I’m currently plodding on with my grey CDA Petite Choses Cardigan. This is being
knit in grey rowan alpaca cotton which is a nice fluffy yarn but it’s a pig to
pull out as it catches. I should try to
make fewer mistakes I guess.
This is a
free pattern and can be found here, it is in French but there in a link to an
English translation.
I have mentioned before that I consider
myself to be a beginner when it comes to knitting, I guess I could say I was
now an intermediate knitter considering the range of things I have taught
myself to do but… I always feel like a bit of a fraud. You see knitting on long straight needles is
a breeze for me, but using circular needles and double pointed needles has
proven difficult as I am a ‘tuck your right hand needle under the armpit’
knitter. This is how my Mam knitted and
my Nanna before her and how I was taught as a kid. It transpires it may be a bit of a northern
thing or at least I have read that certain regions of the country tend to have
pockets of us armpit lot. This is a fine
way of knitting and I am fast knitting this way, but you can’t tuck a floppy
circular needle under your armpit, and tiny DPN’s tucked under there make me
look like a demented T Rex (yes I tried).
I decided that I would have to re-learn how
to knit and how to hold my needles and yarn and I am quite proud to announce
that I have nailed it. It took about a
week of persevering but I have cracked it.
There are lots of various methods of how to hold needles but I looked at
them all and found a way that feels natural to me and this is it.
Holding the needles like a pen and flicking the yarn over with the index finger of my right hand.
Flicking the yarn over
This is how I hold my yarn for tension
This cardigan was knit quite quickly on long
needles up to the point where all parts had to be added to a big circular
needle. It’s a bit slow going from there as I am using this cardigan as my
practice to learn a new method of knitting.
I have been interchanging between the two
methods of knitting and I find I am able to do both now without much trouble,
there is a 3-5 second delay every time I pick up my circular needles as my
brain puts my hand into the best position and the first couple of stitches are
a bit pathetic but I soon get into it.
Fingers crossed I will have a completed cardigan to share with you soon.
I have already got my next project lined up
and am itching to get started with it, on circular needles of course.
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