Wednesday, May 4, 2011

A Survey That's (Sort of) About Continental Knitting (But Not Really. Really It's About Improved Eating Skills.)


So I'm not much of a continental style knitter. I took a mini-class in Fair Isle once and I did okay. The idea of continental makes sense to me and I vaguely vow one day to pick a project to work in continental, with the idea being I'll get faster. But to get faster, I would have to first go slower to learn to be comfortable with this style. And so every time I think, "Maybe this will be the project I do continental style," I almost immediately think, "Nah, I don't have time for this."

And yet... I still use both hands to knit. This makes me think that my left hand has become stronger over the years and more dextrous (<-- good word play, since dextrous is from the Latin root for right. Sinister, for those interested, comes from the Latin for left. Aren't you glad I studied Latin in high school so I can share these things?) Even if my stronger left hand isn't good for that many things-- as a rightie I still rely on my right hand for most stuff-- I did realize something. It seems to me that if I am, say, eating a basket of chips & salsa (which is like daily bread here in Texas) or perhaps stealing French fries from a friend's plate, not only am I able to do these things easily with my left hand, it's like I don't have to think about it at all. So I'm thinking, thanks to knitting, even if I can't knit fast I sure can eat a lot faster.

Anybody else out there notice you use your non-dominant hand more since you took up knitting? And, okay okay, I'll just go ahead and ask that age old series of questions:

Do you prefer continental knitting or not?
Do you think one way is faster?
Do you want to make fun of folks who don't knit the way you do?

Let us know!

1 comment:

  1. I knit with both hands, although I'm constantly saying that I'll try continental soon. My mum insisted that she taught me to knit when I was 5 or 6. It turns out that it had to be my grandmum because my mum can only knit continental. My right hand has definitely become more useful (I'm left handed) and I figure it's strengthening that side of my brain as well.

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