The Sewing Place
The Emporia => A Good Yarn => Topic started by: Ellabella on August 05, 2019, 22:41:47 PM
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I’ve been asked to teach my sons GFs daughter to knit. She will be spending some time with us each week once she and her mum move in with DS in the next few weeks.
I’m looking forward to it as a chance to get to know her better.
My problem is it best to start with English style or do I teach her the Continental style I use.
My intention is to cast on about 30 stitches and do a few rows to give her something to work on. Learning to cast on first always seems so hard.
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Teach her the most common style. That will stand her in good stead and be the most useful to her.
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@Ellabella , when I was teaching DD, I chose the English method, which is what I use, and I also taught her the cast on/off method I use too. This was simply so that I could help her better.
We also started with 30 stitches, and I just had her carry on knitting, and knitting until she got it, then introduces the purl stitch, and the piece just grew longer, and longer. I can't tell you how awful it looked, but she was able to see an improvement as time went on.
It may be a good idea to find a list of good YouTube tutorials for when you aren't available.
Jessie
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My mum taught me to knit before I can even remember learning. In about P6 we knit a teddy. I enjoyed it because it was 'a thing' instead of just rows.
15 knit stitches till it was leg length, push to end of needle, same again and then join them together to knit a 30 stitch body to body length. Increase for arms and then decrease for head.
I taught my friend's three children (two boys and one left handed girl) to knit in an evening. They loved it...I had a headache! 0_0
I learned the thumb method of cast on first.
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I can barely knit myself - what's the difference between English and continental style?
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Teach her the most common style. That will stand her in good stead and be the most useful to her.
The most comon style worldwide is possibly continental (but here in UK the most common style is definitely English - yarn in right hand and stitches forming on the right needle. I gree with Lowena in that learning the style most likely to be used by others around her will be most useful.
But that's only if you are comfortable with the English style.
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I can barely knit myself - what's the difference between English and continental style?
English style means yarn is held in the same hand as the needle which stitches are formed on.
Continental means yarn is held in the opposite hand to the needle on which the stitches are formed.
Standard English - yarn in right hand, stitches formed on right needle.
Mirror Englsh - yarn in left hand, stitches formed on left needle.
Standard continental - yarn in left hand, stitches formed on right needle.
Mirror continental - yarn in right hand, stitches formed on left needle.
Added to that there are 101 different ways of holding and tensioning the yarn for each method.
Also the restern mount and eastern mount thing:
Western mount means that the leading leg of a stitch is to the front and to get a regular untwisted stitch you knit into the front of the stitch.
Eastern mount means that the leading leg is to the back and you knit into the back of the stitch to make it untwisted.
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Blimey!
I think I'll stick to Sewing