So, I’ve never been the best purler in the world. Recently, I figured out how to knit continental and I prefer it’s speed in ribbing and for the knit stitch. But, I’ve found purling to be extremely slow and awkward. I’ve watched the videos here countless times, but I’m still just not catching on. to top it off, it’s making my right hand cramp a little during the purl parts.
Is there an easier way to do this?
Also, I can’t figure out the best way to wrap the yarn around my left hand for the optimal tension. It’s either way too loose, or too tight for me to give myself more yarn to the upcoming stitches.
Any suggestions on this one as well?
I’d prefer to stay knitting continental, as I prefer it over English, but if there’s no other way…
I have the same problem. I avoid any pattern that involves any purling at all, because I absolutely despise it, and it never comes out right. Im sorry I’m not any help, but I feel the same way, and I hope somebdy posts with something good.
I think I may have figured out a temporary solution. It’s unconventional, but it’s saving my hands. For ribbing and other stitches where I’m switching in the same row, I do continental. For a knit stitch only row, I do continental. For a purl only row, I’m doing it English.
I don’t care if that’s not how it’s done. It’s working and I’m not going to fix what’s not broke (unless someone has a better idea).
You’re holding the working yarn in your left hand? I’m left handed, so it may be easier for me, not sure. BUT, what I do is bring the yarn forward, then pull down my index finger with the yarn at the end, and bring the yarn back around. This holds the tension just right. I find using my right hand to be cumbersome, so switching would make me crazier than I already am when knitting. Anyway, good luck!
Purling for me is as easy as knitting – basically the same motion only from a different angle.
I wrap my yarn around my pinky and then around my index finger a couple of times and I hold it slightly forward of my work. Then I slip my right needle into my stitch and with my index finger, I wrap the yarn around the needle and scoop it through the stitch with the needle. I don’t push it down with my index finger but I do use my index finger to guide the yarn around my needle, then the rest is done with the needle pulling the yarn through the stitch.
Funny – I can knit English and Continental but I generally only knit English when I’m gartering. I am not comfortable purling English so I tend to revert to Continental when I have to purl – especially when I’m doing a stitch that I have to switch back and forth from knit to purl.
Someday I’ll have to have my ds help me make a video for YouTube so I can show how I purl more clearly. It’s hard to translate into words.
I was watching Knitty Gritty the other day. Cat Bordhi was for some reason I was watching her hands and how she held the yarn. It was a :woot:moment for me. She rap the yarn around her pinky finger then instead of under the fingers to the index, she put the yarn over the fingers then on to the index. I tried it on a pair of socks that I am making and the tension was great for the first time in years.:cheering: All I can say
is give it a try. I hope it works for you. I can’t help you in the purl department I do fine with that too.
First, for the hand cramp - I’ve only been knitting 12ish weeks, and those first few weeks, I often had pain and cramps - it’s teaching old muscles new tricks, and I just thought of pain (which was never horrible) as similar to the muscle pain of a long bike ride, or a workout, etc. It was “good” pain, if you kwim. Just stretching and shaking my hand, taking breaks, and patience, and now I’m pain free (well, I was until I started back knitting English for practice, and had some minor pain again, but doing well this week).
I have held my yarn in all sorts of configurations. My first dip into conti, I had it wrapped around my pinkie once, under my ring finger, then over my middle and pointer. Eventually, that was too tight, so right now it’s just around my pinkie once, then over all 3 other fingers. When I knit English, its around pinkie once, over the next two, and the yarn never sees my index finger.
I just scoured you tube, and this video looks most like how I purl.
Amy, here, uses her middle finger, but I never do.
Looking at that video and a few others in the list, I’m thinking that holding my index finger up like that would give me a pain. It just seems so awkward compared to english purl, where I’m holding my hands in the same position as knitting. And the english demos on there are soooo exaggerated; I never pick up the yarn between my thumb and index finger and rotate it around the needle. It’s so smooth, and much more efficient than they show.
Ok, looking at more videos, THIS has got to be the best thing I’ve seen for getting stockinette flat, without purling - this woman demonstrates Knitting Continental Ambidextrously
ETO: Suzeeq, you know, my index finger is “up” when doing a knit stitch continental too, so it’s not like I have to move it to a totally new position to purl (although when first starting, holding that finger up up did feel awkward, but not as much as trying to hold the yarn in my right hand did). I really think, that as a newbie, having all these videos is so very very good for me (and hopefully others!) because I am not yet “set” in my knitting ways, so right now, a lot of stuff feels strange, and I just chalk it up to the learning process and bludger on
OK, call me the queen of video today…this one is too fast to learn anything from, but shows better, imo, how the index finger moves from knitting to purling similar to how I do when doing it conti. click here
alleusion, I think your solution is actually very neat, who cares about convention? I am making my mom a shrug that is all garter stitch, and to keep me from getting bored, and to keep my hands from doing too much repetitive, I do one row conti, next row english, etc.
I don’t know what happened, but something just clicked for me today. I’m holding the yarn the same way, but the purling no longer makes my hand cramp up…just ignore the tingling feeling in my middle finger to pinkie on the left hand. I wonder if the yarn is too tight hehehe.
Instead of using my middle finger to guide the yarn, I haven’t been holding it down at all. I wrap the yarn with the needle and use my index finger to assist the yarn through the loop, but nothing like I was doing. So purling isn’t as fast as knitting, but it’s 5x faster than it was. Thank you everyone for all your help and ideas.
I tried it on a pair of socks that I am making and the tension was great for the first time in years.:cheering: All I can say
