Speed-knitting how our ancestors knitted
The way that previous generations of women have knitted involves never taking one's hands off the needles
and working largely by feel, with perhaps the odd glance down at the end of
a row or while knitting more complex stitches. Relaxing and chatting at the same time
comes naturally because, once learnt, the skill becomes second nature.
If you would like to have a go, the photographs show what is involved.
 1.
Before starting to make any stitches, you must ensure that you can
easily control how tightly or loosely you are going to knit. This is
called controlling the tension of the wool, and is very important
indeed in knitting.
Tension is controlled by winding the wool round the fingers
of the right hand, and altering how tightly they grip it. There are
various ways of doing this. I was
taught to start by linking my little finger round the wool, as shown
above.
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 2.
Now rotate your hand so that the wool is
wound round your little finger, and also over your index
finger.
At this stage you may like to check how you
can make the wool slide easily or keep it taut simply by how tightly
you hold your fingers together.
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3. Grasp the right hand needle so that it rests
between your index finger and thumb, with the wool over your index
finger, as shown.
These pictures show only a few rows of knitting, so that you can
more clearly see the positions of the fingers on both hands.
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4. Move your right hand towards your left hand so that the wool is beyond
and behind the right hand needle. As you do this, the angle between your
thumb and index finger widens.
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5. Move your index finger round to the left so that the
wool catches over the right-hand needle.
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 6. Move the left hand needle to the left, then slightly away from
you so that the wool forms a loop that is caught over the right hand
needle, so making a new stitch. If necessary let the index finger of
your left hand help by giving a small push. Give slack to the wool
by letting more slide through your fingers ready more making the
next stitch,
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Without letting go of the needles, keep repeating stages 3-6. With
each complete movement, the number of stitches on the right hand
needle increases, and the number on the left hand needle decreases.
At the end of the row, turn the needles round and repeat.
With more rows, your right thumb becomes hidden behind the growing
knitting, but it should still hold the needle the same way, but
through the knitting.
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For other stitches, still keep hold of the
needles in the same general way, without letting go of the right
hand needle. For example, this photograph shows a stage in knitting
a purl stitch.
Detail of the purl stitch showing how the wool is held in front of
the knitting with right hand needle making the new stitch through
the front of the old one. |
Knitting the tedious way
The slow and tedious way to knit, taking the
right hand
off the needle for every stitch..
The way that Ruth Goodman knitted has become increasingly common. It
involves taking one's right hand off the needle every time one makes a loop
to make a new stitch. So for every stitch, the needle has to be let go and
then picked up again. It requires concentration and quickly becomes tedious.
I have seen some excellent work produced this way, but I am sad that the
knitters concerned were never taught the skill of their grandmothers right
from the outset. This would have saved them a great deal of time and energy.
Knitting the continental way
A way of knitting similar to crocheting with the
wool over the left hand.
When I was a child in the 1940s, there were immigrants from Europe
settled in our area. They knitted even more quickly, and I have wondered why
their way didn't catch on widely. The wool was wound round the left hand
fingers, rather than the right hand ones, and the right hand needle dug into
stitches on the left hand needle, rather like crocheting with a crochet hook.
This method, too, involved never letting go of the needles between rows.
This website Join me in the 1900s is also known as
Join me in the 1900's and is ©
Pat Cryer.
The 1940s and 1950s are also written as the 1940's and 1950's
