norwegian purl | PDXKnitterati

Well, not me, but some of my knits are going to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival, aka Rhinebeck, October 17-18. They’ll be displayed as samples in the booth with A Chick that Knitz. Tammy dyes lovely assigned pooling yarns.

(Clockwise from top left) Trillium Path, Simply Stellar, Floral Rhapsody, Effervescent, and Fantasia are all designed with A Chick that Knitz yarn, so I’ve sent them off to see the world. It’s kind of like sending your kid to summer camp. But yarn.

(I know I keep saying this: Floral Rhapsody is coming soon! Tomorrow.)

I’ve never been to Rhinebeck, but I hope to go someday. How about you?

In other news, I cut my finger the other night, badly enough that I went to urgent care where they glued it back together. I usually knit with the yarn in my right hand, but I had to change it up! So I’m knitting brioche continental style, using the Norwegian purl for the brioche purls. It’s good to know more than one way to knit! And this forces me to practice.

I have videos linked on my tutorials page, in case you want to see brioche either way, including the Norwegian brioche purl. You never know when you might need it.

One last bit of news: the Hōlei Sea Arch at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has collapsed into the sea. It stood for over 500 years, and now it’s gone. Nature is awe-inspiring.

Okay, onward!

I learned a new thing! I learned a new thing!

I’m not a continental knitter, but I can make a decent continental knit stitch. My purls, however, have been abysmal. I needed to make a little video about the end of the round in 2 color brioche rib on dpns. I always make a video for English/throwing, and one for continental/picking. And I finally decided it was time to figure out how to purl less awkwardly.

Some continental knitters hold their left index finger up in the air, and wave it back and forth to move their yarn. I can’t get my index finger to stay up in the air; I hold both hands close to the needles. With Norwegian knitting and purling, the index finger stays down, and the yarn is scooped off the left index finger by the right needle. Works for me! Here’s a little video of my new Norwegian purl in my brioche.

I keep the yarn to the back the whole time, even on the brioche knit rounds where I need to make the sl1yo. Instead of bringing the yarn to the front, I duck the right needle behind it. Whatever works! I always tell my students, as long as you get the results you want, you’re doing it right.

Do you throw, or pick? If you’re a picker/continental/hold yarn in your left hand knitter, how do you purl? Have you tried the Norwegian purl? Inquirin’ minds wanna know!