Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Left Foot, Left Foot

Can you tell I have been reading Dr. Seuss's The Foot Book a lot lately? My kids adore it. I have finally finished one of the two Herringbone Rib Socks. I love this pattern, but I will say that the herringbone pattern does not have much give to it, which makes the sock a bit challenging to get on and off, but once on it fits perfectly. I am hoping some blocking will make this a bit easier. The foot area is much more forgiving than the leg, because the bottom of the sock is stockinette instead of herringbone.

On a side note, I have really been wanting to switch to Continental Style knitting to gain some speed and in hopes that I will increase the evenness of my knit and purl stitches. I taught myself how to knit using the English (yarn in the right hand) method, but I often get hand cramping, my stitches are tight, and my knit stitches are much tighter than my purl stitches resulting in an uneven fabric when knitting flat stockinette stitch. Nothing majorly noticable on the finished fabric, but enough that I notice the difference in tension while knitting. I am hoping that "picking" rather than "throwing" will fix this and in the long run give me speed.

I have knit Continental before, on my Snowflake fair isle socks I actually used a two handed method with one color in my right hand and the other in my left, but have never made the switch. Most of this has to do with the fact that I have never wanted to start mid project and affect my gauge midway through and partly because I am faster at English style right now, and so I always go to it. I am sure with practice though, my speed and ability will grow. I may just bite the bullet and start an easy new project and do it all holding the yarn in the left. By the end of the project I am sure to be a pro!

Has anyone else ever made this switch?

 

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