25/07/2022
I had no idea there were 2 different ways to knit, for a really long time. My mom taught me to knit as a young kid, and I happily knitted along until grad school, thinking that was the only way.
Then, a classmate (a prior knitwear designer) and I would knit in lab, and as a long-time knitter I was completely baffled by what she was doing. What in the world was she doing with the knitting needles? Why were her hands moving so fast?
Turns out she was knitting Continental style, and I was taught English.
If you're not familiar with the differences, in the English style, you hold the yarn in your right hand, and "throw" it over the other needle to work your stitches. And in Continental, you hold your working yarn in your left hand, and do more of a scoop of the yarn.
It took a few years before I decided to try it. And I have to admit, at first, I hated it. I gave up a few times, and came back to it. It felt totally wrong and awkward. Partially because I'm right handed, and partially because I really didn't feel like starting over with a craft that I already knew so well.
When I finally got my Continental knit stitch down, I was thrown again by purl stitches, and decided there were just not enough fingers to move the yarn, and hold my needles and keep my stitches on my needle.
After some technique tips from my friend, I finally worked out how to do it. And since then I only knit Continental style.
Here's what I've found to be the biggest differences knitting Continental.
🧶 I knit faster (I think)
🧶 I feel like a yarn ninja when I do fair isle with both hands
🧶 I feel like my movements are more efficient (when I revisit English, I get annoyed at how much I have to move my hands)
🧶 My stitches are looser
🧶 Ribbing (and other stitches that alternate K & P) is SO MUCH EASIER because you don't have to reposition your yarn as much when you switch back and forth
🧶 Sometimes I really miss English, but I never go back
Have you ever tried learning the "other" style than how you originally learned?
