Portuguese Knitting - in the round? Magic Loop?

Welcome to the forum!
I’ve tried Portuguese knitting just to see how it works. It’s a very nice technique that makes purling much easier. I didn’t switch to it but I can appreciate the pluses.
It should work just as well with Magic Loop as throwing or picking does. Maybe @Lalla can help?
Can you post a photo or describe the problem you’re having?

Definitely can help. I only knit Portuguese style, and I think I might know what your problem could be??? When ‘normal’ (!) people knit Magic Loop they are told they absolutely MUST bring the yarn from the back needle over the TOP of the front needle before making the next stitch (the first stitch of the next round/loop). In Portuguese knitting you I absolutely MUST NOT bring the yarn over the top first. So, IF that is the problem, here’s what you do: you’ve turned your needles round and pulled the back needle through ready to use it as the right-hand needle and ready to start your next circuit/row. Your yarn is now coming from the back of the loop ready to knit. Make sure your stitch isn’t twisted, then bring that yarn UNDER your front (LEFT hand) needle and THEN bring it OVER your RIGHT hand needle, if you are going to knit the first stitch in the new circuit/row. Or UNDER your right hand needle if you are going to PURL the next stitch. Then carry on as usual, and repeat this every time you turn the yarn, pull the back needle through (as in ‘normal’ Magic Loop) and start the new circuit/row. I do hope that helps. If not, and the problem is something else, do please say!! I LOVE Portuguese knitting and do nothing else, and have managed to crack quite a few problems - translating into Portuguese when you are trying to learn new stitches adds to the difficulties of the learning curve, but is still so worth it!

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By the way, looking back over some of the posts on the subject of Portuguese knitting, while it’s true that in Brazil and Portugal (and many of the many other countries that use this method - far more than you might imagine) they do purl for preference, and if they are knitting in the round will often work from the non-public/back, it’s NOT true that you CAN only work that way. I hardly ever do, I prefer to see the front of my work, even knitting in the round, and where any pattern is involved you are both knitting and purling anyway. The purl stitch is certainly massively easier in Portuguese than in any other method, so maybe that might suggest that the knit stitch is more difficult, but it absolutely isn’t. And keeping consistent tension is a total breeze once you get the hang of the ‘round the neck’ yarn technique. A knitting pin is helpful (I often get those little clips for sunglasses and use them, sometimes adding an S hook to make it easier if there isn’t one there already) - the yarn flows through a pin more smoothly than around your neck, especially on a hot day!! It’s true, too, that there is a strange learning curve whereby it takes time to get fluent with feeding the yarn along - when I started I’d find my needles up near my nose all too frequently! But that suddenly changes, I don’t know why. I do think the whole learning curve business is truly fascinating, how you go from stumbling ineptitude to mastery, how something that seems hugely laborious becomes, with enough repetition/practice able sort itself out. Pretty much like learning a language, you suddenly find a day when you can communicate without having to think through all the steps to get to being understood. Magic? No, just enough practice and then somehow it falls into place.

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I think it is good we have so many knitting styles. Everybody can find a style fitting themselves. Thus nothing is wrong with using Portuguese purling, but when I saw this bold claim I just wanted to show my simple Continental Combined purling from this video where I knit ribbing :yum:

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I should have been more circumspect in my bold claims! What I should have said, had I been more diplomatic (!) is that it seems far easier to me than any other method. I entirely get it that others will have their own favourite ways of doing things, and totally agree with you that it’s great we have so many different knitting styles available to us and represented by different knitters here on the forum.

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Thank you all very much for the help. I will try to follow your suggestion Lalla and see if that could be the issue. I am actually portuguese, and started with portuguese knitting because my mother knew the very very basics and taught me. I had tried the more common method before, and portuguese just seemed more natural. I will reply after giving a good try on your suggestions. Again, thank you very much!

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Thanks to your suggestion, I believe I’m finally grasping the magic loop with portuguese knitting! It is very likely that the problem was, indeed, the yarn not being in the right position (whether over or under the needle, depending on if i’m knitting or purling). It still takes me some time, but at least now I think I am doing it correctly. Thank you very much!

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Very happy if that was helpful! I think there are, at least to me, some very counterintuitive things to get one’s head around in Portuguese knitting.

Someone else has, I’m sure, described the following elsewhere on the forum (I’ve searched but didn’t find anything, though that could be my search criteria falling short?): I have been struggling to the point of tearing my hair out with the simplest problem. I don’t think I’m particularly dumb, but honestly, some things are just very difficult to get my poor head around!! The very simple problem (to me) has been how to increase in seed stitch (moss stitch in which ever country it isn’t called seed stitch!). Easy as pie, you’d think…duh. I honestly couldn’t make any increase work, from the various instructions I’ve tried to follow. Forgive me if this is completely obvious to others, but maybe there is someone else out there like me who has tried and failed, so I’ll just go through it in case it is of the slightest use; or in case someone can tell me I’m totally nuts and shouldn’t be doing this??!
Here’s what I did: I started a row with a one-stitch selvedge (I am obsessed at the moment with the gorgeous Distitch technique of Assia Brill’s). Then I decided I’d increase in the next stitch (having knitted a few rows of ordinary seed stitch).
If the following stitch, in other words the THIRD stitch from the beginning of the row - you’ve done the single selvedge stitch, and now you are about to increase into the SECOND stitch - if that THIRD STITCH is going to be KNITTED (in other words it appears now on your needle as a purl bump), then: KNIT into the front of your stitch, don’t complete the stitch but then also PURL into the FRONT of that stitch. That sets up the pattern - the first bit of the increase is a knit, the second bit is a purl and now you are ready to knit the next stitch. If your THIRD STITCH is going to be PURLED (in other words the stitch appears on your needle as a knit stitch) then: PURL into the FRONT of the stitch and then also KNIT into the FRONT of that stitch. You’ll then be set fair to purl into the next stitch.

I kept on trying to do the usual front and back of the same stitch increase and nothing worked. Now it does. Sorry if that was all absolutely obvious to all the Portuguese knitters out there, but it wasn’t to me!! Haven’t yet tackled decreasing, but have high hopes that it will be a lot easier…hmmmm?

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