Norwegian Purl

I was skimming down Knitlist and spotted a message titled "loose continental knitting" and took a look. The writer was having the same problem I did when learning to do continental purl. Loose. Loose. Loose. I compromised for awhile by knitting continental (picking) and purling american (throwing). Whenever gauge did not matter I practiced purling. My gauge is now fine with both methods.

However, the person giving the answer for loose continental purling suggested Norwegian purling. Aha!

In the 1970's I lived in Iceland (DH in the Navy for four years way back then) and my friend and I started knitting "Icelandic sweaters", which are Fair Isle, but done in the natural shades that Lopi yarn comes in. We went to the Lopi factory and bought big bags of what I think now must have been roving. Absolutely no give (twist) in the yarn.

My first sweater was knit very tightly and a young Icelandic lady who worked in the office below my friend's apartment offered to teach us to do "Icelandic Knitting", which she said "built some stretch into the knitted fabric because you can't knit as tightly". She taught. I learned. It worked. But I did not knit again after leaving Iceland (hey, it was not popular for a very long time, remember?!)

Fast forward to a couple of years ago. I discovered everybody was knitting and that you were allowed to knit something besides sweaters. I also found out quickly that the reason I had avoided knitting for years was that it made my shoulders and arms ache. However, I had fallen in love with the hobby and thought there must be a way to knit that did not involve so much shoulder and arm movement. In the dim recesses of my mind I remembered learning "Icelandic Knitting" and decided that it MUST be what everybody was calling Continental.

Using the internet I figured out the knit stitch quickly and discovered that "picking" was easier on my shoulders and arms. But could not remember the purl stitch. I vaguely remembered the routine of the needles, but the stitch always proved to be a backward knit on the return row.

Always up for a challenge I decided to learn the Continental Purl. I knew it was not the Icelandic purl, but whatever. I am pretty proficient at it now.

Back to the subject at hand....NORWEGIAN PURL? Isn't NORWAY near ICELAND???? Hmmmm......I googled Norwegian Purl and got my yarn and it all came back. Also figured out what I had been doing wrong. I had remembered the needle movement, I just had missed one crucial yarn movement that caused the purl to be backward.

I am pretty slow on this new way to purl, of course. And my continental purl has got a lot of speed. So don't know if I will persevere, but it is so nice to finally remember that doggone stitch method!!