knitting methods
I’ve found all of the comments on my last post fascinating. I’ve decided that there is no obvious reason to switch to continental for the sake of speed - the general consensus seems to be that it is only faster if you are having problems with holding the yarn in the right hand. That reassurance is good enough for me. But I have been thinking about how I hold the yarn and needles more. Apparently, I’ve also inspired others to do the same.
Perhaps I didn’t make myself particularly clear about one thing though. As far as I’ve seen the term used ‘English’ knitting refers to any method that involves holding the yarn in the right hand. There are three basic methods.
Firstly the right needle can be anchored, either in the armpit, in a knitting belt of some kind, or less efficiently against the thigh. The right hand is then free to wrap the yarn. This is what I meant when I refererred to the Shetland method. Apparently it’s the fastest way to knit.
Secondly the right needle is held under the right hand: this is generally how I knit, I rest the right needle loosely against my middle, third and fourth fingers with my thumb on top. My index finger is then free to throw the yarn - a motion that only varies slightly for knit and purl sts.
Thirdly the right needle (and presumably) the left can be held like a pencil. This has the major problem that after a few rows the stitches will all bunch up between the thumb and forefinger. It is also pretty inefficent and hard to control. I haven’t seen many people who knit like this, or many modern books that teach this method. However I did notice that in the stitch dictionary I had out of the library this was the only method shown in the techniques section. To me this simply looks horribly awkward and wrong.
In the Handknitter’s Handbook (thanks to anyone who recommended it a while back) Montse Stanley writes that “In Britain, for example, there is an invisible divide half-way across the country. To the south, the needle is held like a pen; to the north, it is steadied under the arm or into a sheath.” (p.25) She goes on to suggest that this divide may be to do with the division between knitting as a commercial rather than leisurely activity. Although Montse Stanley is fairly dismissive of the way I knit I never feel the need drop the needle in order to wrap the yarn. The only times I’ve ever wanted to anchor the needle is when knitting something wide and heavy on long straights - and then it’s to balance the weight, not to give greater control or speed. Technically you could argue that dropping the needle and picking up the yarn between every stitch is a fourth method, but I would say that that is simply wrong, and in that case it is defintely worth working on another method and perhaps finding someone to show you how.
The other interesting thing that came up in the comments was the trouble people have with purling in continental. This is something I’ve heard off but never really had a problem with. As I said, while I don’t like knitting continental I can do it competently and I don’t find purling particularly difficult. I have a feeling this is because when knitting continental I also use my index finger to control the yarn, and have it free of the needles. I use my left middle finger to push the needle tip through the stitch and knit with my index finger raised so that there is about 2 inches of yarn held taught to pick up. When purling I sort of use my index finger to throw the yarn, rather than trying to pick it up by some crazy right handed wrist twisting. Perhaps that helps someone to make purling in continental easier. There is also the combined method, where you work the purl stitches backwards and then untwist them by knitting into the back of the sts on the next row.
One reason I prefer to knit english over continental is that I find it easier to read. Today I made a stencil to make prettier book weights than the makeshift one I made a while ago.
*edit - I am not trying to claim that either English or Continental is a better method to use. I’m just saying that there doesn’t really seem to be any reason to switch from one to the other unless you are having problems or feel more comfortable with the other way.
Posted: July 27th, 2006 under Uncategorized.
Comments: 12
Comments
Comment from Prof. Knitwit
Time: July 27, 2006, 7:47 pm
Hmmm…I never really thought much about how I knit. I know I knit English - but other than that, I don’t think I conform to any of those methods. When I throw my yarn, I use my left index finger and thumb to keep the needles still. I think this might be because I’m left handed - and probably my left hand feels the need for a little more control. Who knows??!!
Comment from av
Time: July 27, 2006, 8:54 pm
I guess I must just be weird as I knit ‘continental’ and hold the left needle under my left armpit when knitting with straight needles; i.e. the opposite of the ’shetland’ method!
However, my hand doesn’t (have to) leave the needle like the english method seems to imply you must… I’ve always found this a bit weird!
I am so slow at knitting, I should really just grit my teeth and teach myself the english method!
Comment from Pigwotknits
Time: July 27, 2006, 9:03 pm
I definitely knit wrong! :-) I let go of the needle to throw the yarn. It’s an inefficient movement and tends to do odd things to the rest of my hand, but try as I might, I can’t get myself to change. My mum knits in proper English style, with the thumb underneath, wrapping the yarn around her fingers, but I just can’t get that to work. If I knew someone who knitted continental, I’d ask them to teach me. I think I need to watch someone doing it to learn it. Until then, I’ll just keep doing it my wrong way since it seems to work.
Comment from jezze
Time: July 27, 2006, 10:27 pm
Book weights! Of course! What do you make them from? I’ve been using washing pegs, or lately, bulldog clips, but it’s not a very book-friendly method.
Comment from Projektleiterin
Time: July 27, 2006, 10:56 pm
In Germany the most common way to knit is continental and people (unfortunately) don’t know anything else. My mom taught me to knit the English way and sometimes I just wished I would knit differently because it doesn’t help if you look different plus have to deal with a different knitting style that everyone else considers weird. I’ve never seriously tried to change my knitting way because of that though. :D I actually felt quite happy when I found out that on the internet a while ago that knitting continental is *not* considered the usual way in other countries.
I’ve tried continental, because I heard it’s supposedly faster, but my stitches become very loose and irregular. I’m also just not used to this style and my hands feel clumsy. My mom also said that you have to move your wrists a lot more (I think that’s true) and you have to concentrate more on the knitting and can’t do other stuff like reading.
I’ve also made an attempt at the combined knitting method, because you’re supposed to get very regular stitches. Doesn’t work for me either… Maybe I need to practice more, but I don’t know, do I also have to stress myself when I’m knitting?
I drop the needle and hold it to the left needle with my thumb. I didn’t know you can hold the needle *and* throw the yarn.
Comment from clementine
Time: July 28, 2006, 3:02 am
hmm… i think i might be knitting english wrong too, which is why i find continental faster.
i might give it another try and just look properly at what i’m doing… it’s been about 6 years since i knit english so i can’t actually remember…
Comment from alice
Time: July 28, 2006, 9:11 am
thanks for that
I realised I was definatly holding the right needle under the left while I knit, which I also discovered is why I find it so annoying when I swap from in-the-round (where you get the extra support of the cable) to staights. I never drop while I wrap either.
this might also explain why my friends think of me as a speedy knitter. I must stare at them while I knit
Comment from Ginny
Time: July 28, 2006, 11:39 am
I knit continental, either combined or not, depending on what seems best, and feel very comfortable with it. Most of my friends knit english (well, we do live in England!), and seem equally comfortable. Seems to me that while it is interesting to consider different methods, and they all have different advantages and disadvantages, none are intrinsically ‘better’ or ‘worse’, and ‘faster’ and ’slower’ may matter for some, but isn’t all that predictable. i’m faster at continental, cos that’s what i usually do, so it’s easier for me, and feels right. QED.
Comment from Larissa
Time: July 30, 2006, 10:30 am
Has everyone else been racing off to grab their needles for an impromptu demo? It’s occurred to me that I have no idea how I knit, as I really just taught myself and made it up as I went along. I think I do that ‘pen holding’ thing, which might explain why I seem to be so slow!
Comment from Bethany
Time: July 31, 2006, 11:09 pm
I’ve tried the “pen” method, but since I like to knit on circulars, it doesn’t seem to work very well. I read somewhere that this method was started during the Victorian era because it supposedly looked more ladylike.
Speed isn’t really that important to me. I knit “English style” but I don’t drop the needle to wrap. I can manage “Continental” when I do two-stranded knitting, but purling Continental is a pain!
Comment from nicola
Time: August 25, 2006, 5:18 pm
I was taught the ‘pen’ method when I was taught how to knit, and was told it was faster than holding the needle underneath my hand; perhaps this was because I removed my hand to throw the yarn around the needle. However, I now knit fairly quickly with the ‘pen’ method, even on circulars, and I throw the yarn around the needle with my middle finger, keeping my thumb hooked around the needle, and the rest of my fingers do absolutely nothing. I still hold my left needle underneath my hand, though.
Comment from Emily
Time: May 25, 2007, 8:57 pm
I don’t have a clue how I knit- I mean, I do, but I don’t know if I’m continental or english. I don’t throw, but I don’t hold my yarn in my right hand. The yarn is always wrapped around my pinkie and draped over my index finger, and I just flick it over the needle. Its smooth, and I can do it without dropping anything or even thinking very much. I can “throw” too, I just don’t like it as well.
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