A friend recently taught me a knit stitch and after successfully knitting a pair of slippers I wanted to learn more. After watching several videos I realized that the stitch I thought she taught me was being done differently in the videos. I was taught to insert the right needle at the back of the left one but in from the top instead of what was being shown in the videos that I reviewed. The videos all showed inserting the right needle behind the left but from underneath the stitch instead.
I knitted new slippers the same way that the videos showed but still can’t see a difference. It all looks the same to me. Is both ways correct or is there a difference that I am just not seeing. The only difference is that my stitches turn out much neater inserting the needle from the top for some reason and so I would prefer to knit this way if it won’t mess up more complicated patterns. Is the stitch my friend showed me called something else or is it just another way to do a knit stitch?
I am now knitting the slippers using just a purl stitch for practice and it looks the same as the other slippers. I am guessing this is because it is just a knit stitch opposite side and that I will just be folding the slippers the opposite way to close them or they will appear inside out.
It may be that the knit stitch you’re doing is a twisted knit stitch. The difference between it and the knit stitch you saw in the videos may not be apparent when you knit every row (called garter stitch)but if you knit a row and then purl a row (stockinette stitch), you’ll see that the base or legs of the stitch are crossed over each other. It’s a little tighter stitch than the usual knit stitch.
You’re right about all knit stitches or all purl stitches looking the same. Both give you a garter stitch pattern that is reversible. There are videos for garter st, stockinette st and a few others on the Free Videos tab under Tips.
Welcome to knitting and KH! Sounds like you’ve made a great start.
Thank you for responding! I appreciate it. I will have to try to improve the regular knit stitch to be able to move up in knitting. The twisted one seems so perfectly straight and even compared to the other but with practice hopefully I will get better!
You are doing a twisted knit stitch. This stitch is used as a pattern stitch that you might see when you get into reading patterns. Are you working the purl stitch by inserting the needle from right to left in the front of the needle?
Even if you’re knitting through the back loop, there is a way to purl that straightens these stitches out so that they’re not twisted. It’s called combination knitting, and it is a perfectly viable way of knitting in some parts of the world and for some people (I use it for row upon row of plain stockinette stitch because, as you say, this method makes my stitches more even). Here’s one site that has lots of information on combination knitting: http://anniemodesitt.com/ and there’s also a video on Knitting Help about combination knitting, too.
In fact, I recommend you find and watch videos on different kinds of ways to knit. There are many and one may work better for you.
Note that if you like the twisted stitches (for stockinette stitch), then your method isn’t wrong. Also, if you decide to stick with the combination method for all projects, you need to know that the increases and decreases are done differently for combination knitting than what is written in the majority of U.S. patterns.
And finally, I have found that using bamboo knitting needles helps make my stitches very even–no matter what method I use.
I suspect your friend may have taught you how to do Eastern European knitting. Take a look at this video and see if it looks familiar. Whichever way you knit, EE or Continental/English, the finished work looks the same.
I knit the way Annie Modesitt does, so people sometimes assume my knit stitches will be twisted–they aren’t. The only downside I’ve ever found is having to remember when to reverse kinds of decreases to get the intended effect, and that’s really no big deal.
There are only about a bazillion ways to knit, so have fun looking at videos and finding out which is the most comfortable for YOU. If your stitches aren’t twisted (or if they only twist when you want them to!) you’re good. The knit police aren’t allowed to burst in, stare at your slippers and demand to know how they got made :roflhard: