I’m gonna do ya like u wanna be done: Continental!
Wednesday, October 4th, 2006Tags: Techniques, Tips & Tricks, Video
I’ve decided to finally learn how to knit continental.
I was putting it off, because I didn’t want my gauge to change in the middle of a project by switching from one style to another. I must admit that I never considered (until now) that I could keep knitting English for the projects that I still have on the needles, and only knit continental on new projects. For some reason I thought I would completely lose all English ability and be forced to knit everything in continental from now on. I must have been really tired or sick when I decided this.
So now, I have decided to throw (and very soon, pluck) caution to the wind, and knit a few continental swatches. My inspiration: Wendy’s post about The Big Divide. I’ve tried to knit continental once or twice, but only from memory of when my mom showed me a few hasty stitches. Wendy makes it sound so easy:
“I was an English knitter until I decided that I wanted to make a change. I read a book or two, looked at few pics, worked a few rows, and then I was a Continental knitter. I find it makes things a bit faster but the left shoulder hurts if I overdo it. And yes, I know, the pain could come from other activities like my rabid cherry-picking disco move I do in between rows, but still, nothing ever hurt when I was knitting English (except, of course my knitting speed.)”
I want to do cheery-picking disco moves when I finish a row! Hopefully it goes hand in hand with continental knitting. I’ll let you know.
I’ve decided to learn continental knitting through the internet’s favourite son, YouTube. (Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about Flickr! Flickr is the internet’s favourite daughter. Well, obviously Flickr is a girl.) Here are some great YouTube videos for learning continental knitting.
Knit:
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/1IXIhDR76pQ" height="350" width="425" /]
Purl:
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/wPxOxYhfGec" height="350" width="425" /]
I’m going to try to find a better video for purling, because it’s a bit confusing and I can’t really see what the thumb is doing. The title specifically mentions the thumb, so I’m not sure if this version is out of the ordinary or not. Are there any continental knitters out there who can tell me if this is common or not?
Here’s another video of the knit stitch in a slightly lower quality but from a different perspective:
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/u8d8gyvDp7A" height="350" width="425" /]
On a side note: here’s an extra video for people who want to increase their knitting speed by knitting backwards. Neat!
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/qI5Gbjz5bvc" height="350" width="425" /]
Here’s a great video of continental purling. Actually, there are about 150 videos showing different techniques and styles on this site.
http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/basic_techniques/purl.php
I often refer to these videos if I’m trying something new.
Comment by CortneyOctober 4, 2006 @ 9:14 am
Neat! Thanks for the links – I’ve been putting it off also because i dont’ want to take the time to learn something new as huge as “knitting” and “purling” but I think I may just have to break down and try….
Comment by staceyOctober 4, 2006 @ 9:19 am
I taught myself how to continental a while ago and also purl with my thumb – but unless I am really confused about what I am seeing, it looks like she is wrapping the yarn the wrong way in that video.
Comment by whichyOctober 4, 2006 @ 10:44 am
Regarding whichy’s comment – it’s not necessarily the “wrong” way but possibly an example of combined knitting. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_knitting for a quickie explanation, then refer to Annie Modesitt’s work – interesting stuff).
I’m a continental knitter who does not purl that way, but I’m sure going to start! I learned to knit properly from continentalers, but had already learned English much earlier, when I was little, and so I ended up with a “weird continental” in which I put my left first finger way down in front of the knitting for each purl stitch, to hold the tension on the yarn for the wrap. That video looks like a much better way, and I’m so going to try it!
If the knit stitch in the video looks like it’s hardly a stitch at all – the right needle just dips ever so slightly and – woosh – there’s a new stitch! – that’s because that’s exactly what all the fuss is about! While I’ve seen English-style knitters knitting incredibly quickly and, I must say, elegantly (Amy Singer, most recently), there’s no question that continental is worth learning for the quickness of the knit stitch, and so you can use both methods in color knitting. But mainly it’s worth learning because it takes about 20 seconds to learn! Really! Although it would probably help to actually see it in person rather than on a video, once you get one really good look at what it is, that’s *it*. Hardly qualifies as learning a technique, really (nothing remotely comparable to learning to kitchener, for example, or to turn a short row, and how easy are those?). Blogless Ravi, depicted on Amy Singer’s page (http://knitty.com/blog/2006/09/this-blog-post-has-no-title.html), learned Continental in front of my eyes in 20 seconds because two of us in our group were knitting that way, and all it took was a look to see how we wrapped our yarn around the fingers (though there are many ways to do that). Ravi put her continental knitting right into practice in the fair isle sock she was already working on, and as of when I last saw it, it was working fine!
I just started re-learning English throwing for my current fair isle project, and while I admit I’m still awkward about it, again all it took was seeing someone do it live once. It’s not so much a technique as merely a way of holding yarn and needles – think of it that way.
Comment by Kate A.October 4, 2006 @ 11:56 am
Yeah, that’s what I thought, too, Whichy!
Cortney, thanks for the link, I’ll check it out.
Comment by EveOctober 4, 2006 @ 12:57 pm
I taught myself Continental, but it didn’t really gel until I taught myself to knit backward, because all of a sudden I completely understand how a stitch is made, not just the hand movements that create a sttich. I’ll start knitting and my brain automatically prompts me to make stitches whatever way’s most efficient. Like, to the point where I’ll forget if I’m knitting backward or forward or Continental or English until someone points it out. It’s convenient, except when I get distracted and then look back at my work and think “Uh, where the hell was I?”
That thumb thing during purling looks like yet another way of holding the yarn down to keep up tension. You’ll find a way that works for you!
Comment by ArletteOctober 4, 2006 @ 2:25 pm
I second Cortney’s recommendation of the videos on KnittingHelp.com. That’s how I taught myself to knit Continental, and I’m glad I did (but I will defend to the death your right to knit any way you want).
Comment by AuntieAnnOctober 4, 2006 @ 3:24 pm