TC to Knit and Knit to TC

Tunisian Crochet to Knitting (Part 1) and Knitting to Tunisian Crochet (Part 2): Featured is the Boyfriend Tunisian Crochet/Knit Lace Scarf.

Excuse my voice in the videos. I was sick and I was leaning heavily over to make sure I had a good shot. My fingers will leave the shot when I am doing the stitches but this is just to show you how to go from one to the other not how to knit or tunisian crochet. Enjoy!

Crocheter's way to do Continental Knitting

So I am a crocheter at heart and I learned how to knit in English style, but that was time consuming and hard on my wrists that tend to get cists in them. So I tried to learn how to do Continental Knitting. Well, any crocheter will tell you placing the yarn over your top 3 fingers and under your pinky just feels plain wrong. Sure you can do a purl stitch with a flick of a finger but to an avid crocheter it is highly uncomfortable. I know why you put the yarn that way but it makes no sense to my brain and I fumbled around for about 30min and finally I figured out a solution. I am probably by no means the first person to figure this out but eh I needed to do a tutorial.

So let's start by how you hold the yarn. If you crochet you hold it your "normal way." For me this is over the pinky under the ring and middle finger and over the index finger of my left hand. Now in the normal continental having the yarn under the middle finger causes all kinds of trouble when you try to do a purl stitch. Fear not! See how I get around the yarn slipping off the index finger when I purl.

PART 1: The Purl Stitch

You will notice that the yarn is in in my normal crochet position (see above for description).

1. The working yarn must be in front of the needle

2. The right needle goes behind the working yarn and up through the stitch like a normal purl

3. Here is the magic: use your middle finger to move the working yarn, this is normally what the index finger does in "normal" continental

4. Move the needle through the stitch, catching the yarn you moved down. As instinct I hold the working yarn between my thumb and forefinger like I do in crochet.

Close up of Step 4

Wide shot so you can see my index finger is still held high like in crochet

5. Move the right needle behind the left, completing the purl stitch

6. Pull off stitch. For another purl make sure the working yarn stays in front. For a knit stitch make sure the working yarn goes behind the left needle (See below).

PART 2: The Knit Stitch

When using my yarn holding technique the knit stitch is unaffected. I feel it actually makes it easier (for me) to keep my hands positioned correctly.

1. Make sure the Working yarn is behind the left needle

2. Knit from front to back. Notice the working yarn, right needle, and loop are RESTING ON my middle finger.

3. Now we are going to do a VERY CROCHET type move here. We take the needle and "hook" under the working yarn from right to left.

Here is a wider view of that.

Notice to keep tension I have my index finger stretched away from the work.

4. Push needle up through the hooked yarn and there you go a knit stitch.

5. Pull off the stitch.

So there you go! Hope that helps those who are like me, clumsy at doing Continental Knitting the normal way. I picked up this technique within a matter of stitches and have used it since. It allows me to go pretty fast and I never feel awkward with the yarn placed in my hands as if I was crocheting.

Injuries: Can't slow me down!

So I FINALLY am on my last revision of my mother's scarf (see pattern details below) and I started a thread amigurumi. Well... I will not name names, but we were trying to put a cat in solitary for peeing on some furniture and it was my job to grab her. Well... This cat HATES pills and knows when she will get one so she bites. HARD. She got me on my right hand which with my throwing style of knitting really hurts. AND the thread uses a 1.25mm hook so grasping it was made impossible as my had swelled.

BUT, the scarf is still going and I use both English (throwing) and Continental knitting style.
Basic Pattern:
Knit 5 rows
K5, *yo, K2tog*x6, K5 repeat row until fed up with "like lace" then
K5, P12, K5 (I find that purling first is a better method then knitting this row)
Knit one row, then *K5, P12, K5* one row (aka stockinette stitch window) until a nice "band" forms (about 6-8 rows ending with a Knit row)
Then do the "like lace" until fed up again and make a stockinette stitch band ect until finished.

I used 22 stitches, you can use ANY number of even stitches and ANY number of buffer stitches so long as their combination is an EVEN number, I used 5 (or 10 in total) because I wanted the "like lace" stitch to look like a peek-a-boo window.
Pictures will be coming soon...



LOOK AWAY if you are of the squeamish type or scroll down if you want to see three cat bites:

No I am not bleeding that is some redness due to the scraping of the tooth.
No, my hand is normally not this puffy... or so I think it normally isn't...
Bite 1: Deep puncture with barely visible second one
Bite 2: The two bite in the web of my hand.
These are the ones affecting my gripping power.

Bite 3: The two punctures on the other side that lay exactly in line
where my knitting needle lays for my Continental Style.
In case you're wondering that is a Wii board as background.