How I Mirror Knit my dog a Stocking! || Craftmas day 3

[@EngineeringKnits]

1950s Stocking Pattern: www.vintageknitcrochet.net/christmas-stocking-knitting-pattern-no-3522/ Yarn (affiliate link): bit.ly/KPAndeanTreasure Etsy for Mugs & Stickers: www.etsy.com/shop/TwillThreads My Main Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/EKnitsShop I enjoyed learning how to mirror knit and I can't wait to get more even tension with this technique! (Also, the hearts on my face are pimple stickers! I've been having a bad breakout and they help with the pain!)

[@kaiti8863]

Oh my goodness!! That's the stocking my Grandmother knit for all of the family in the 70s, 80s, and 90s! The pattern was lost, so I tried to reverse engineer the pattern years later for new additions to the family. Wish I'd realized it was knit flat - Grandma changed the duplicate stitch to intarsia, and I almost lost my mind trying to do intarsia in the round.

[@caffeinecritter]

Nutella's reaction is so familiar. My dog knows what the whipped cream bottle SOUNDS like!!! Never heard of mirror knitting before, but now I'm obsessed. No turning? Sign me up!

[@fiberhijinks8279]

I never knew that Mirror Knitting was an actual thing! I actually did this when I first learned to knit. I had never seen knitting done before (my mother only knew how to crochet), so when I finished the row, I just assumed that I was supposed to go back across with my other hand. I was doing that for several months before another (more experienced!) knitter saw me and asked me what I was doing 😂 Once she showed me how to purl, I switched to knitting 'normally'. It's really interesting to know that this is an actual technique!

[@beglitchery]

my mom was a german teacher and I grew up with gold in my shoes 😂

[@kida4star]

Love Nutella! Mirror knitting is fascinating. Thanks for sharing

[@hellorachelthefirst]

I love your engineering spirit with fiber crafts! Also, my own puppy was lying on the bed next to the computer when Nutella started whining about whipped cream, and woke up from her nap to look around for the other dog. She was so confused! But I'm sure she would agree with Nutella if she realized it was about whipped cream :D

[@ileneklayman3440]

I have been mirror knitting for a long time I just didn't know what it was called! I learned from another KZbin channel but I don't remember what she called it. This changed my life!

[@alyssahardbarger7973]

same! I just called it ambidextrous knitting

[@ileneklayman3440]

@@alyssahardbarger7973 but I am a lefty and i knit righty. I write, crochet, etc. lefty. But when I learned to knit I made sure I was using my right hand. I am always using both hands basically when knitting just like everyone else. Ambidextrous would mean I can knit both lefty and righty I cannot.

[@tetchedistress]

Have done backwards, mirror or left-handed knitting for years. It is my favorite way to do dishcloths. Purling is easier left to right for me.

[@ildonoa3928]

We used to do a stocking for our Boxer girl before she passed away. By the 3rd year, she knew it was coming and she would get so excited! So adorable.

[@mirandahinton3250]

Loving this series! Cozy craftiness indeed!

[@mjennyt]

Very cool. I actually mirror knit for my regular knitting (I'm a lefty) and I want to try this to knit "regular"

[@esthermarcen7587]

Nutella is so cute, and the stocking was so good.

[@autumnfox6788]

Oh my gosh! My great grandma taught me mirror knitting when I was young and I didn't know I was supposed to be flipping my work until very recently. I thought I was just doing it wrong lol. It's really cool to finally find out the name of what I learned in the first place!

[@lizmarin9568]

Nutella is too funny! Love the way this stocking came together!!

[@danellem6325]

I would suggest that you might be knitting in 'Combination' actually, and not fully continental or perhaps 'Continental Combination' would best describe it, vs maybe "English Combination' - because you enter stitches from the back loop and not the front. That, I have heard, is the primary difference!! (The Skeino company videos on youtube from a few years ago show combination knitting - but i haven't watched them in awhile!) I fell into the trap of mirror knitting when trying to teach my left-handed self to knit from a book and thinking I MUST reverse everything! I never took to it then and that could be why - when I learned again as an adult, I said just teach me how to knit and ignore my hands. So - I knit english with the yarn tensioned in my right hand, and have learned continental to hold the yarn in my left hand. The primary thing to be aware of with mirror knitting is for patterns where increases and decreases occur - they need to be worked differently when mirror knitting if you wish to maintain the lean of the stitches! But yes, otherwise its much faster to work pieces flat by mirror knitting on the opposite rows! THanks for sharing this one!

[@laurabuche5191]

I taught myself to mirror knit to work fair isle flat, however, I tend to knit through the front loop, instead of the back loop .

[@christenagervais7303]

I have never heard of mirror knitting before! It's very interesting. Nutella's stocking turned out beautifully! 🇨🇦

[@bookwormbeth380]

I had german au pairs growing up, so I've always had a bunch of German Christmas traditions! We do advent calenders and we did st nicholas day with the shoes! This series is making me so nostalgic

[@shannonsindy7177]

I’ve always knit this way, and didn’t know it had a name for quite a few years, it was how I taught myself to purl

[@pixypunkcraft]

Same!

[@deannajohnson3933]

Mirror knitting is pretty cool! I don't have to turn my work or anything!

[@raevynwoods9403]

I didn't know that Saint Nicholas (or Sinterklaas in Dutch) was celebrated outside of the Netherlands! That makes me even more curious as to how this celebration of a Catholic saint became so common in these regions where Protestantism was really more common... And interesting how the German celebration is a lot like the Dutch (with placing your shoes near the door) but also a bit different (we usually celebrate on the evening of the 5th, and you can 'place your shoes' in the weeks leading up to it as well and get small gifts and the chocolate coins you mentioned). Anyway, the stocking came out really nice and I think Nutella was very happy with her gifts!

[@39dippitydo]

I just started watching your channel and I’m just loving it, I especially loving your connection with Nutella, your love for each other is special. What kind of dog is she? She’s beautiful, ❤

[@gigglepantsiii9350]

I ended up learning mirror knitting as a side benefit of learning how to knit left handed so I could teach my left handed cousin how to knit (I'm only a little frustrated that since it took me two days to learn she had changed her mind about learning how to knit)

[@emilythomas6776]

I'll have to try mirror knitting sometime!

[@PermaPen]

I taught myself this just a few months ago, and love it. I do English/flick knitting, with the yarn always over my right index finger, whichever direction. The 'return' row process for each stitch is very similar to the 'out' row, and I can control the tension MUCH better than for purl.

[@slothskates6057]

I love your content. I've been enjoying your videos recently in the morning, while I have my tea and knit

[@susanmyrawills]

I reproduce many vintage stockings. I find the reason for the flat construction is because of the common intarsia motifs on xmas stockings. Also, I notice you are an “eastern uncrossed” knitter in that when purling, you wrap the yarn around the rt. needle clockwise(very common in continental knitters because it’s an easier and quicker motion. This style puts the leading leg on the back of the needle(if you tug on the yarn end it will pull the loop from the back). In order to not get a twisted stitch , when working the knit stitch, the needle has to enter into the back of the stitch(the leading leg.) Maybe you already know this(i’m new to your channel)😊 Elizabeth Zimmermann also wrote about “knitting backwards”. I think the term “mirrored knitting” is derived from left handers who were taught to knit by facing their teacher and thus working their stitches from right to left needle. Comes in very handy in worling entrrelac ,and bobbles. Funny how many techniques are renamed over time. I love your style! Thank you for your you tubes!!❤️ I am thoughly enjoying your videos and glad I found you! Annie Modesitt wrote about this style of knitting in her book “Confessions of a Knitting Heretic.”

[@kitssewingkit]

Beautiful, I love the little stumpy leg silhouette. & my dogs love their pigs! I didn't know they came in that color, we have the pink and yellow ones and a mini one in purple lol

[@susanmyrawills]

Thanks!

[@EngineeringKnits]

Thank you so, so much!

[@madameblathers5687]

I love any Nutella content and wholeheartedly agree that very good puppies deserve their own stocking to participate in the holiday season. I think the blue piggy toy is so cute, what a funny noise it makes! I'm sure we will hear it more in future videos! Also, how do you resist the sweetest whine for whipped cream?? She sounds so despondent

[@TehTeh911]

I don't know about others, but generally the stockings aren't tied to a day at all other than whenever you put up decorations, usually the stockings are filled with small gifts called 'stocking stuffers' and you get them on Christmas morning with the rest of your presents. Our family always had them fill overnight, but other families may do it differently.

[@amandahall7399]

The stocking turn out beautiful, but I noticed you have hearts on your face... what is that for?

[@jennischimmels7442]

Omg the grunty pig! I'm so glad I had headphones on, my dog would have gone bonkers if she heard it. (She has one of those and it is her favorite toy!) Loving this series!!

[@odsmey]

I am pretty sure that mirror knitting is when everything is mirrored (not just the direction you knit, but also the orientation of the stitches on the needles). Typically, some lefties knit that way (but many lefties don't). What you do (switching the direction to avoid purling), I have heard referred to as "knitting back backwards" or "knitting backwards".

[@16Ravers]

This is perfect. Just yesterday I heard someone mention this in regards to teaching how to knit left handed. She didn’t say anything about mirror but I wanted to check it out😋

[@TheSarahLindy]

My dogs have the same pig, and they got so excited when Nutella’s started oinking 😂😂😂

[@mandmhutchins5202]

I am enjoying the series quite a bit. Nice to see these pretty projects coming together.

[@kailawebb]

I always thought mirror knitting was normal knitting! So cool to learn a new thing :) I've always knit from left to right holding english hold, and then right to left continental. that way even though the work moves from needle to needle, I don't have to move the yarn between my hands.

[@wynjones2877]

I have always heard this referred to as 'knitting back backwards'.I use it for large pieces like backs of sweaters and afghans.

[@vysgiyi]

Omg! I love it so much! So freakin cute!! ❤️❤️

[@InkyPinkyBlue]

I had never noticed Nutella hasn't got a tail, I tried to catch a glimpse but we didn't see her whole body! I'll have to keep an eye out in your next vids :) always so impressed how much work you get done xx

[@retrocraftdreams]

Definitely going to have to work on both of those knitting techniques! I didn't know that was called duplicate stitch, but I bet it would be a fun way to use my abundance of cross stitch patterns, because I've only got so many frames for regular stitching. And with the mirror knitting, I was getting flashbacks to many years ago when I was knitting blankets - it would have gone so much better if I hadn't needed to flip the whole heavy things over all the time!

[@jvallas]

My mom used to do this for entrelec, because it causes a lot of flipping otherwise. I’ve seen it referred to as “knitting back backwards.”

[@Chaotic_Pixie]

is knitting through the back loop part of mirror knitting or do you typically knit through the back loop and then untwist when purling? Because your stitches are definitely seated backwards...

[@Lisa_Flowers]

She does a twisted purl and then untwists the stitch by knitting through the back loop! Apparently it's called Eastern crossed style

[@mariebray9831]

I've heard of mirror knitting, but not seen it done. How it was explained to me from someone who had seen it done was the hands were reversed, instead of the knitting. I think that there were a lot more ways to knit in the days when we were taught by our mothers and grandmothers and aunts and maybe uncles. I remember that a lot of men were taught to knit as therapy, for what we call PTSD, but they called shell shock, post WW1 and WW2.

[@beglitchery]

I figured this out for myself I think when I did an intarsia in the round to make argyle stockings. I think. It’s been a while.

[@starfirebird3099]

Very interesting! I always assumed that to mirror knit you'd have to switch hands but knit normally (I can't knit ambidextrously, but do knit right-handed and crochet and knook left-handed)

[@kristalburns3490]

My spoiled granddogs love that pig toy.

[@poopug]

Loving your Craftmas videos.

[@ladybugdancer97]

This is so cute! The mirror knitting sounds really interesting.

[@mirthevanhoorn]

I am absolutely loving this series ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@spaceship505]

Funny, I knit on a loom, so when knitting flat I automatically mirror knit 😊

[@sylvieboisvert]

also called backwards knitting, used a lot in entrelac knitting

[@coreygilles847]

Such a cute stocking for such a cute Nutella

[@lianapalumbo8457]

Nutella is a very lucky girl to have such a living Mumma 😊 xx

[@pixiestar4789]

Are those rainbow stickers on your face or are they cool bandages? Either way, I like ‘em!

[@su.mioiyu-5008]

I learned somthing! Thanks. Mirror knitting may be called "bi-directional" ? Your stocking came out great

[@aly_b]

Oh, so cute 🥰🥰🥰

[@spinni81]

I just realized that you knit continental but in the opposite orientation than I do. I think in Germany we call that Eastern style. Now I'm wondering if mirror knitting is easier that way because I struggled with that. I have to do some experimenting.

[@angellinafosse1936]

Are those scars or bandaids on your face? Everything alright did you get into an accident?

[@chattycowgirl]

I wonder if you could knit colorwork this way? knitting colorwork on the wrong side is a pain

[@spryknits]

so cute! I'm sure you've mentioned this in older videos, but what breed is Nutella?

[@thesentienttoadstool9369]

She’s friend shaped.

[@TesserId]

My guess is miniature or toy Australian shepherd. And, I think the coloring would be called red or brown tricolor. You'll want to search for KZbin videos on how fantastic these dogs are. The mix of intelligence, talent, and affection is amazing.

[@jvallas]

What is the reason you’re knitting through the back loop? Does the mirror knitting twist your stitches?

[@KnittingLulu]

What a lovely gift for Nutella! I'm wondering, do kids who weren't good get coal or sticks where you're from? Because for us in Hungary it's either chocolate when you were good or sticks when you were bad. But the cleaning the shoes thing is the same! (I am so glad I am not a kid anymore because I have like 4 pairs of shoes out that I would have needed to clean 😆🙈)

[@Lisa_Flowers]

I'm sorry if this is a silly question (I'm a beginner knitter) but the way you purl when not mirror knitting (so your regular purl) confuses me. I always thought that kind of purling resulted in a twisted purl (where you wrap the yarn under the working needle clockwise as opposed to over the working needle ounter clockwise, which is the way I typically see it done). Am I misunderstanding that? I find purling the way you do it so much easier but thought that would twist the stitch? Is it possible I'm not properly understanding what you're doing? Or that I just assumed it resulted in a twisted purl when it actually doesn't? I feel like I'm missing something obvious here but I have difficulty with pain when i purl both Norwegian and the typical continental style, so your method of purling is attractive to me because it doesn't look like it would hurt. Edit: I read some other comments and I just noticed that you also knit through the back loop! So are you essentially twisting your purls and then untwisting them by knitting through the back loop? If so that's genius! I feel like that would be so much more comfortable on my body. Is there a name for it? And is there a reason you knit that way specifically?

[@chattycowgirl]

she knits in the back loop! this way the purl stitch isn't twisted. I found this out the hard way lol I tried to purl the way she does and then my whole row was twisted. but easy fix just knit in the back loop and it untwisted everything. hope that made sense!

[@Lisa_Flowers]

@@chattycowgirl thank you so much for the explanation! I figured this out approximately one second before you posted your comment lol but thanks for confirming what I thought. I was incredibly confused because like you said I swore I saw that method of purling in a twisted rib tutorial and thought I was going batty lol! I'm sorry you twisted an entire row of stitches, hopefully it wasn'tnon a project with an enormous amount of stitches.

[@chattycowgirl]

@@Lisa_Flowers good! and no it was only a hat, and I knit in the back loop on the next row so it untwisted and went back to normal. quick fix!

[@ElanorKella]

We have very similar tradition in Slovakia, although we receive more sweets and when I was young also clementines as they were rare and exotic in our boots. And our st. Nicolas is accompanied by an angel and a devil and if a child was naughty, they would get get scared by the devil and receive a coal or an onion or a potato instead of sweets.

[@rainieraine1192]

I know this as backwards knitting which Yarnsub channel have a tutorial for, using parlour style English knitting.

[@Sincyn241]

Question! I’m a beginner and just learned continental knitting. I notice that you knit into the back of the stitch, rather than the front, which I never did with my English knitting style (flat rectangles only) or my new continental (first socks on DPNs, it’s been an experience!). Is that part of the pattern or your specific technique/practice?

[@rebekahrichert4277]

She not only knits continental (which is just about which hand the yarn is held is) she knits Combination style (combination of western and eastern styles). Her knit stitches are mounted in the opposite direction from standard western style, so she knits into the back loop. You can see when she goes to purl at 5:45-ish she starts to wrap the opposite direction from a standard western purl. Those two things together (knitting through the back loop and wrapping the purls that way) result in stitches that aren't twisted; if she were only doing one or the other, she'd end up with twisted stitches.

[@Sincyn241]

@@rebekahrichert4277 Wow, thank you! Now I need to go look up eastern vs. western knitting. I had no idea there was such a difference. Continental had me so frustrated that I was tempted to chuck my project across the room until I learned about open-hand continental, which clicked immediately. My experience of continental knitting changed in a moment, so I’m fascinated to see what this leads to. Thank you again for responding and so quickly. You made my night!

[@kscott2655]

Why do you knit through the back loop? I get the continental difference. I can do it, though I'm usually an English knitter. I don't see twisted stitches, so I think you must also purl through the front when not mirror knitting. All the stitches seem to be seated on the needle in the opposite way I normally see (twisted) and then your knit through the back loop untwists them. It's just really weird to me and I wondered why you do it that way.

[@jjudy5869]

Look at Eastern Uncrossed or Combination knitting. The purls are worked differently which makes the knits seated on the needles differently from the traditional Western knitting. This style of knitting is very forgiving on the wrists and uses less yarn in my experience.

[@Lisa_Flowers]

@@jjudy5869 is that why she knits through the back loop? To untwist the purls ( which she does under the needle clockwise as opposed to over the needle counter clockwise?) This style of knitting might be exactly what I'm looking for. I have a lot of hand and shoulder pain from purling and i'd love to minimise that by using this knitting style!

[@elineclaeys8226]

You just had to shine your shoes!? We had to be good kids all year to get chocolate gold xD.

[@chrissy24-7]

Are you Dutch? My Dad was and he did that with his she's growing up. ❤️

[@werelemur1138]

Nutella! So dramatic!

[@francescaromito9359]

More Nutella Content!!!

[@Lady_dromeda]

Mirror knitting is just the way I knit...😅

[@anezkajandova76]

Why has Nutella no tail? Didn't she had one in some of your old videos?

[@saphirephoenix1173]

I love Hot Chocolate Bombs!

[@aliceDarts]

Are those band aides on your face? Are you ok?