Combined knitting hack

I took up my needles and yarn this evening to study the combined method of knitting. I'm equally comfortable knitting with yarn in left hand and the right. For most knitting, I go continental. With stranded color knitting, I knit with a yarn in each hand. So far, this has been convenient for my purposes. I got down to learning combined method just so I could test its worth and efficiency.

IMHO, the combined method demands flexibility on the part of the knitter. To begin with, my continental knitting method was the following: knit with yarn wrapped clockwise and purl with yarn wrapped anti-clockwise.

1. The combo method banks on the back edge of stitches to be the leading edge on the RS of the fabric.

2. To achieve point 1, you've to use different ways of wrapping the yarn for knit and purl. Get comfortable wrapping the yarn either way, for knit stitch as well as purl. Look for combo knitting videos on the net.

3. stockinette straight knitting:
RS: knit in back (leading) edge wrapping the yarn clockwise
WS: purl in leading edge wrapping the yarn clockwise.

4. garter straight knitting:
RS: knit in back (leading) edge wrapping the yarn clockwise
WS: knit in leading edge wrapping the yarn anti-clockwise.

5. seed stitch straight knitting:
RS: knit stitch: wrap yarn clockwise
RS: purl stitch: wrap yarn anticlockwise
WS: knit stitch: wrap yarn anti-clockwise
WS: purl stitch: wrap yarn clockwise

If you swatch 3. 4. and 5. above, you'll notice that the RS is knit just as you would in regular continental, except that the back edge is the leading edge. At the WS, do what you have to, to create a twist. The simplest way it seems, is to wrap the yarn contrary to what you would have normally. That's really all there is to it.

Regarding shaping, I haven't come to it yet, but I'm not concerned too much, really. There are charts out there that help you along with translations. It was the garter that had me stumped initially.

The benefit of combo? Some swear it's faster. Not yet for me. The same people also swear by the even-ness of the stitches. Girl! It's to be seen to be believed - my swatch is testimony. Oh, and a little-known feature - the gauge is tighter than continental, for the same yarn and needles. That was a curious find.