Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The Eastern European Method and another baby blanket

There are numerous ways to knit. The most important thing is to try to find the way that is the most comfortable for you. The cast on in my first tutorial isn't the cast on that all knitters use. I'm sure there are many knitter out there who don't like the cast on I gave instructions on. And the method I use for the knit and purl stitches isn't the same as the stitches that a lot of people in America use. There is a lot of talk about the Continental and English methods. One hold the yarn in tension and the other throws the yarn. I really wondered which kind I used, and last night I realized I don't knit either of these.

Learn How to Knit in the Eastern European Method:
Knit Cast On
The Knit Stitch
The Purl Stitch
Increases: The Yarn Over
The Eastern Cast On - Good for Toe Up Socks

Patrick helped me come to this realization. He said I should put my knitting tutorials on You Tube. That I would get a lot more people seeing them if there were accessable from You Tube. Then he did a search for Knitting and came up with a video that had been seen many many many times. The video showed and talked about the difference between the Continental and the English methods. I watched for a little while and realized I don't knit either of those ways. At this point, I came to the conclusion that I have been knitting some weird way for years and I just showed a tutorial of this for all the world to see. I was sort of embarrassed. Then I looked into it and realized that the way I knit is called the Eastern European Method. It wasn't some really strange way of knitting, just a different method. The Eastern Method looks very similar to the English and continental stitches. They do sit on the needles differnently, but all of these ways produce a fabric/garment and isn't that the point? Knitting is a hobby for most. There are those who can make a living by knitting, designing knitwear or writing about knitting, but most knitters are knitting to relieve stress, to make things or to help pass time while waiting for other things.

My next knitting tutorial will probably be the Purl stitch using the Eastern European Method. I hope to prepare some more tutorials to explain how to do the Continental and English methods for those of you who don't like the Eastern European method. They really aren't all that different.

I have some pictures of a baby blanket I made for my cousin's baby. I would like to thank my cousin for the pictures, I think they came out well. I had almost forgotten how pretty the blanket is.

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