π€ This is the MOST important knitting skill of ALL time
Published 4 days agoΒ β’Β 6 min read
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Knitspiration
π The MOST important knitting skill of ALL time
In the almost 15 years I've been teaching knitting I've come across A LOT of techniques and skills.
While it's helpful to understand how to do a Knit One Below, or a Garter Tab Cast On, these kinds of skills have limited application.
However, I've come to believe there's ONE fundamental skill I think EVERY knitter needs to master.
Knitting, if you didn't know, is the process of creating fabric, one stitch at a time.
Knitted fabric consists of interlocking loops, pulled through each other row after row. Which direction you pull the loop and the sequence you do it in creates the fabric texture (or stitch pattern).
This fabric has two sides: the *right* side and the *wrong* side. Often you'll see this indicated in a pattern as RS or WS.
The Right Side is the side of the fabric which is meant to face the public, or be seen.
The Wrong Side is the side of the fabric on the interior which is not usually seen by the public.
If we do all knit stitches on the right side, then turn our work and do all knit stitches on the wrong side, we'll get Garter Stitch fabric.
However, if we do all knit stitches on the right side of the fabric, then turn our work and do all purl stitches on the wrong side, we'll get Stockinette fabric.
Most of the simple knit sweaters you'll find at clothing stores are made of stockinette fabric because it is relatively smooth and has a nice drape.
We'll focus on stockinette as we continue since it's easier to practice identifying stitches with.
Stitches have legs. In general we refer to them as right legs and left legs but you'll also see leading leg and trailing leg. I suppose that's better than right legs and wrong legs...
In *western* knitting, meaning knitting done in the western world, we orient our stitches with the right leg on the front side of our needle.
In something like Eastern Uncrossed Knitting stitches are oriented with the left leg on the front side of our needle. For most of us western style knitters this looks like knitting through the back loop (but technically it's not).
The reality is the mechanics of knitting remain the same regardless of the stitch orientation. As long as all of the stitches have the same orientation it doesn't matter which you use.
However, if you accidentally mix the two up in the same row you're going to end up with twisted stitches.
NOTE: A common mistake new knitters make is wrapping the yarn the wrong direction when purling. This results in stitches that are oriented the opposite direction on the next row.
Now that we understand stitch orientation, knits and purls, and right and wrong sides, we can move on to our final step.
A column of knit stitches (via The Sleepy Stitch)
Counting stitches the right way
We've already covered that knit stitches in stockinette look like Vs and purl stitches look like dashes.
When counting knit stitches, things are pretty straightforward.
You follow the column of Vs to count stitches going up, and you count the Vs across for a row.
Make sure to ignore the cast on stitch but INCLUDE the stitch on the needle.
With purl stitches it's a little more tricky...
For counting a column of stitches count the *umbrellas* or *hills* or *domes* or *frowns* whatever you call the upside down U that forms the top of the purl stitch.
When counting rows (and honestly when counting columns as well) I suggest just flipping the fabric over and using the knit side to count.
It's WAY easier.
Conclusion
This is a surface level overview of this topic. We'll return to it again as we examine other stitch types like cables, ribbing, and lace.
In the meantime I encourage you to knit one of the Daily Stitch patterns from this week's newsletters.
While doing so, pay close attention to how the fabric looks.
See if you can identify the stitches, especially as they switch from knit to purl. Flip the fabric over and examine the wrong side. Try counting the stitch repeats.
The more you practice reading your work the more Fearless Knitter you will become!
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