Colorwork demystified

     I've been fascinated by the technique of stranded colorwork for quite awhile, and have tried doing it with pretty good success but no real understanding of what I was doing or whether I was doing it correctly.  So when we found a well-qualified teacher at Rose Tree Fibers who was willing to hold a class on the topic, I was excited  to sign up.  The first class was last night.
     The classic technique for knitting two colors at once involves working one color with the right hand and the other with the left hand -- thus the knitter holds a strand of yarn in each hand, working from a chart and knitting each stitch with the appropriate hand.  It sounds simple in theory.....until I tried to do it.  First problem came when both the instructor and I realized that, while I am a firmly committed English-style ("thrower") knitter, she was an equally committed Continental ("picker") knitter -- and we had the old Clash of the Knitting Methods right from the git-go.  Turned out that almost everybody in the class was a "Thrower" and we all struggled to re-learn knitting from the very beginning, since Continental  knitting is the ONLY way the two-handed technique will work.
     As each of us struggled, a stitch at a time, to try and figure out how to master this new method, I was comforted by one thing the instructor tossed out, almost as an afterthought:  "Just figure out a method that works for you."   I soon found myself resorting to the technique I had worked out for color knitting in the past:  holding both colors in my right hand, one over each of two fingers, and simply switching fingers as I changed colors.  It worked, I managed to produce presentable fabric, and I was off and running.
    When I got home, I dug out the unfinished Philosopher's Wool sweater I started working on two years ago but gave up on because I couldn't figure out how to do the two-handed technique described in the book the PW folks had published -- the same technique being taught in the class I was taking.  I looked closely at the half-finished sleeve I had done, working a total of six colors into the design but using my right-hand method.  It looked fine.  I turned it inside out and examined the "floats" -- the unused yarn carries across stitches worked in other colors.  They looked presentable, if not quite as smooth and even as the teacher's work I had seem last night.  But my results, using my not-exactly-textbook technique, seemed to at least have promise. I COULD use that method and get good results after all!
     Having seem all of this, I feel comfortable continuing to use "my" technique, weird as it is, and not worry too much about following the rules.  The results seem to justify the means.  Or to put it another way, the route doesn't matter as long as you get to the right destination.
    I learned a lot in that class last night, especially about European knitting techniques of sweater construction, steeking and finishing tricks, and some specifics about fiber behavior.  Some of my most cherished notions -- such as the virtues of using good wool yarns and taking the time to get a correct gauge -- were affirmed by this teacher, who learned to knit as a child in Germany when knitting was a school subject.  I came away from the class feeling like I had a lot of new knowledge AND that I had been on the right track all along.  What a great feeling!