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

[Ramona Walhof]

Kathy, if you have  the yarn in your right hand over the forefinger and
under the rest of those fingers,  you should not  need to let go of it to
throw the yarn between the needles to make the stitch.  Just hold the
right-hand needle with your big finger and ring finger as you throw it
between the needles with your forefinger and thumb.  I barely use my thumb.
It is much faster never to let go of either needle.  Experiment a little
with your hand position.  I keep my forefingers right up there at the ends
of the needles, but I do not want to drop a needle, because when there are
only two or three stitches on it, it can fall out which is a nuissance.  I
virtually always use the circular needles, but one end can still fall out of
the stitches.  Speed comeds with knitting.  The yarn moves up and down my
right-hand forefinger some as I dip the needle under in completing the
stitch.  Not everybody holds their needles the same.  Most blind people keep
their fingers much closer to the ends of the needles I think.  Sighted
people want to see the stitch, but we want to feel it.  We don't mind if our
fingers block the view. 
When I first learned to Purl, it was much slower than knitting, but now I
notice the speed is about the same. I never worked on speed, I just made
things.  Also, your stitches become more even with experience.  I used to
find my work was quite tight, but it has loosened up as I am more relaxed.  
Ramona   
Ramona

-----Original Message-----
From: Nfb-krafters-korner [mailto:nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Cathy via Nfb-krafters-korner
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2014 7:41 PM
To: nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Speeding up my needle knitting and crocheting

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




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