knitting require the front leg be knit into…
(all the stitches are mounted \\\
Standard Eastern knitting requires the BACK leg be knit into
all stitches are mounted ////////)
Combo knitting require that you knit into the stitch (front or back depending on how it is mounted.)
and for 2 by 2 ribbing (a mixture of knits and purls, that were on the previous row, knitted and purled) this means the stitches will be mounted in 2 directions
//\//\//\
and you knit into front leg of loop or back leg of loop --AS NEEDED to keep the stitches from being twisted.
the ADVANTAGE to Combo knitting–
EASIER to make purls
MORE consistent tension
The DISADVANTAGE to combo knitting
MORE thought required!
There are LOTS of on line tutorials about combo knitting…
it is a perfectly valid way to knit.
I don’t think its going to affect stitch count or the way it felts.
I have very limited experience in felted projects. I’ve made the Drops felted slippers twice. They seem to start at about twice the finished size. One brand of bulky yarn felted much faster than the other. I just kept running them through the wash until they fit my feet. That said it seems that you could just keep shrinking until the desired size.
Well I felted it. It went through the washed twice and this is how much it shrank. It’s now 7 by 4 1/2
Just my opinion but I would try another wash or two to see if your swatch would felt a bit more. I like less stitch definition in my felted items.
Another wash or two would probably shrink your swatch more as well. Then, after you got the felt results you like you could measure your swatch and get a better idea of how many stitches to cast on for his project.
Are you using your washing machine because he thinks the laundromat machines get too hot or not hot enough? I always assumed that the commercial machines would get hotter than my machine at home. I think when felting is concerned, the hotter the better, yes?
Felting always seemed like a trial and error kind of thing to me anyway with so many factors that can have an effect on the outcome. I’m pretty sure how you knit is not one of them – you could felt a crocheted piece and it would still shrink and felt.