Red gansey - crummy pic

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- Wooly
  
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posted
17 years ago

Mon, Aug 7, 2006 8:12 PM

On Mon, 07 Aug 2006 17:34:14 GMT, spewed forth :

*snip nerdiness*

Eh, Leverage isn't what I lack when making stockings. I knit German-style, but my right needle stays pretty much put, I shuttle the left needle in and out and flick the yarn down with my left pointer finger as the needle is coming in, finger goes up as needle goes back out, stitch made, on to the next. I do all of my tensioning with my pinkie and pointer and THAT is why my gauge changed after I broke my arm and again after I had wrist surgery.

A Japanese friend of mine is amazed that I'm unable to handle chopsticks with my "stupid" or left hand, as the motion I use to advance and retract the needle is, according to her, essentially the same as the one most native chopsticks users (ie, people who learned with sticks and not with a fork) use to manage their sticks.

*shrug*

+++++++++++++

Reply to the list as I do not publish an email address to USENET. This practice has cut my spam by more than 95%. Of course, I did have to abandon a perfectly good email account...

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- <agres
  
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posted
17 years ago

Mon, Aug 7, 2006 9:39 PM

Ah, sure that works -- until you want to knit something big and heavy in the round or you want to knit a fine pair of gloves on # 00 DPNs

Aar>

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- <agres
  
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posted
17 years ago

Mon, Aug 7, 2006 11:12 PM

Right or left, Eastern or Western, the leverage of the grip on the needle reflects the proportions of the human hand and does not really change. It does not really matter if you are knitting in the style of the English or German or American, or Andean or Basque, the leverage obtained from the grip on the knitting needle is similar.

Tucking the other end of the working needle under your arm or into a knitting sheath are two ways to significantly change the leverage.

Any knitter can test his for themselves in a matter of minutes. It is just a matter of asking the question and doing the experiment. I mean, "Who is going to ask unless their hands hurt?" If you do not need the leverage, then your hands will never hurt! Only a dumb nerd would ask before his hands hurt!!

If both ends of the knitting needles track parallel courses, then the knitting needles are not being used to develop any mechanical advantage.

In looser knitting, the tension of the feed yarn dramatically affects the gauge. As I knit tighter, the range of needle tip travel, the shape of the needle tip, and the texture of the yarn become more important to the gauge than other factors. I knit way tighter than anyone else around, and I am likely have as loose a yarn feed as anyone. In fact, my yarn feed when I am knitting very tight is looser than when I am knitting much looser.

Aaron