How to Learn Portuguese Knitting Style

Portuguese knitting style is one of the oldest forms of the craft of knitting. You can knit in Portuguese style with your regular knitting needles for all kinds of projects and patterns. The name comes from the Portuguese traders who brought the unique knitting style from the Persian world, where knitting had been invented around 700 CE. The knitting style was adopted by many knitting communities and to date are practiced. If you are a new knitter or an experienced one learning new knitting styles and techniques is always wonderful.

The unique Portuguese knitting style has many advantages as it requires little movement of the hands to form stitches. It is a good choice for people with fatigued hands and wrists. Knitters who suffer from joint pain, arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome find this style easy on their hands. Portuguese knitting also works great for knitting with colors or stranded colorwork technique. Also, the knitting style is believed to be a great option for blind or visually impaired knitters, since the working yarn stays put and can be found easily.

What is Portuguese Knitting and how is it different?

Like English or Continental knitting, the Portuguese knitting style also has you holding the knitting needles in both hands. The way you tension the yarn is different as the working yarn is not held in your hands or wrapped around your fingers but around your neck or via a knitting pin on your left shoulder.

Keep the skein or ball of yarn on a working table top or a knitting bag. If you are working with the knitting pin, wrap your working yarn onto the pin. If you don’t have one of these, place the yarn around your neck loosely allowing the smooth flow of the yarn.

When the working yarn comes to your knitting needles, wrap the left piece of yarn around your right middle finger. This tensioning with the middle finger rather than the index finger changes the knitting action. You simply need to yarn over and pull the loop through the stitch on the needle. All the stitch formation takes place in front of your WIP and not behind the knitting needle.

The trick to smooth Portuguese knitting is the pin. In appearance, it looks like a mixture between an earring and a safety pin and can be attached to your top, short, t-shirt or dress just near your neck. The distance of the pin and knitting creates sufficient tension to execute knit or purl stitches easily.

How to Knit the Portuguese Style

Cast on – The cast on section of the knitting style is similar to regular knitting. You can use any method to cast on stitches and lay the foundation of the knitting project.

Knitting - Insert the right hand needle under the thread first similar to the Continental knitting style. You do not need to insert the needle tip behind but in front of your left-hand needle. Now, with your left thumb wrap the yarn around. Move the right needle in a way that it scoops that stitch towards you. There is minimal movement of your hands as just flicking your thumb a little would do the stitch formation.

Purling – The Portuguese knitting style is particularly easy on the hands when it comes to purling. The purl stitches are made faster and with very less effort under their fingers.

With both knit and purl stitches making in the Portuguese style in your knitting repertoire, you can go ahead with any basic or advanced stitch pattern.

Bind off - Binding off in the Portuguese style is also a little bit different compared to English or Continental knitting. To bind off, purl two stitches together until you end up with one stitch. You can just slip that stitch to your left knitting needle and are ready to finish the cast-off.

The Portuguese style of knitting is most handy when you are creating garter stitch garments. Knitting in the round with circular needles or a set of double pointed needles is also believed to be much easier than regular knitting. Many knitters from Portugal or Peru, particularly prefer this knitting style for their circular knits.

Switching to Portuguese knitting style or learning the new technique is beneficial for many reasons. With the Mindful Collection, you can easily try out the knitting style. In fact, many of the shortcomings of Portuguese knitting style can be overcome with the stainless steel knitting needles. The pointy tips and the smooth surfaces gets your knitting flowing even if you are a tight knitter. An additional blessing for knitters is the inspirational words imprinted on its needle tip that keeps them motivated and not be overwhelmed with the challenges.

Happy knitting!

Source: https://articlebusinessnews.com/how-to-learn-portuguese-knitting-style/