Previously we have looked at the best ways to hold your needles in order to get the most effective and comfortable knitting technique. In this article we are going to look at various ways you can hold the yarn. There are three techniques we will consider and we would recommend you try them and find the one that is most comfortable for you.
Yarn in Right Hand
There are a few different ways to work with the yarn in the right hand and they will often depend on where you are from and how you learnt to knit. However if you are going to have the yarn in the right hand then the first thing to do is to wrap the yarn around the right hand. How you do this depends on you and your comfort but one of the easiest ways is to place the yarn over the index finger then under the middle and index fingers and back over the little finger. Remember to not hold it too tightly though as you do not want to stretch the yarn you want it to just rest in your hand. With the yarn in your right hand there are a few ways you could hold the right needle:
1. Fixed Needle - this is probably the best way to keep control of your work and we have detailed some steps below:
a. Firstly you need to tuck the needle under your arm
b. Wrap the yarn around the right hand in the way you find most comfortable and put your hand on top of the needle
c. The needle with the stitches on should be in your left hand
d. The first stitch should be pushed to the end of the needle with your left thumb and then you should move the left needle so that the right one is inserted into the first stitch
e. Wrap the yarn around the needle with as little movement as possible from the right hand.
f. Move the left needle to take the old stitch over the new one and at the same time push the tip of the right needle back with your left thumb or index finger to remove the old stitch from the right needle.
2. Needle Like Pen - many people will hold the needle like a pen and the steps are the same as for the fixed needle except the right needle is not secured under the arm. Instead you hold the right needle between the thumb and index finger of the right hand. This looks like a more elegant way to knit however it is harder to control the right needle and can lead to uneven work and make it more likely that stitches get bunched near the tip and so they can be dropped.
3. Hand on Top - this is sort of half way between the other two methods with the hand position the same as the Fixed needle method. The only difference is that you do not secure the needle under your arm.
4. Yarn or Needle - many people who learn the pen method but have difficulty practising it end up doing this method. This is where the right needle is inserted in the old stitch, the knitter then lets go of the needle to wrap the yarn round the needle, then drops the yarn to pick up the needle and finish the stitch. This will make your knitting very slow and also difficult to control.
Yarn in Left Hand
This is also often called German knitting and can be a very effective way of knitting.
a. Wrap the yarn around the left hand in a way that you feel comfortable with. It is often a good idea to wind it round the left index finger a couple of times.
b. Take the needle with the stitches in the left hand and the other in the right as before.
c. Push the first stitch to the tip of the left needle and insert the right one into it.
d. Hook the yarn round your left hand with the right needle and pull it through the stitch.
Just make sure with this method that the right hand is not doing too much work.
Yarn Around Neck
This is a little known method but is very popular with Peruvian Indians.
a. Hang the yarn comfortably around your neck. If you have two colours hang them in opposite directions.
b. With the needles in their usual hands insert the right needle into the stitch.
c. Flick the yarn with the left thumb and catch it with the right needle and pull through the old stitch. Due to the position of the yarn this method makes purl easier than knit.