[Nfb-krafters-korner] Speeding up my needle knitting and crocheting

[Cathy]

Hi all,

I have been taking a few needle knit classes lately and have primarily been
focusing on accuracy of knitting my stitches. I have noticed improvement in
this area so have decided to now focus on increasing my knitting speed.

I use the American rather than the European style of knitting where you
throw your yarn over.
So what I have been doing up until now is to use my right hand to throw the
yarn. This takes time because I have to let go of my needle, throw the yarn,
and then grasp the needle once again. How much quicker it would be if I
could use my left hand to throw the yarn. It was Lindy who first mentioned
this idea and I have had it in my mind as something I wanted to do when the
time came. So the time has come and I am using this method now for both
crocheting and knitting. When I yarn over, I keep the hook or needle in my
right hand with the working yarn between the first two fingers of that hand.
I grasp the yarn with my left hand, swing it around the needle or hook and
replace it between the first two fingers on my right hand. I find I can hold
the working yarn in such a way as to maintain the correct amount of tension
and still have control of it. This is accomplished by adjusting how tightly
I squeeze the yarn between my fingers. 

So I just thought I’d share my break-through. My last couple of rows of one
of my needle knit projects went significantly faster tonight, so yay!
Now to get my hands trained to perform yarning over in this manner without
thought.



Just when the Caterpillar thought the World was over, he turned into a
Butterfly. 
Cathy F