However, I found it had to apply “Parlour style” to the purl stitch, so I got Cathy to give me a demonstration of “Parlour style” purlwise she’s so fast! I also read in The Principles of Knitting that my original style was they way most people taught beginners to knit, so I felt like perhaps it was time to move on… This is how I used to knit holding the yarn between my thumb and fore-finger and moving the whole hand (has audio): I was pleased to find a style that seemed more efficient, used less hand and arm movement, relaxed my fingers, and felt nicer too, more fluid and not so jerky, and with more practice I can see it being faster. I also find that the ring and little fingers on my right hand can feel cramped as they grip the needle, especially when using 2-2.5 mm needles. I’ve not been that happy with my knitting style, I’m not a very fast knitter, I’d thought about trying knitting with the yarn in the left hand (Continental style), as I had been told that was faster, but I thought it would be hard to get used to using the other hand, and while I was learning it would slow me down a lot, and I just had so many things I wanted to knit! I had heard that you get faster if you work closer to the needle tips, as your hand doesn’t have to travel so far, so I’d been thinking about that as I knitted. Now you must be thinking, why is she wanting to change her style of knitting? Good point. I had a chat to Cathy about it, who also knits this way, and we had a laugh about the idea of a “Parlour style”, it sounded so “lah-di-dah”! By watching her closely I have managed to start knitting in this style, I’m still a little stiff and jerky though (no audio):
One night, down at my knitting group, I realised nearly half of the group knitted “Parlour style”. I started to look at my friends’ knitting with new eyes, and many of them have had to put up with me intently staring at them knitting. “When middle-class Victorian women took up knitting as an activity to occupy quiet hours in the parlour after dinner…”, they moved away from using knitting sheaths or belts like the working-classes, and apparently liked “…the idea of holding the needle from underneath because the hand took on such an elegant position, quite like daintily raising a cup when sipping tea.” She lists several different ways of holding your needles when you knit with the yarn in the right hand (English style) – and I knew all of them, except this style, which she calls, “Pencil knitting”, because the needle is held like a pencil, or “Parlour style”, which was mentioned in A History of Hand Knitting by Richard Rutt. I needed to find out more, so I had a look in the vast knitting tome – The Principles of Knitting by June Hemmons Hiatt. Perhaps it was a popular style of knitting for the last few generations? I usually pride myself on being so observant, but evidently although I have regularly watched people knit, I haven’t really been looking that hard. Now of course, they could have all been copying each others’ style for continuity, but I thought that level of knitting detail was unlikely.
#MISS MARPLE JULIA MCKENZIE YOUTUBE TV#
So then I had a look on YouTube to see how the other British actresses who have played Miss Marple on TV held their knitting.
#MISS MARPLE JULIA MCKENZIE YOUTUBE HOW TO#
I was still figuring out how to knit like that over the next few days, when there was an old Miss Marple film on TV, and I saw Margaret Rutherford holding her knitting in the same way!
What surprised me was how she was holding her right needle from underneath, like holding a pen. See what I saw – Miss Marple – Why Didn’t they ask Evans? (from 4:04 mins – has audio). I was trying to copy how she was holding her knitting while I was watching. I was watching a re-run one Sunday afternoon, and was struck by the fluidity and elegant hand movements of Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple knitting. There are not many opportunities to see knitting on the TV, but it’s always possible on the Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple TV series.
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