I’ve been an English knitter for a long time, and developed carpal tunnel and arthritis in the past year. :wall: I’ve tried learning Continental knitting, but it made the arthritis worse, so bagged that idea. Last Saturday, however, some of my friends on any sock KAL suggested Turkish or Portuguese knitting and linked a YouTube video. Well, that got me searching for more tutorial-type videos. These are the ones that helped me.
In this one, she explains a yarn holder. Good for me, since neck problems prevent me from putting the yarn around my neck. I use a safety-pin type stitch holder and put it through a buttonhole (or my bra strap, if there’s no buttonhole:aww:).
This one shows the basic knit stitch. She goes slowly enough to actually tell what she’s doing. Take note that you DO cross your right needle over the FRONT of the left needle and then flip the yarn over it with your thumb.
That is really neat- thanks for posting! I have never heard of or tried that style- but after knitting a lot (ahem- the first weekend after my harmony wood set arrived-ahem) I usually change to english from continental for a while. Seems like this would be a good “my hands are too sore to knit” alternative.
Me, too! I’ve taken to putting on one of those forearm straps if I’m going to knit for awhile, or if I’m using a less forgiving yarn. It really helps and mine has almost completely gone away.
portugues knitting is basicly identical to:
turkish knitting
greek knitting
syrian knitting
egyptian knitting
(and many other ‘eastern’ variations)
this same style is found where ever knitting was introduced my spanish and portugues sailors… (so its found in many parts of south america.) the spanish and portugues learned this style of knitting before 1492 (and the spanish expulsion of the ‘moors’ (islamic influence) )
some south americans (a huge percentage) are more norther european immigrants (the irish for one, migrated to Catholic south america in favor of engish speaking but non catholic US) and these immigrants brought ‘standard european knitting’ (vs islamic/eastern style knitting) --so both types of knitting can be found in SA countries.
the yarn (as you see in the photo) is ‘secured’ above the hands.
in some places, its wrapped round the neck, in other places, a regular (safety pin) or special knitting pin is used.
then the yarn is threaded through the pin (rather than around the neck)
the pin is pinned on clothing at shoulder or near neckline.
the yarn is keep low (usually in a bowl on floor) and the tension is created just by this arrangement–(rather than by elaborate wrapping of the yarn around the fingers)
I haven´t watched the videos yet ( but plan to ) but am also plagued with “tennis elbow” and aching wrists at times. I¨ve found that if I can use circular needles instead of straights, the discomfort is much less.
Thanks for the history lesson, of Troy! I’ve seen it called Turkish knitting, too, but didn’t know the background. I always like learing the history behind what we do!:cheering:
I just happened to have a sock otn here, so I wrapped my yarn around my neck to give it a go - surprisingly, the knit stitch was pretty intuitive for me - once I got the yarn to be OVER the right needle, needle through, flick with thumb, then it was just picking the yarn like I do when knitting continental. The purls are even easier, fun!
Oh yes, I’m going to give it a try as well – with a safety pin or something. It would seem that the yarn would get tangled in my hair, or get dirty from neck sweat
On the videos, the first one (how to use the safety pin/yarn holder) will not show up. The link takes me to a page that says that the video was “malformed” and can’t be shown.
Sorry the link was bad. When you go to one good one, just click the link on YouTube for the name of the maker and you’ll see all the videos she did. They’re all worth watching (over and over and over, in my case!)
Thanks so much for the interesting information. I enjoy learning about different knitting techniques and how they came about.
My friend, Ritaw, knits this way and she is a Demon knitter - I can’t tell you how many hats she’s made in the last two weeks for our charity Save the Children/Paul O’Grady appeal, so thanks again for posting.
) but am also plagued with “tennis elbow” and aching wrists at times. I¨ve found that if I can use circular needles instead of straights, the discomfort is much less.