The Knitting Fiend

Imagine responding “No. I knit using the Combination method, using the English / American hold, and throw. What method do you use?” when someone accuses you of knitting “wrong”.

If you knit using the combination method, you will meet people who accuse you of knitting “wrong”. Some will be knitting teachers; some will be pattern writers.

The method not “wrong”, it’s just a less common method with some disadvantages and some advantages. The main disadvantage is that the method is not commonly used, and almost never taught. Because of this, no one bothers to write books explaining how to work advanced techniques using this method. However, most combination knitters manage to figure them out anyway.

You can also rest assured that if you use the combination method correctly, which only means “so as to create untwisted stitches”, and present teachers and pattern writers with a finished garment, they will be unable to tell it was knit using the combination method.

Well, that is they won’t suspect you are a combination knitter, unless they become suspicious because the knitting is too even. Yes, a sizable number of knitters can achieve more consistent stitches using this method. (I’m not one of them; but if your purl stitches are looser than your knit stitches causing your knitting to “row out”, you might want to try this method.)

So, here’s how you knit using the combination method, first in brief, then in detail.

Purling a stitch: Insert the needle tip however you need to not twist the stitch in the row below, yarn over as for purling using the Eastern method; that is, take the yarn under the needle, away from you, over the needle and back toward you. Draw the loop through to form the new stitch. The stitch sits “Eastern”.

Knitting a stitch: Insert the needle tip however you need to not twist the stitch in the row below; yarn over as to knit using the Western method; take the yarn under the needle, away from you, over the needle and back toward you; Draw the loop through to form the new stitch. The new stitch sits “Western”.

That’s it, in brief. Notice the mix of “Eastern” and “Western”? That’s why it’s called combination knitting.

Ok, now, either you “got it” or you don’t. My guess is, unless you already knit combination, you don’t “get it”. So, I’ll explain.

Notice this ambiguous phrase above “Insert the needle tip however you need to not twist the stitch in the row below”. What’s that mean? It means you will need to notice how a stitch “sits” and adapt your method of inserting the right needle tip! (This is why teachers don’t like to teach this method; beginners are almost incapable of noticing how a stitch “sits”.)

The two ways stitches might sit on a needle are shown below. “Western” is shown to the left; “Eastern” to the right. Likely, any knitter who has ripped back and picked up stitches has noticed both “seats”; they just don’t know these two seats have names.

How does the yarn sit on the needle?

Western

Eastern

Now, readers who read “Part I” or “Part II”, know if you yarn over to form a stitch using the “Eastern” method, all the stitches will sit “Eastern”.

Notice that when knitting using the “Combination” style, you yarn over “Western” when creating a knit stitch and “Eastern” when creating a purl. This means some stitches waiting to be knit will sit “Western” and some will sit “Eastern”; their seat depends on how they were formed when you knit row below. Luckily, you don’t need to remember what you did the row below; you can see how the stitch is sitting!

Ok. So you’re off and knitting your row. You want to knit the next stitch. It sits “Western”, what do you do? Place the tip of your right needle to the left of the right leg of the stitch you are about to knit into; slide it into the hole. Notice the stitch opens and is not twisted (see below left). Yarn over by bringing the yarn below the needle, toward you, over the top and to the back. Draw loop through. The stitch you just knit into is not twisted, the new stitch sits “Western”.

This is how knit stitches are formed when knitting garter or seed stitch using the combination method. Notice it’s just like knitting garter stitch when knitting according to the “Western Uncrossed” method; so it will seem “normal” to those who knit Western.

Insert Needle Tip to Knit.

Stitch sits “Western”

Stitch sits “Eastern”.

What if you come across the stitch and it sits “Eastern”? Well, in Part II, I described what to do if you wanted it to twist, and when knitting “Eastern Crossed”. However, in combination knitting, the goal is to knit untwisted stitches. So, you need to modify the technique.

Fortunately, it’s a snap! In fact, if you were a kid in second grade you’d be waving your hand and shouting, “I know, I know! Teacher, call on me! I know, I know!”

Place the tip of your right needle to the left of the right leg of the stitch you are about to knit into; slide it into the hole. Notice the stitch opens and is not twisted (see below left right.)

Oh.. did I just cut and paste that text and then make a minor correction?! Imagine, people will tell you one of the disadvantages is you insert the needle “differently”. Well, it does look different as you can see in the side by side pictures, but you actually insert them the same way.

That is, you insert the tip the same way when knitting into stitches sitting either way if you think of the two legs on a stitch as the “right or left” leg which most people do. You may read other directions that use the words “front leg” and “back leg”, the text directions will read differently.

Now, yarn over just as I described before: down, toward you, over, to the back. This is the “Western” or “normal” style of yarning over when forming a knit stitch.

This “second way” of is how you form knit stitches when working the knit row for Stockinette using the combination method; it’s also how you will knit stitches when working ribbing.

How do you purl using the combination method?

Let’s say you are purling across, place the needle tip to the right of the right leg, and slide it into the hole. If the stitch was sitting “Western” it will now look as shown below and to the left; if it was sitting “Eastern” it looks as shown below and to the right. Now, yarn over using the Eastern method for purl stitches. That is, take the yarn down below the needle, away from you, up over the needle and toward you. If you learned to knit using the “Western” method, this is “backwards”. It results in a stitch that sits Eastern.

Your purl stitch is finished.

Inser Tip To Purl

Western

Eastern

Before closing this article, I’ll mention a few things. Lore has it that some knitters tend to purl more loosely than they knit; this can happen as a result of how they hold the yarn or wrap, or any number of things. When a knitter with this problem knits stockinette, the purl rows are taller than the knit rows. Sometimes, they will see ugly gaps between the knit and purl’s in their ribbing. Lore also suggests this problem can often be fixed by knitting using the combination method.

Now, I don’t know whether this lore is true, but if you are having any of these difficulties, it’s simple enough to switch to Combination Knitting. Why not give it a try?

For those wondering: This is the end of “Stockinette Ad Nauseam”!