Over the past week or so, I have spent hours watching the same video clips over and over. No, I haven’t fallen down some YouTube rabbit hole in search of the definitive John Shuttleworth clip, but I have been editing together some of the tutorial videos for A Year of Techniques.
As you can imagine, I have watched hours of Jen knitting a variety of techniques, but also in a variety of styles (I’m not going to say any more about that). Jen taught (encouraged forcibly) me to knit when I suggested many years ago that we should give a relative a hand-knitted gift. Yet as you can see in the two short clips below, I don’t knit anything like Jen does. The big question is: am I doing it wrong?
I appreciate that everyone develops their own style and habits, both good and bad as they beaver away, but watching Jen’s needle and yarn motions in comparison to my own makes me question whether I have a truly inefficient style, and whether I need to go right back to basics and learn all over again so that I can go faster. And, perhaps more importantly, am I bothered enough to try?
I know it’s possible to learn a completely different style - Jen did. During a particularly knit-heavy period, Jen developed an RSI that prevented her from knitting in the English (throwing) style, so she taught herself to knit Continental style (picking) which, while slightly slower, enabled her to continue her prolific output.
So I’ll throw it out there for you to consider: have you ever changed or improved your knitting style, and if so, was it worth the effort?