Setting the Tone and the Tension: Dealing with a Knitting Affliction

Because I'm always trying to learn new things, and learn them at a level beyond superficial, I decided to join The Knitting Guild Association's Master Hand Knitters Program. I received the curriculum earlier this month, and have spent some time reading through the Level 1 requirements. I made a trip to a local yarn shop and selected yarns for the various swatches and final knitting project (a hat) that I'll have to complete and submit to the committee. All in all, I was very excited about the program.

There seem to be several schools of thought around why someone would want to go through the Master Hand Knitters Program. The predominant thought by those who are in the program or have completed it seems to be that we're doing it because we want to knit and we want to become better at knitting. By going through the process, a knitter has to do research on various stitches, report out on observations made about his own swatches, and eventually submit all of these for review. Apparently it's common for at least a few revisions to be requested by the committee before final approval.

Another school of thought seems to be from those who have chosen not to go through the program. That sentiment seems to be that knitting is enjoyable, but putting criteria and judgment on one's knitting takes the enjoyment out of it. I see their point.

When I sat down to do my first swatches for the MHK program, I zipped through a couple just to see how they would turn out. I actually did two in the same knight and thought about doing one more. Before I moved forward though, I set the swatches down and looked at them closely the next day. To me, something was wrong.

I went online to the TKGA website and found an article about tension. Upon reading the article my ego was immediately deflated. I had tension problems. For a second a wave swept over me as if I had just been diagnosed with an illness over which I had no control. The enjoyment left. The people who told me knitting wouldn't be fun anymore were right! All that money spent on yarn and needles. All that time spent learning to knit. I was done. My knitting life had ended, killed off by the fatal tension problem.

Then I decided to get over myself. I had to take another step back. I realized the problem I was having with tension had to do with what's known as striping. As a continental knitter I'm apparently prone to striping. The symptoms of this affliction appear in stockinette stitch when knitting flat pieces. The tension of the purl stitches is weaker than the tension of knit stitches thus making the V's on the right side of the work appear larger and smaller in alternate rows (see image above).

Several sources actually give different treatment options for poor tension. One solution is Norwegian Purl. Another is combined knitting. Without getting into the gory details of these methods, they'd either mean I'd have to perform manual backflips or re-teach myself to purl English-style. I have to say I was one of those stubborn patients who rejected both ideas. I really liked the way I purled, and I was in no condition to change (not with all the striping!).

I finally read an article that said, "Sometimes just an awareness of loose purling leads the knitter to improving tension on the purl side." No backflips?! Sold.

I went back to my swatches. I got out a needle one size smaller than what I had knit with before, and resigned myself to tightening up my purls. On my first row of purls I made sure to give an extra tug to each of my purl stitches. I could actually feel each stitch locking into place and holding fast to the stitches below it. I continued for the next ten rows making sure I felt the lock of each purl stitch and set my work down flat to examine it. No striping. The purl side looked tight. The knit side looked even. I was cured.

Looking back on this experience, I realize that this is exactly what I signed up for. I wanted to learn to be a better knitter. As a learner it's healthy to be humbled by not knowing everything. It's good to feel defeated once in a while because sometimes falling down provides the kick in the rear we need to let go of our egos and get down to business.

Joining the MHK program is definitely a personal choice. For those knitters out there who have no desire to be held up to someone else's criteria, I applaud you. But for me, I like being given a set of problems that I have to research, and I like having to use trial and error to get myself to a higher level of whatever it is I'm doing. I also like accessing learning communities like Ravelry, the forum at KnittingHelp, and the TKGA forum. I don't have the luxury of a local knitting guild with experienced knitters to lead me into knitted enlightenment, so the online knitting community is my surrogate guild.

As I look forward into my MHK future, I know I'll encounter more problems. I'll probably even get frustrated and think about throwing in the towel, but I'm confident I'll eventually take a step back and see it as a problem which needs to be researched and another step in the learning process.