I'm Fakin' Knit
When I taught myself to knit earlier this year, I struggled with the fact that I am left-handed. Somehow I ended up learning to knit a mirror image (left-handed) of combined knitting.
This is fine. You can't tell with the finished product, but when I am reading patterns now, I need a translator.
There are other combined knitters out there, but I think of it like playing the viola. It is rarer to be a viola player who started out playing viola (like me). More likely a viola player started on violin and switched to viola. When I have to read treble clef, the VSI players (viola as a second instrument) think more naturally about it than I do - it was a first language for them. The other combined knitters out there (who have posted helpful information on the web) have switched to combined after having knitted another way. They understand the patterns from both points of view.
I am ready to learn a bit more and move on to something a little more challenging. However when I read patterns I seem to understand them in theory, but when I do what they say, it doesn't look like it should. I can't just trust the pattern and forge ahead. I have to figure out what the result is supposed to be and try to figure out how to create that result in my own lefty-combined world. (leave it to me to make things as complicated as possible).
This is what happened with Grumerina's Jaywalker sock pattern. The pattern seems so straightforward and simple. But no matter how I tried I could not make the double decreases have the nice ridge. Mine looked like a big ol' slanty thing.
After spending 2 hours trying to make by double decrease look like the pattern intended, I decided on my own variation.
I dyed this yarn a while back with KoolAid. I was planning for something a little red for the June/July Project Spectrum colors. I thought that the contrasting colors would look great with a zig-zag pattern (hence the Jaywalker pattern).
Here is my change:
Instead of round 2 of the zig-zag pattern I did -
K1, M1, K6, SL1-K1-pass the Sl St over, K1, K1-slip it back-pass the next unknit stitch over it -slip back on working needle (this makes it mirror the stitch on the other side of center), K6, M1,K1
I may not be explaining this in a very knitterly way, but then again I am fakin' knit.
And hey... it's working for me.
We will see how it continues...
Any lefty-combined advice is welcome. :)
This is fine. You can't tell with the finished product, but when I am reading patterns now, I need a translator.
There are other combined knitters out there, but I think of it like playing the viola. It is rarer to be a viola player who started out playing viola (like me). More likely a viola player started on violin and switched to viola. When I have to read treble clef, the VSI players (viola as a second instrument) think more naturally about it than I do - it was a first language for them. The other combined knitters out there (who have posted helpful information on the web) have switched to combined after having knitted another way. They understand the patterns from both points of view.
I am ready to learn a bit more and move on to something a little more challenging. However when I read patterns I seem to understand them in theory, but when I do what they say, it doesn't look like it should. I can't just trust the pattern and forge ahead. I have to figure out what the result is supposed to be and try to figure out how to create that result in my own lefty-combined world. (leave it to me to make things as complicated as possible).
This is what happened with Grumerina's Jaywalker sock pattern. The pattern seems so straightforward and simple. But no matter how I tried I could not make the double decreases have the nice ridge. Mine looked like a big ol' slanty thing.
After spending 2 hours trying to make by double decrease look like the pattern intended, I decided on my own variation.
I dyed this yarn a while back with KoolAid. I was planning for something a little red for the June/July Project Spectrum colors. I thought that the contrasting colors would look great with a zig-zag pattern (hence the Jaywalker pattern).
Here is my change:
Instead of round 2 of the zig-zag pattern I did -
K1, M1, K6, SL1-K1-pass the Sl St over, K1, K1-slip it back-pass the next unknit stitch over it -slip back on working needle (this makes it mirror the stitch on the other side of center), K6, M1,K1
I may not be explaining this in a very knitterly way, but then again I am fakin' knit.
And hey... it's working for me.
We will see how it continues...
Any lefty-combined advice is welcome. :)
Labels: knitting, Project Spectrum, socks
posted by Orinda5 at 11:19 AM
2 Comments:
My sister knits left handed - she sat opposite my mum as she knits right handed and it was like looking in the mirror. I don't know if she has done anything more complicated than stocking stitch though. Hey, if the pattern looks great to you it IS great! I played viola too - although I came off playing violin for a year. Would like to get back to it but there are too many other things to try in life! I laughed as I read the funny story about you and Shelly on her blog :-)
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