Doing The Continental: Why I've Changed The Way I Knit

Unsurprisingly, there is more than one way to knit.  All you are really after is pulling a loop of yarn through another loop that's on a needle, after all.  Everyone holds their needles and yarn differently and so everyone knits in their own way, but you can divide it broadly in to two camps: those who hold their yarn in their right hand and those who hold it in their left hand.

My Mum taught me to knit in the same way as her, with the yarn in our right hands.  This is known as the English or throwing method, but for me I've always found this slow.  I have very small fingers and so when I make a stitch I have to take my right hand off the needle, wrap the yarn and then put my hand back in place to finish off the stitch.  Don't get me wrong, when I got going I could knit at quite a speed, but the hand movements made everything seem laborious and actually took up a lot of room.  I frequently elbowed people when I knitted on buses or trains, and I always felt that there was probably an easier way.

I have some friends here in Pisa who knit with the yarn in their left hand, or the Continental or picking method.  Here's a handy YouTube video to show the 2 different methods: http://youtu.be/_Iu_6gxt7t0

I had given it a try once or twice before but invariably gave up because I couldn't keep the yarn in my hand properly or I got thumb cramp.  One of the reasons I decided I would at least learn to crochet is because the technique involves holding the yarn in your left hand under a bit of tension, and so if I could manage that then perhaps I could manage to do it and hold a pair of needles at the same time.  I needed to find the right project though - something that would take more than a few hours, but not months, and something with a variety of stitches in so I could get the hang of all of them.  The Ishbel shawl I made last month was an ideal project, plus the fact that I was knitting it in such a nice yarn (Malabrigo sock) that it was never going to be a completely unpleasant experience.

I have to say that it took me a little while to get going knitting with the yarn in my other hand, but now there is no stopping me!  A few projects later and I'm not switching back to the English way!  Knitting stockinette is so much faster and ribbing has been so much easier because I don't have to drop one needle to move the wool from back to front and vice versa: just a little flick of the left index finger and the yarn is all ready and in the correct position.  Plus no more elbowing people.  I can happily knit in plane, trains and buses now without needing any extra elbow room!

So here I am, in praise of The Continental :)