While at Fiber College of Maine this fall, one of my teachers demonstrated Portuguese knitting. In this style of knitting, as opposed to Continental or American styles, one wears a hook pinned to the left shoulder, or drapes the yarn around one's neck, right to left. The yarn is tensioned over the right middle finger, and the left thumb is used to flick the yarn over the needle to create the new stitch.
I tried this technique because of my broken left wrist, thinking it would take motion and pressure off my wrist. I do believe it did that, but more importantly in the long run, I feel my knit and purl stitches are far more even and don't "row out" using this method. I'm working on some BSJ for new baby gifts and Christmas gifts, and am enjoying doing garter as all purls instead of all knits with the Portuguese style of knitting.
Andrea Wong, who is shown in the video knitting, sells the Portuguese knitting pins on her website. I hope you have fun with this as I did!
Wow, I am going to have to try purling that way! I already use my left thumb to flick the yarn over, but have had trouble tensioning my yarn. Will put it over my neck before buying a pin....
Posted by: Michelle | Monday, November 05, 2012 at 15:28