There is a new trend in the knitting community for Portuguese knitting where you put the yarn around your neck or over a pin on your shoulder. Andrea Wong wrote a book and produced a DVD about it, but I learned how to do it from watching a youtube.com video.
Here I am using a pin I had made at Coloring Outside the Lines Bead Store in Monte Vista, Colorado.
Portuguese knitting is a lot easier on your hands and wrists as you only have to use your thumb to flick the yarn over the needle. The yarn over the pin on your shoulder creates the correct tension.
My buddy, Salai, helped me figure out how to configure a pin using a couple of pins I already owned. We needed to get a hook below the pin so we used a fishing swivel and a earring hook. The yarn threads through the hook.
There are a few pins available online but the knitting group, Fiber Floozies, that meet at Alamosa Public Library, had their pins made at Coloring Outside the Lines, so that’s where I went to get my pins. Here’s a couple I had made. They are about three inches long. I like the fancy hook at the bottom. The yarn feeds through the hook part nice and even.
I really like knitting using the Portuguese knitting style because I can knit longer without pain in my hands and wrists….arthritis you know.
Remember, you are loved.