My journey to becoming a 'Continental knitter' has already been documented (
here and
here) but I feel it's time for an entire post. Like the majority of UK knitters, I was brought up with English Knitting, also known as "throwing" as the working yarn is thrown over the needle with the right hand. It's not a very efficient method and requires a lot of hand movement per stitch.
What is Continental Knitting? The Wikipedia definition says:
Knitting with the yarn in one's left hand is commonly referred to as Continental knitting, German knitting, European knitting, or left-hand knitting. Unlike English knitting, the yarn is held in the left hand; the motion of bringing the yarn forward with a needle held in the other hand is thus sometimes known as picking. Continental knitting is preferred by professional hand-knitters, as it is the more efficient method, requiring the shortest number of specific hand-motions per stitch.Continental-style knitting, being associated with Germany, fell out of favour in English-speaking countries during World War II; its reintroduction in the United States is often credited to Elizabeth Zimmerman.
I was first inspired to learn a new method when I saw a knitting video by Designer Emma Fassio.
When I first saw Emma's knitting I knew I had to learn to knit Continental - with 2 demanding children I have a limited time to knit each day, and it made perfect sense that I should use the most efficient method to maximise my results. I set about learning.
How to learn to knit Continental:
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The Tunic |
If you don't have an able and willing knitter to teach you, never fear as there are LOTS of video tutorials to watch for technique. They are free and easy to find. Here are a few that I used:
If you don't crochet, then
this "Knit with Judy" video on holding the yarn in the left hand may also be useful. If you crochet, you will probably be used to holding and tensioning the yarn in the left hand.
After watching some videos, I found the most effective way to learn was to get on with it, so over Christmas I started the "
Learn to knit Continental tunic" for Little Miss. The tension was all over the place (a forgiving yarn helped to disguise that... a bit!) but by the time I cast off, it was second nature to pick the yarn up with the left hand for knit stitches.
Purling has taken a little longer - mainly because I knit in the round wherever possible and so I haven't made anything using lots of purl stitches in the last few months. For the odd long row of purl, I'm probably faster using my natural English technique, but I'm working on it.
|
Extremes - from 3mm to 10mm needles! |
The benefits?
Yesterday, I was knitting two different projects and both made me appreciate taking the time to learn this.
Firstly the
Bunty Mitts which require 2 colours at a time. They were an absolute doddle, using one hand for each colour then knitting one colour English style and one Continental at any time. It makes the rows with fairly even colour distribution easier and
so much faster than switching over from one yarn to the other with the right hand. For the rows that require the yarn to be carried across a number of stitches, I'm switching the working yarn from one hand to the other as a way of naturally wrapping it over the second yarn. (That makes more sense in my head than in words.)
Last night I cast on the
Bella Wrap from
Ruth & Belinda (you may remember I met them at
Unravel). The border uses Moss Stitch/Seed Stitch and despite using unfamiliar massive (10mm) needles it was so much easier to knit this stitch continental. I hated ribbing or Moss stitch before, but it was great!
There seem to be some other unexpected benefits to learning to use my left hand. I'm suddenly much more capable with that hand in everyday life. It was really only ever used to display my wedding ring and stop my watch from falling off until I learned to crochet, but now I can thread tiny needles with it, knot with it, and often find things like saucepan handles and the kettle the "wrong" way around, because I'm doing more with my left hand.
The point of this post is really to encourage anyone who is curious about this method to give it a go. It feels a little strange at first if you've always used your right hand, but it is definitely worth the effort.
If you do give it a try, let me know how you get on - either here or on
Facebook.
xxxxx