March 15th, 2008 at 10:17 am » Comments (7)

Still somewhat obsessed with finding additional information, this is a

Lavor 4mm Hook Point for Portuguese Style Knitting

What I really want to find out is WHY it has both – Is there some technique,

or is it just practicality so that the tool owner can do either.

Speaking of Practicality, if you don’t have one of Andrea’s pins, it turns out, that depending on what I am wearing, that either

Clover Yarn Holders,

Or, the

No-Coil Safety Pins

are great for the yarn holding if you don’t want to wear the skein around your neck.

I even found a blog page with video on how to turn a paper clip into a safety pin

As TNNA approaches, where Andrea will be teaching, I am having “visions” of countless shop owners, walking the show floor, with glorious skeins of yarns around their necks, happily knitting or crocheting or Portuguese Knitting. Sort of like the year at Soar where Ed had everyone wandering around dropping spinning while walking

February 7th, 2008 at 00:16 am » Comments (10)

Ever since finding the Pony Double Ended Crochet hooks, about two years ago, I have been using experimenting with them for knitting – thinking this might be good for kids (and grown ups) to help in learning knit techniques. When I started tripping over reference to Portuguese Knitting and its use of crochet hooks, naturally I got curious but then and now, there just never are enough hours in the day to “research”.

Recently Abby wrote about Andean spinning and that reminded me of how often I wished I could ask her Dad, Ed Franquemont about this. He was such a fountain of historical information – usually with good data to back it up.

Well, the last few weeks, it seems I am on something of a tear attempting to find more info about “Portuguese Knitting” which seems to share some technique with the Andean poeples as well.

What I have been able to find “so far”, mostly surmised from YouTube Videos, vagure memories of watching Ed Franquemont showing some “Incan” knitting and pictures in a few books, is that some how yarn is tension either by wearing the skein like a necklace, or using a pin on one’s shoulder. (See the picture of Andrea Wong here

Thus the yarn is between you and the work “most of the time”. And the yarn is manipulated to form the stitches, using your thumb in a seemingly very efficient manner. BTW, if you are a “visual” learner, then you may just find that the YouTubes with the voice over being in Portuguese to be the most helpful/clear.

Although many have suggested Andean & Portuguese are the same, so far only “Portuguese” knitting seems to use crochet hooks and at least one of the more esoteric suppliers of fiber art tools, sells these needles – hook on one end, point on the other in a limited variety of sizes, in sets of four or five per size – suggesting use for in the round type project.

I have been told that

Andrea Wong’s Video is an excellent resource, but unhappily it will not play in any of our machines.

Several have suggested I might find more information in the out of print book, Andean Folk Knitting: Traditions and Techniques from Peru and Bolivia. by Cynthia Gravelle Lecount, ISBN: 0932394078, but so far I have not been able to find an affordable copy and/or library that has it.

I was able to find lots of sources for Marasha Lewandowski’s

Andean Folk Knits: Great Designs…

So Abby, (or anyone else) I’d love to hear from you – Or should I just resign myself, accept I can knit with crochet hooks and will never know the history