FAQ

 Fariba Zahed /  / April 7, 2011

Different styles of knitting

There are three known methods for knitting; Right-hand Knitting (European Style, Continental Style, German Style) , Left-hand knitting ( English Style) and Combination/Combined knitting (Eastern knitting).

The two first methods are very similar to each other and the only difference between them is in the motion of holding yarn in the hand. In the Combination method the focus is not on holding the yarn, it can be hold on the right or on the left hand, but it is in the way of inserting needle in the knit stitch and wrapping the yarn in the purl stitch.

What are basic stitches?

Knit stitch: In the first two methods the knit stitch is made by inserting the right needle into the left side of the loop in the left hand, while in the third method the right needle is inserted into the right side of the stitch. Purl stitch: For the purl stitch in all three methods the right needle is inserted into the right side of the loop in the left hand, wrapping counter-clockwise around the right needle in the Left-hand styles and right-hand styles, while wrapping clockwise around the right needle in the Combined style.

Yarn Information Label

Except used yarns those usually we find during cleaning old stuff in the storage room, or get couple of them in the garage sale, all other new yarns have an information label on them. Whether you need them right away, or think don’t need them at all, always it is a good idea to keep them somewhere safe in your organizer for future reference. Going digital has made it easy to save many information in your smart phones only by taking a photo and saving it!

What information a label carries?

The label provides useful information regarding Brand, Material, Color, Yarn weight, Required needle/hook size, Washing symbols, Number of required stitches for a 10 cm by 10 cm square, and a free pattern with related Skill level.

Which yarn size I need to chose?

The yarn that you need to select directly depends on what you plan to knit. Craft and Yarn Council has set a standard of seven sizes for yarns, with 0 the finest and 7 the thickest. If your project needs a fine kind of yarn you probably need to chose size from 0 to 3, while size between 5 and 7 indicates bulkier options and size number 4 is medium.

How many stitches I am supposed to cast on?

As I mentioned before having a label gives you an idea of how many stitches you need to Cast-on for a specific measure.
If you look closer to the label, probably you will see a box like the one in the left. This box shows the number of required stitches for knitting 10 cm by 10 cm square with that yarn and with recommended needle size, which is number 8 US size here. If you pick the recommended needle size, all you need is to divided the provided number of stitches, for e.g. 20 S in this picture, with 10 and then multiple the result with your planned measure. Let say you plan to knit a shawl, 30 cm by 100 cm. Having numbers from the box: 20/10=2, 2*30=60 stitches to cast on, and 23/10=2.3, 2.3*100=230 rows to finish it.

But what happens if you select different needle size or what if you don’t have any label at all? Here is what you need to know!

What does “knit stitches as they appear” mean?

knit as stitches appear means: If you knit the stitch in a row, you should purl it in the next row. Let say you are knitting a single Rib stitch (1 knit, 1 purl), assuming that you have started with a knit stitch. then: The 1st,3rd,5th,7th, … will be knit stitch, while the 2nd,4th,6th,8th, … in the first row will be purled. Knit as they appear means: if you have 10 stitches (an even quantity), considering above assumption, start the second row with the knit stitch. if you have 9 stitches (an odd quantity), start the second row with the purl stitch.