Knit Faster With Portuguese Knitting

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Knit faster and with less hand strain than you can with English or Continental knitting. Breeze through purling, ribbing, shaping, lace, colorwork, cables and more!

Introduction to Portuguese Knitting

Meet Andrea Wong, who has taken a centuries-old knitting style and given it a name — Portuguese knitting — and a broader following through her teaching and writing. Learn about this style’s journey from Old World to New, and discover its benefits compared with the English and Continental styles.

Controlling Your Knitting

Even tension is key in Portuguese knitting. Learn how to maintain it with Andrea’s guidance, whether you wrap the yarn around your neck or thread it through a special pin or clip on your shoulder. In Portugal, a knitting pin is a meaningful gift and is believed to bring luck to the knitter!

Fundamental Techniques for Efficient Knitting

Wrap your head around a new way to knit. In Portuguese knitting, a simple flick of the thumb helps make each stitch. Portuguese purling is even easier. You’ll love how fuss-free ribbing becomes, not to mention casting on (it puts the bumps where they belong!) and binding off (so elastic!).

Versatile Increases & Essential Decreases

Six increases and five decreases will give you many options for shaping projects such as hats and sweaters. Andrea demonstrates them all, from the simple but obvious to the more complex and subtle. Choose which ones you like when working on a charming beret (pattern included!).

More Uniform Lace Patterns

Apply the increases and decreases you’ve learned to create lace fabric. Andrea will walk you through the basics of reading a lace chart, including a clever trick for creating paired increases and decreases with one simple maneuver. You won’t believe how fast you can knit lace this way.

Quicker Cables

Add a twist to your Portuguese knitting with cables. You won’t even need a cable needle when you use Andrea’s technique for putting stitches on hold. Cross your cables to the right or left, or try making mini-cables, otherwise known as traveling stitches — perfect for framing larger motifs.

Swift & Even Two-Color Knitting

You’ll love how easy and tangle-free your colorwork can be with Portuguese knitting. Learn how to tension your yarn with your non-dominant hand and use two knitting pins. Work along with Andrea on a two-color swatch in the round and see how to trap your floats to prevent snags in your fabric.