I was watching a tape of Knitty Gritty last night and noticed the knitter was making her knit stitch by pulling the yarn through the BACK loop, I do it through the front. I’ve never noticed anyone doing it that way, is it common? Better? Faster?
I would watch to see how she is doing her purls. is she wrapping them the “other” way? if she is, that might be why she is doing it…basically untwisting the stitch.
Was this the episode? if so then she knits using the “combination style, which often is the way self-taught knitters unknowingly knit naturally”… I think it looks faster but haven’t tried it… I think there is another episode that someone knits this way… its however you are most comfy and as long as the sts come out right… :happydance:
Yes, that was the episode. She purled normally. Cute shirt too. 
I’m a combination knitter. To purl, I wrap the yarn the “other way”, and to knit I go through the back loop. Gives a more even St piece, imo. Feels more natural when purling, also. Sometimes I knit regular continental style, depending on the pattern.
I found it was a much more natural feel to purl that way too. I just didn’t know i was doing it “wrong” and twisting my stitches. I finally found out i could have been knitting into the back of the loop AFTER I had broken the habit so i have never gone back to it. Definitely purled faster when i did it that way though!
both! as a combo knitter, i have learned to work a stitch as it lies.
on flat knitting (rows) this very often means i knit into the back of knit stitches, but the front of purls.
in the round, the opposite!
after tinking or frogging, how ever the stitch lies.
Combo knitting is physically easier to do (and do evenly) but requires you understand how to work a stitch with out unintentionally twisting it. (it requires more thought! at least at first.)
it also requires some accomidations for decreases (since these need to be reversed on flat knitting, (but not when working in the round–unless you are decreasing purls!)
LOTS OF THINGS TO THINK ABOUT! but once you grok knitting, you can do these things almost with out thinking… and faster if you work in the Combo method.
“Grok knitting”??? What’s that?
Arielluria: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grok