Showing posts with label Russian knitting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russian knitting. Show all posts
If you ask me what I learnt first – knitting or crochet – I’ll have to think for a while. Because I honestly don’t remember. I know I learnt both crafts at nearly the same age, when I was 5 years old. But no idea what was first. I used to knit very much in the past, before one day I saw a picture of an overlay crochet mandala. And this is how my love affair with crochet restarted.
For the last 6 years I’ve been mostly designing crochet. Because it took a while to learn crochet terms in English, and the difference between the US and UK temrs. It also took a while to learn how to write a good crochet pattern. And it took a while to just get the hang of designing.
But in a meanwhile I was also doing knitting, now and then. And my new wip is also about knitting.
If you know me as a crochet designer, please, don’t worry. I won’t leave crochet and that will be my main designing stream. But sometimes it’s nice to have a little change. And also some yarns are asking for knitting. Like Scheepjes Furry Tales.
Not that it’s impossible to crochet with fur yarn – of course, you can absolutely do that, and I know that my fellow designers are working hard at the moment on new crochet fluffy projects. But I honestly think that knitting works a bit better for furry yarns, because it’s easier to see (or better to say “feel”) the stitches. And the better chances are you’ll stay on track with the stitch count.
So… my new design is about knitting. And do you know what I’ve figured out about my knitting recently? That I am an alien. “I am a little alien in the world of knitting”. This is what I discovered when I tried to follow English knitting patterns for the first time (as you may know, I am from Belarus. And I am using Russian language in my daily life. And of course I used to follow only Russian patterns in the past).
What I’ve discovered is that I purl in a very weird way. After purling the stitches appear to be placed differently on a needle for the next knit row. And instead of knitting them in front loops, as you would normally do, I have to knit them in the back loops.
Reverse purl and knit makes the knitted fabric look just normal. That’s why I have never questioned myself if I am doing this “right” or not.
I’ve recorded a short video with a gauge swatch for my new design to show you what I mean.
I was struggling to read knitting patterns in English, because some knitting terms didn’t work with my style – I had to reverse everything. But the charts work just fine, as I am making the same stitches as drawn in the charts but in my own way, without following the description.
And just a few days ago I occasionally saw a video on YouTube about “Continental Russian Speed Knitting”. And yay! This is exactly what I am doing. So obviously I am not the only one in the world. And this is probably how we all were taught to knit in the former USSR. You can actually search for more videos about Russian knitting style. There are lots of them out there.
After seeing the video I felt brave enough to share my knitting style with you. I thought maybe you would like it, and would decide to try. Because you make minimum movements with your fingers and wrists, this style is really speedy. And for me this is just the only way I can knit :)
P.s. And regarding my new design, it will be double-layered and reversible. With cables on top and fluffy cloud at the bottom. But you will have to wait a little bit to see the reveal!
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For the last 6 years I’ve been mostly designing crochet. Because it took a while to learn crochet terms in English, and the difference between the US and UK temrs. It also took a while to learn how to write a good crochet pattern. And it took a while to just get the hang of designing.
But in a meanwhile I was also doing knitting, now and then. And my new wip is also about knitting.
If you know me as a crochet designer, please, don’t worry. I won’t leave crochet and that will be my main designing stream. But sometimes it’s nice to have a little change. And also some yarns are asking for knitting. Like Scheepjes Furry Tales.
Not that it’s impossible to crochet with fur yarn – of course, you can absolutely do that, and I know that my fellow designers are working hard at the moment on new crochet fluffy projects. But I honestly think that knitting works a bit better for furry yarns, because it’s easier to see (or better to say “feel”) the stitches. And the better chances are you’ll stay on track with the stitch count.
So… my new design is about knitting. And do you know what I’ve figured out about my knitting recently? That I am an alien. “I am a little alien in the world of knitting”. This is what I discovered when I tried to follow English knitting patterns for the first time (as you may know, I am from Belarus. And I am using Russian language in my daily life. And of course I used to follow only Russian patterns in the past).
What I’ve discovered is that I purl in a very weird way. After purling the stitches appear to be placed differently on a needle for the next knit row. And instead of knitting them in front loops, as you would normally do, I have to knit them in the back loops.
Reverse purl and knit makes the knitted fabric look just normal. That’s why I have never questioned myself if I am doing this “right” or not.
I’ve recorded a short video with a gauge swatch for my new design to show you what I mean.
I was struggling to read knitting patterns in English, because some knitting terms didn’t work with my style – I had to reverse everything. But the charts work just fine, as I am making the same stitches as drawn in the charts but in my own way, without following the description.
And just a few days ago I occasionally saw a video on YouTube about “Continental Russian Speed Knitting”. And yay! This is exactly what I am doing. So obviously I am not the only one in the world. And this is probably how we all were taught to knit in the former USSR. You can actually search for more videos about Russian knitting style. There are lots of them out there.
After seeing the video I felt brave enough to share my knitting style with you. I thought maybe you would like it, and would decide to try. Because you make minimum movements with your fingers and wrists, this style is really speedy. And for me this is just the only way I can knit :)
P.s. And regarding my new design, it will be double-layered and reversible. With cables on top and fluffy cloud at the bottom. But you will have to wait a little bit to see the reveal!
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