One tip from me is that if you're a tight knitter on metal needles, switch to wood. I learned on metal, but my hands cramped, and my stitches were always way too tight. (It's a miracle I could continue knitting, the stitches were so tight.) I tried bamboo, and my tension loosened and became much more consistent. My theory is that my stitches slipped too much on the metal needles, so I over-tightened to compensate. Once there was some measure of grip, I didn't have to overcompensate, so I relaxed, and knitting became much more enjoyable.
I was just exactly backwards to you! The metal needles actually work better for me - although I began on bamboo needles. So happy we have many options today!
THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO, I HAVE PUT OFF LEARNING TO CROCHET EVEN THOUGH I AM 82 AND HAD A 'BAD ' EXPERIENCE WHENI WAS 10. I HAD THE MUMPS SO MY MUM SHOWED ME HOW TO CROCHET A 'DOILEY' I THINK IT WAS SHELL STITCH...….WELL.....IT TURNED INTO A 'BEANIE'. IKNOW NOW I DID NOT INCREASE BETWEEN SHELLS BECAUSE I WATCHED A TUTORIAL. I THINK THAT DEFLATED ME. I HAVE HAD A GO SINCE BUT HAVE NOT KNOWN HOW TO HOLD THE YARN SO I GOT A GOOD TENSION. I AM PUTTING THIS INTO MY 'FAVOURITES' SO I CAN REFER BACK TO IT. I HAVE LEARNED SO MUCH FROM WATCHING TUTORIALS SO, FROM AN AUSSIE ,THANK ALL THOSE WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO MY CONTINUED LEARNING.
Thank you so much for this video. As a crocheter I was really having difficulty finding a comfortable way to hold my yarn and was basically throwing it with my left hand (even though I'm right handed). You have answered my prayers (wrist hold is the way to go for me)
I have had a hard time when wrapping a finger for tension. I really like your preferred method of holding yard for tension. It works really well. In addition, it has helped my stitches be more symmetrical and I don't have to move my forefinger around to adjust tension from the wrapping. Thank you too much.
Thank you. I taught myself using mostly videos. Have struggled with loose knitting. Watching your video, I've changed my yarn tension, position of yarn over index finger, and am now utilizing the left middle finger on k's. Can't get the thumb action on p. But the other tips seem to be doing a lot. Now trying to get the flow of muscle memory; gauging swatches will help. Thanks much!
I think I've got it! Thank you so much for this video! I've been trying to learn Continental knitting after 50+ years of English-style. I was not able to catch on and was just about to give up. But after watching your video, I tried a sample swatch and I'm doing it! You explain things so well. I was never able to figure out what to do with my left hand before! :0) Thank you!
I would like to add my thanks for this video. I am a beginner knitter and my first 'practise dishcloth' I did in English style and quite enjoyed it. But I wanted to learn Continental as well so I could choose which I preferred. So far, I am loving the Continental method but was having a great deal of problems with tension. I have found that the last method (the one you use) is what is working quite well for me now. Thank you!!
I've been trying to switch to continental for years, but it's just not been an easy switch, as I've been knitting English for 20 years. But when you said to hold the yarn like you would for crochet, it clicked! I kept trying to make the hold more complicated than I needed to, but the crochet hold is the perfect amount of tension. Thank you!
By the time this video was half way through I was well on my way using to of the techniques. Brilliant teaching skills. Clear video, clear voice and concise instructions 10/10!!! 🌟🌟🌟 Looked up this video because I crochet so often and my wrist is sore. I decided to knit a bit but it's still sore I thought this method might be a bit less rigorous. Thanks!
I strongly recommend her class on ergonomic knitting. Seriously awesome. I am a new knitter and it is helping me grasp the basics and do it in a way that saves my fingers, hands and wrists. I am thrilled I bought it. Inexpensive too!
Thank you so much! I love tipps coming from the heart and without thoughts of how to make people buy something cause that's commercial in my eyes. You tell just the problems a lot of people have in their knitting life and l really can't thank you enough for this! Yours, Conny L Be blessed!
I think most people's tension problems with Continental come from a slightly different tension between the knit row and the purl row when working stockinette. This creates visible row gaps between about every third or fourth row. It isn't easy to solve. Some people use a different size needle between the knit and the purl row. However what works for me is to knit the row backwards so I am not turning. I knit English Flicking pretty fast and like to knit backwards in Continental Combined. I get perfect tension this way and if I have a pattern where I am knitting lace or cable pattern or one in which the face of the knitting is very detailed, it is more accurate for me as I can fix any irregularities or make corrections or do pattern stitches which actually do occur on the back, working them from the front.
That's exactly my problem with continental style. I knit better with continental combined though. But most of the knitting patterns are not compatible with combined knitting. So I use the English knitting style most of the time.
thank you so much for sharing different ways of holding the yarn. i really want to learn how to knit the continental way it looks so much easier and faster. this video helped me a lot.
One thing I have been learning the hard way with my current project is that I have to tension differently with my purls than I do with knits and most other stitches. I have adopted your wrist wrap method (this alone made a huge improvement! Thank you), but I need to weave the yarn through my fingers a lot more for purls so it stays tight. This is working out great for me now, but before my purls rows were a lot looser and made my works have inconsistent gaps.
I have been knitting a we bit faster, more comfortable, and longer since watching your video on continental knitting! Thank you for this video to. I wrap my yarn around my pinky finger.
I learned Continental style years ago but it was hard for me for some reason. I found English style and it was easier which made it quicker for me. I’m going to try continental again after watching your videos. I’m a super tight knitter so I hope this helps.
I enjoyed your video on tension concerning continential knitting. I loved you video and enjoyed it very much. I hope to subscribe to your channel in the future. I am having having issues some time with my iPhone. Hopefully this will be resolved in the upcoming days. Thank you so much your an excellent teacher and I have been watching you since you started.
This was incredibly helpful! I had trouble figuring out how to tension the yarn so it was neither too tight nor totally loose. More than one of your tips were helpful. Thank you!
Wow, I love your channel! Such good, clear instruction. I’m a newbie, and I’ve knitted and crocheted enough to understand the issues and explanations that you have offered here - in wonderful clarity. Thank You so much!
This is a brilliant video and oh so helpful! I am fairly new at knitting and couldn't figure out why my edges on a blanket were different lengths (one tighter and scrunched and the other looser and more normal). It makes total sense that it's a tension problem and I'm thinking it's my pointer finger. Will play around with these different yarn wraps to figure it out. Thank you so much!!
Thanks for this great demonstration. I’m learning to do continental style knitting so that I can do colour work. I really struggled with knowing how to wrap or hold the yarn so that I could comfortably hold a consistent tension. Also most of the videos that demonstrate continental knitting omit how to hold the yarn. I now use the method where I wrap the yarn alternately over my fingers. It’s great. Your demonstrations and explanations are so clear and easy to follow. Five Stars.
I've been knitting for a long time. But knitting now is so much different then it was then. The advent of circular needles is revolutionary. When I was little, I was never taught, or even knew of different cast one. In regard to tension. I taught myself to do continental style knitting, with the help of yt. Another thing to add is, I've suffered from carpal tunnel and diabetes. Those two ailments affects my knitting. So, when I knit, my hands for one, are on the drier side, therefore the tension is directly affected, as there's very little moisture to provide a natural tension. The carpal tunnel affects how I'm able to move my fingers, most of the time, my hands are more stiff than they used to be. So, I've needed to adopt several different ways to tension my yarn, to be able to knit continental. The way I tension is determined by several different things. If my hands are dry, what type of yarn I'm using, how my hands are feeling (carpal tunnel wise). Wrapping the yarn in different ways, or the type of needles I'm using are important to keep in mind. The smoother the needle, the tighter my tension needs to be. This video showed me one more way to tension the yarn, with the wrist wrap, I'm going to try. Thank you for the new knowledge. Much appreciated.
Great tips, I just recently learned how to wrap the yarn through my fingers. Now I'll unlearn the pinky wrap, even though it looks so elegant when done. I started knitting because the specialty yarn that I purchased online was too thin to grasp via the two finger vise grip, a method that I had used when I learned to crochet many years ago. Knitting put an end to that grip in a hurry. I'm still learning and loving it. I am more visual than pattern reading but, some simple or easy written pattern I can do. I may omit something or add something but the overall stitch shows through, repeating a pattern helps me find out what works and what needs to be revisited.
Great tutorials and videos. I learned to crochet last year but now being pretty competent with that I now see so many knitted patterns I want to be able to make and so I’m starting to learn to knit. I’ve had a play around with English, Portuguese and continental knitting and can honestly say I like them all but English is my most natural way. I like Portuguese but dislike having the yarn round my neck and I ‘reallly’ want to get good with continental but I just can’t get my fingers to flick the way they’re needed to for a purl. After watching a couple of your videos I’m going to go an revisit continental and have another go. I do knit too tight and that’s something I’m working on and getting better with in English style so we’ll see what happens when I try continental again. Thanks again. Your very good at instructions.
The tension hold you do is close to mine. Nobody ever taught me how to hold it so I did a ton of trial and error and the most comfortable for me is in through pinky and ring then out through ring and middle to over the index.
What to thank you for the videos, I am trying to teach my self to knit continental because my carpal tunnel in the right wrist is getting worse and knitting English style is starting to become too painful. I am currently knitting your Simple Slouchy Sweater to practice and try to get myself good at continental knitting. So far it is like trying to write with my left hand, which is odd because I crochet and have always held the yarn in my left hand doing that. Thank you again for the video's they have helped a lot now i just have to get my brain and fingers trained!
The problem with using the center pull aside from yarn barf and a frequent tangle at the end is that it adds twist to the yarn in one direction and can cause yarn to become unbalanced and kink or otherwise behave badly. If you pull from the outside of a cake and the yarn becomes unbalanced, just flip the cake over and add the opposite twist instead. Flipping the cake with a center pull doesn’t work. Some yarns prefer being worked on one side or the other and some prefer switching back and forth periodically. A hand wound ball in a bowl or paper bag at your feet doesn’t mess with twist as much because unwinds randomly. But if you want the least added twist and most consistent tension possible, use a winder to make a cake, spear the cake on a butler, and pull from the outside.
Bobby Rosas It holds your cake in one place, through the centre (like a paper towel roll holder). I find the same thing Kristen. This is my preference too.
Thank you so much for this comment. I had never realised taking the yarn from the center would cause a problem but it's obvious when you think about it. You get the same thing when unrolling a hosepipe. I'll use the bowl method from now on.
Thank you. My problem I found is that for some reason my knit stitches seem to have pretty good tension, and then my purl stitches are ridiculously loose. So I've been playing around with knitting on the thicker part of the needle, and purling as close to the tip as I dare.
These are useful tips, thank you. I am trying to pick up continental so I can do stranded work more quickly. Speed isn’t the end all be all, but I have so much I want to knit and colour work, which I also just picked up feels like it takes SO long!
Thank you for the wrist tension tip! I've always been such a tight knitter and I really appreciate you pointing out some of the issues I've had and giving solutions! It's already helping me out so much.
I think my biggest issue with continental knitting is that as a crocheter I use my right hand for 99% of the movement. The left hand just holds the yarn completely static and I do all of the movement twisting and grabbing with my right hand. but knitting needles don't have hooks and I can't "grab" the yarn. so I start contorting my left hand trying to make it work, but my left hand is just stupid and I can't figure out how to do it efficiently. in the end it's slower for me than holding the yarn in my right because I can't get my left hand to play along.
Hi! If you're having a hard time grabbing the yarn with the needle tip, you might try changing the angle that you hold the needles. Since knitting needles don't have hooks, you may need to adjust the angle to grab the yarn a bit better. Also, if you use the middle finger to help bring the yarn down for a knit stitch and the thumb for a purl stitch, that can make it easier to grab the yarn. This is not necessary to make a stitch, but can make it easier if you are switching from another style and are not used to continental knitting. I hope this helps!
@@YayForYarn Thank you for the reply. I'm still a barebones beginning knitter, so maybe I'll figure it out eventually. I tried it a little , but I was ending up with my stitches way tighter than the rest of what I was working on. I can't really reach the yarn to push it with my middle finger so far. we'll see.
Have a look at "lever" knitting - a much faster way to knit "English style", where you hold the yarn in your right hand... It's my "go to" knitting way - as efficient as continental and a lot easier for purling...
I just started knitting. At the begging I was tight knitting but not too tight. Then I learned continental method and it was good at the beginning but now I’m knitting too loose. I’ll try out the tips and hopefully I can figure this out
So many great tips! Thank you😊I may just give knitting a try again! I learned to crochet first(self-taught) and when I tried to teach myself to knit it was an epic fail. I assumed it was because I learned to crochet first and couldn't get past working with just one "stick" at a time lol my stitches were too tight, I kept missing stitches, dropping stitches, etc. Literally everything was wrong so I just gave up. I've been thinking about trying again lately. Just waiting until I could afford different needles. Thinking about trying bamboo maybe. I have aluminum and couldn't keep the yarn from slipping off.
Bamboo is wonderful for when your first learning. I first tried on aluminum and it was a disaster lol. Honestly I still really enjoy using them, even after the initial learning curve.
Thanks for an informative and helpful video. I've tried to tension the yarn between my fingers so many ways. I'm the end, the yarn actually comes off my middle finger towards the needle, not my index finger. I do the same for crochet. I keep trying to practise using my index finger but when I stop thinking about it, I automatically go back to my middle finger. I think my index finger likes to be completely free to hold the needle.
I am new to knitting and this is what I've been doing too. I tried the centre-pull balls about 4 times and they always knotted up quite badly, or the yarn wouldn't come out easily. So now I take the yarn from the outside of the skein and pull out a few arm lengths at a time.
Tension has always been an issue for me and most of the time it is caused by a factor you didn’t mention-stress level 😂🤓 I really have to relax when I’m knitting and tell myself it’s not a race. Thank you also for the video explaining continental knitting. People I have knitted with have commented on my “style”. They use English. Like you I learned to crochet first so it seemed awkward to hold the yarn in my right hand. Thank you for showings some tips and tricks for working on tension and a better way to purl (I’m still practicing that one, but I’m getting better). My question, I have a lot of unfinished projects because they would get “wonky” looking. Now I my daughter is having a baby and I really want to knit a simple but elegant baby blanket. I think I want to use chunky yarn, because I will see faster progress. I have enough time if I get started soon. The baby is due in September. Can you recommend several yarns (washable because I want her to use it, not save it) and a couple of easy patterns. I can knit and purl, cast on and bind off. I have not tried to cable because I’m afraid I will mess up the counting. Any help you can give me is sincerely appreciated. Keep your videos coming. They get to the point and are super helpful for knitters trying to get better. Onward to practice, Diana
Hi Diana! I'm glad the videos have been helpful to you so far. I do have a simple baby blanket pattern, my Easy Brioche Baby Blanket. This is knit in my "shortcut" brioche stitch, which is much simpler to work than the regular brioche technique. It makes a super-squishy, airy fabric. Pattern includes instructions for #5 bulky weight yarn or #4 worsted weight yarn held double. Video tutorial is available here: ruclips.net/video/FyBSgyX2QIQ/видео.html And the written pattern is available here: yayforyarn.com/easy-brioche-baby-blanket-free-knitting-pattern-by-yay-for-yarn/ As for yarns, I like KnitPicks Brava Bulky, (review here: ruclips.net/video/6ce2m3gbW4s/видео.html) but there are other soft, bulky-weight acrylic yarns available. Hobby Lobby makes a nice one (I Love This Chunky Yarn), and I have heard that Lion Brand's Color Made Easy yarn is pretty good, too. Paintbox Yarns makes a nice chunky acrylic, which comes in lots of colors, but I have not tried it yet. Hope this helps!
I realized when I started experimenting with Continental that my crochet tension is guided by my middle finger (not index) which causes stress when knitting, trying to retrain that bad habit because I really like Eastern Continental (clockwise yarn wrapping).
When I was a girl my mom taught me how to knit English style. A friend of ours that was from Germany was at the house while I was struggling to knit. It was such an awkward feeling to have to let go of the right needle. She taught me the way they knit in Germany. Later I learned it was called Continental Knitting. After she showed me that style I just took right off. I am so glad she taught me that. My knit stitches though are usually tight and my pearls are loose. I don't know why but I think I will try a couple of your tips.
Try making a slight tug on the yarn on the 2nd purl stitch. It tightens up that yarn between the stitches and has helped me a great deal. Hope it works for you too!
Changing my yarn-wrap helped a lot, as did being sure to work just *past* the pointed tips. One problem I still have with continental knitting though: whenever I have to push the yarn on the left up - ie fairly often - it messes up my tension and I have to re-wrap. Not an issue with English knitting, of course, because the yarn is on the right hand so it's not affected by the left hand moving around. But yeah, moving the left hand with continental, throws everything off. How does one deal with this?
Hi Steph. If there is still some resistance when you push the stitches up the left needle, you might try working towards getting the tension to be a little looser. When the tension is relaxed, yet consistent, the stitches will not take very much force to slide them up the needle, which makes it easier to do so without re-tensioning the yarn each time. It's okay if the stitches are snug around the needle and aren't as easy to slide, as that won't affect the evenness of the finished fabric, but slightly looser tension would be a goal to keep in mind. I hope this helps!
Whenever I begin with an initial border, it turns out way too loose even if I’m consciously trying not to knit loosely. All my blankets and scarves end up with that beginning end bigger than the rest of the fabric. Can you help?
I am not sure what the cause would be, and it would be hard to know without watching you knit, but one possible way to fix that would be to knit the beginning of your project with a smaller needle. If you know approximately how far you typically knit before the tension evens out, you could knit that section with needles one size or two smaller, and that can help compensate for the looser tension in that part of the project. I hope this helps!
I wrap the yarn almost like you do except I don't wrap the yarn around my pinky and I knit with my hand close on the needle. I can't seem to make my index stick out, it cramps for me.
Also a crocheter here that is having tight knit tension issues. The yarn in my left hand is loose, it is the right hand's movement that is tight, but I can't seem to fix it I don't understand how to hold the stitches on the right needle. Should they move up with it oh idk probably a lost cause lol
Hi. As you work into the stitches on the left needle, each stitch on the left needle gets a new loop pulled through it, which then sits on the right needle. The stitches on the right needle need to keep sliding along the needle so they are not all bunched up. Keeping the stitches evenly spaced on the right needle helps keep them from being too tight. Also, as your stitches go onto the right needle, make sure they slide past the tapered tip and onto the straight shaft of the needle. If the stitches are sitting on the tip, they will be the size of the tapered section instead of the size of the shaft. That will make it much harder to slide them along the needle. I hope this helps!
I have tried every which way of holding the working yarn and the only thing that works is draping it gently over top of my index finger and through the back of my middle finger, no wrapping involved. I always see people wrap and loop their yarn around their fingers and i’m like whaaa?!?!?! how does the yarn flow like that!? mine gets caught immediately !
Okay I have a problem. I’ve never had issues with tension and my stitches are always uniform and exactly how I like,however, im knitting a sock with a 0 size needle and very tiny yarn and my stitches are doing that weird thing where half of the stitch is straight and the other half is normal, so instead of normal “\/‘ it’s more like “⁉️” and I’ve seen other knitters or Tunisian crocheters have work like this but it’s never happened to me, it looks like a straight line down my work then a row of twists. Hopefully you know what I’m talking about. If so, do you know what causes this? Because I’m trying everything and I can’t seem to get it to even out
Hi Kayte. My first question would be, are the sock needles a different material than you would normally use? For instance, if you're used to aluminum needles and then you begin knitting socks on wooden needles, that can affect tension. Another thing you might try is changing how you wrap the yarn through your hand. For me, I find that when I work with thinner yarns like sock yarn, I need to wrap the yarn an extra time around one of my fingers to put more tension on the yarn. This is because the thinner yarns have less surface rubbing against your hand, so there is not as much friction or tension as when you use a thicker yarn and hold it the same way. Does that make sense? I hope this helps!
Hi! Thanks for the video. I have been continental knitting for years but no matter what techniques I try my first and last stitches are always loose. They get worse as the project goes on. You name it, I've tried it. I'm hoping someone knows what is wrong. Has this ever happened to you? If so, how did you fix it?
Hi Peggy! Have you tried tugging the first stitch of the row tighter before working across? Sometimes that can help compensate for the stitch below (end of the previous row) being loose. Or, have you tried slipping the first stitch of each row? That can also help neaten up the edge if it is loose and uneven.
Thank you for your suggestions. Yes I've tried. Very fine yarn works ok with those suggestions, but when knitting worsted weight or larger it dosent work.
I think what my issue is, is that when I do continental style, I’m stretching the stitch on the left needle too much in order to grab the yarn with the right needle. I wonder if it has do with the approach in going into the left needle stitch. I’m not a tight or loose knitter and my hand tension seems okay, I’m somewhere in the middle. I also crocheted first so I do prefer continental buuuuut my projects end up looking much messier with continental vs English. I wish this wasn’t the case!
Hi Rachel. If continental knitting seems to stretch the stitch on the left needle, it may be that your left index finger is held too far from the left needle tip. If your right needle has to reach too far to grab the yarn after it is inserted into the stitch, that can stretch the stitch a bit more than necessary. You can also move the index finger closer to the needle tip each time you grab the yarn, but I think it is more efficient to keep the index finger close to the needle tip the whole time. I hope this helps!
@@YayForYarn thanks for responding! It’s funny that you mention keeping the left index closer - I actually do. I do more of the closed style of continental knitting than open. I think it’s my inability to move the right needle in a way that doesn’t pull the stitch too much, like I have to really wrap it to grab it, if that makes sense. I really do appreciate you giving me tips!
If you're a loose knitter, you may need to wrap the yarn around one of your fingers in your tension hand to add more tension. If that is not enough, you could wrap it around another finger if you need to. Feel free to customize how you hold the yarn to make it work best for you. I hope this helps!
I have an issue with all of my knit stitches getting twisted somehow when I knit continental. It LOOKS like I'm making the stitches the same way you do. It doesn't happen when I purl.🤷
Hi! If your knit stitches are twisted, and you are inserting into the front leg of the stitch, it may be that you are wrapping the yarn around the needle tip backwards. With continental, the motion is mainly done with the needle tip, but you always have to make sure that the yarn is going around the needle tip in a counter-clockwise direction. I hope this helps!
Interestingly enough, I find that the tension method I use for crochet is too tight for my knitting. Go figure! Store-bought centre-pull skeins can actually be too tight, and cause uneven tension because the yarn doesn't want to come out of the skein at first. The main way I've dealt with that is to just pull out a whole bunch at a time by hand, knit that until I run out, and then pull out some more. As one uses up more yarn and there's more space in the centre, it generally loosens up and is fine. An alternative way of dealing with it -- especially if the yarn is fuzzy & sticky -- is to use a yarn bowl and pull from the outside, or, if the ball is too large to fit in your yarn bowl (like, a fluffy 100g skein can be quite big) then put it in a box at your feet.
Hi! Is it difficult to insert the right needle into the k2tog? Or do you find it hard to pull the new stitch through? If it is hard to pull the new stitch through, perhaps you could try using the middle finger of the left hand to secure the yarn around the needle tip as you pull the new stitch through. If it's difficult to insert the needle into two stitches, it can make it a bit easier if you scoot the stitches closer together on the left needle. If the stitches are spread out on the needle, there is not as much slack available in the stitches, which can make it harder to insert the needle into multiple stitches. Scooting them closer together can help make that easier, even if your knitting tension is not too tight the rest of the time. Please let me know if that helps!
my issue is that my pinky does not meet my ring finger and there is a gap between the two, even when my fingers are placed together. The gap is also increased by my wedding ring. So, when I wrap the yarn around my pinky and clasp it next to my ring finger, there is still a gap that allows the yarn to slide right through (tension is way too loose).
Hi Jennifer. If you need more tension, and it doesn't work for you to wrap the yarn around your pinky finger, you can wrap it around a different finger if you like. Or, you could wrap around the pinky and around another finger if that works better for you. I would suggest trying a few different ways of wrapping the yarn to see what feels right to you. All that matters is that the yarn should come over the top of the index finger toward the knitting. Otherwise, it doesn't really matter how you wrap the yarn, as long as your method works for you. I hope this helps!
thx Bri.. great vid as always hun.. love ur work.. ❤️🙏❤️ ❤️🇺🇸❤️ 🧶🧶🧶🧶😍💕💕💕💕 is the arrow for native?? i am.. half but always wondered haha.. if so hi sis!!
If none of these tension methods are tight enough for you, you can create your own. If you need to, you can even wrap the yarn around each finger, not just the pinky finger. You could wrap it around the pinky finger and the middle finger, for instance, before bringing it up over your index finger. Just test the tension by pulling on the yarn to make sure it slides through easily, but with just a little bit of control. It doesn't need to be tight. I hope this helps!
i couldnt get the hang of continental until I learned that its like holding a crochet hook. Now its so easy.
One tip from me is that if you're a tight knitter on metal needles, switch to wood. I learned on metal, but my hands cramped, and my stitches were always way too tight. (It's a miracle I could continue knitting, the stitches were so tight.) I tried bamboo, and my tension loosened and became much more consistent. My theory is that my stitches slipped too much on the metal needles, so I over-tightened to compensate. Once there was some measure of grip, I didn't have to overcompensate, so I relaxed, and knitting became much more enjoyable.
I was just exactly backwards to you! The metal needles actually work better for me - although I began on bamboo needles. So happy we have many options today!
She speaks clearly, cordial and one can listen with ease. Thankfully. The information wAs very informative.
THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO, I HAVE PUT OFF LEARNING TO CROCHET EVEN THOUGH I AM 82 AND HAD A 'BAD ' EXPERIENCE WHENI WAS 10. I HAD THE MUMPS SO MY MUM SHOWED ME HOW TO CROCHET A 'DOILEY' I THINK IT WAS SHELL STITCH...….WELL.....IT TURNED INTO A 'BEANIE'. IKNOW NOW I DID NOT INCREASE BETWEEN SHELLS BECAUSE I WATCHED A TUTORIAL. I THINK THAT DEFLATED ME. I HAVE HAD A GO SINCE BUT HAVE NOT KNOWN HOW TO HOLD THE YARN SO I GOT A GOOD TENSION. I AM PUTTING THIS INTO MY 'FAVOURITES' SO I CAN REFER BACK TO IT. I HAVE LEARNED SO MUCH FROM WATCHING TUTORIALS SO, FROM AN AUSSIE ,THANK ALL THOSE WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO MY CONTINUED LEARNING.
You taught me to knit :) I've been crocheting for 25 years. Thank you
Thank you so much for this video. As a crocheter I was really having difficulty finding a comfortable way to hold my yarn and was basically throwing it with my left hand (even though I'm right handed). You have answered my prayers (wrist hold is the way to go for me)
You are a v good teacher..... speaking as a teacher... these methods have helped me a lot. Thank you
I have had a hard time when wrapping a finger for tension. I really like your preferred method of holding yard for tension. It works really well. In addition, it has helped my stitches be more symmetrical and I don't have to move my forefinger around to adjust tension from the wrapping. Thank you too much.
Thank you. I taught myself using mostly videos. Have struggled with loose knitting. Watching your video, I've changed my yarn tension, position of yarn over index finger, and am now utilizing the left middle finger on k's. Can't get the thumb action on p. But the other tips seem to be doing a lot. Now trying to get the flow of muscle memory; gauging swatches will help. Thanks much!
Thank you so much for these tips and clear demonstrations! I have been trying to learn continental knitting for about 2 weeks with not much luck!
I think I've got it! Thank you so much for this video! I've been trying to learn Continental knitting after 50+ years of English-style. I was not able to catch on and was just about to give up. But after watching your video, I tried a sample swatch and I'm doing it! You explain things so well. I was never able to figure out what to do with my left hand before! :0) Thank you!
You are a great little teacher. Thank you so much for your instructions. Very well explained. Actually better than most!!!
I would like to add my thanks for this video. I am a beginner knitter and my first 'practise dishcloth' I did in English style and quite enjoyed it. But I wanted to learn Continental as well so I could choose which I preferred. So far, I am loving the Continental method but was having a great deal of problems with tension. I have found that the last method (the one you use) is what is working quite well for me now. Thank you!!
I've been trying to switch to continental for years, but it's just not been an easy switch, as I've been knitting English for 20 years. But when you said to hold the yarn like you would for crochet, it clicked! I kept trying to make the hold more complicated than I needed to, but the crochet hold is the perfect amount of tension. Thank you!
By the time this video was half way through I was well on my way using to of the techniques. Brilliant teaching skills. Clear video, clear voice and concise instructions 10/10!!! 🌟🌟🌟 Looked up this video because I crochet so often and my wrist is sore. I decided to knit a bit but it's still sore I thought this method might be a bit less rigorous. Thanks!
I strongly recommend her class on ergonomic knitting. Seriously awesome. I am a new knitter and it is helping me grasp the basics and do it in a way that saves my fingers, hands and wrists. I am thrilled I bought it. Inexpensive too!
Thank you so much! I love tipps coming from the heart and without thoughts of how to make people buy something cause that's commercial in my eyes. You tell just the problems a lot of people have in their knitting life and l really can't thank you enough for this! Yours, Conny L
Be blessed!
I think most people's tension problems with Continental come from a slightly different tension between the knit row and the purl row when working stockinette. This creates visible row gaps between about every third or fourth row. It isn't easy to solve. Some people use a different size needle between the knit and the purl row. However what works for me is to knit the row backwards so I am not turning.
I knit English Flicking pretty fast and like to knit backwards in Continental Combined. I get perfect tension this way and if I have a pattern where I am knitting lace or cable pattern or one in which the face of the knitting is very detailed, it is more accurate for me as I can fix any irregularities or make corrections or do pattern stitches which actually do occur on the back, working them from the front.
That's exactly my problem with continental style. I knit better with continental combined though. But most of the knitting patterns are not compatible with combined knitting. So I use the English knitting style most of the time.
thank you so much for sharing different ways of holding the yarn. i really want to learn how to knit the continental way it looks so much easier and faster. this video helped me a lot.
One thing I have been learning the hard way with my current project is that I have to tension differently with my purls than I do with knits and most other stitches. I have adopted your wrist wrap method (this alone made a huge improvement! Thank you), but I need to weave the yarn through my fingers a lot more for purls so it stays tight. This is working out great for me now, but before my purls rows were a lot looser and made my works have inconsistent gaps.
I have been knitting a we bit faster, more comfortable, and longer since watching your video on continental knitting! Thank you for this video to. I wrap my yarn around my pinky finger.
Thank you so much, I can’t wait to try these tips. I’m such a loose knitter that my garments end up 1-2 sizes too large!
11:50 this solved my problem. I'm just learning to knit and this was very frustrating. Thanks a lot!!
I learned Continental style years ago but it was hard for me for some reason. I found English style and it was easier which made it quicker for me. I’m going to try continental again after watching your videos. I’m a super tight knitter so I hope this helps.
I enjoyed your video on tension concerning continential knitting. I loved you video and enjoyed it very much. I hope to subscribe to your channel in the future. I am having having issues some time with my iPhone. Hopefully this will be resolved in the upcoming days.
Thank you so much your an excellent teacher and I have been watching you since you started.
This was incredibly helpful! I had trouble figuring out how to tension the yarn so it was neither too tight nor totally loose. More than one of your tips were helpful. Thank you!
Thank you so much for this video and showing me the different options of holding my yarn.
Wow, I love your channel! Such good, clear instruction. I’m a newbie, and I’ve knitted and crocheted enough to understand the issues and explanations that you have offered here - in wonderful clarity. Thank You so much!
This is a brilliant video and oh so helpful! I am fairly new at knitting and couldn't figure out why my edges on a blanket were different lengths (one tighter and scrunched and the other looser and more normal). It makes total sense that it's a tension problem and I'm thinking it's my pointer finger. Will play around with these different yarn wraps to figure it out. Thank you so much!!
Thank you for some great tips for learning how to knit continental style.
Thanks for this great demonstration. I’m learning to do continental style knitting so that I can do colour work. I really struggled with knowing how to wrap or hold the yarn so that I could comfortably hold a consistent tension. Also most of the videos that demonstrate continental knitting omit how to hold the yarn. I now use the method where I wrap the yarn alternately over my fingers. It’s great. Your demonstrations and explanations are so clear and easy to follow. Five Stars.
I've been knitting for a long time. But knitting now is so much different then it was then. The advent of circular needles is revolutionary. When I was little, I was never taught, or even knew of different cast one. In regard to tension. I taught myself to do continental style knitting, with the help of yt. Another thing to add is, I've suffered from carpal tunnel and diabetes. Those two ailments affects my knitting. So, when I knit, my hands for one, are on the drier side, therefore the tension is directly affected, as there's very little moisture to provide a natural tension. The carpal tunnel affects how I'm able to move my fingers, most of the time, my hands are more stiff than they used to be. So, I've needed to adopt several different ways to tension my yarn, to be able to knit continental. The way I tension is determined by several different things. If my hands are dry, what type of yarn I'm using, how my hands are feeling (carpal tunnel wise). Wrapping the yarn in different ways, or the type of needles I'm using are important to keep in mind. The smoother the needle, the tighter my tension needs to be. This video showed me one more way to tension the yarn, with the wrist wrap, I'm going to try. Thank you for the new knowledge. Much appreciated.
Great tips, I just recently learned how to wrap the yarn through my fingers. Now I'll unlearn the pinky wrap, even though it looks so elegant when done. I started knitting because the specialty yarn that I purchased online was too thin to grasp via the two finger vise grip, a method that I had used when I learned to crochet many years ago. Knitting put an end to that grip in a hurry. I'm still learning and loving it. I am more visual than pattern reading but, some simple or easy written pattern I can do. I may omit something or add something but the overall stitch shows through, repeating a pattern helps me find out what works and what needs to be revisited.
Liked your method. Changing. Keeps yarn closer to right needle. Don't have to turn my left wrist as much.
Wonderful! I’m new to continental and this is the most helpful video ever!
Great tutorials and videos. I learned to crochet last year but now being pretty competent with that I now see so many knitted patterns I want to be able to make and so I’m starting to learn to knit.
I’ve had a play around with English, Portuguese and continental knitting and can honestly say I like them all but English is my most natural way.
I like Portuguese but dislike having the yarn round my neck and I ‘reallly’ want to get good with continental but I just can’t get my fingers to flick the way they’re needed to for a purl. After watching a couple of your videos I’m going to go an revisit continental and have another go.
I do knit too tight and that’s something I’m working on and getting better with in English style so we’ll see what happens when I try continental again.
Thanks again. Your very good at instructions.
love this thank you! trying to move from English to continental with no experience of crochet - too many projects not enough time 🥰
The tension hold you do is close to mine. Nobody ever taught me how to hold it so I did a ton of trial and error and the most comfortable for me is in through pinky and ring then out through ring and middle to over the index.
Very good info. Thanks for this, it was a great help for me in correcting some tension issues I'm having.
What to thank you for the videos, I am trying to teach my self to knit continental because my carpal tunnel in the right wrist is getting worse and knitting English style is starting to become too painful. I am currently knitting your Simple Slouchy Sweater to practice and try to get myself good at continental knitting.
So far it is like trying to write with my left hand, which is odd because I crochet and have always held the yarn in my left hand doing that. Thank you again for the video's they have helped a lot now i just have to get my brain and fingers trained!
Thank you. New to this as I want to have a go with circular needles. I’m a tuck under arm straight needle knitter. Karen
Thank you, this is great! Always having a slight problem with tension.
Thank you so much, I see enjoying knitting in my future. I believe you’ve helped me overcome my tension problems. I appreciate your help.
I learnt to knit from my grandmother, she learnt from her mother and so on and so on. We’ve all been continental knitting and didn’t even realise 😂
The problem with using the center pull aside from yarn barf and a frequent tangle at the end is that it adds twist to the yarn in one direction and can cause yarn to become unbalanced and kink or otherwise behave badly. If you pull from the outside of a cake and the yarn becomes unbalanced, just flip the cake over and add the opposite twist instead. Flipping the cake with a center pull doesn’t work. Some yarns prefer being worked on one side or the other and some prefer switching back and forth periodically. A hand wound ball in a bowl or paper bag at your feet doesn’t mess with twist as much because unwinds randomly. But if you want the least added twist and most consistent tension possible, use a winder to make a cake, spear the cake on a butler, and pull from the outside.
Kirsten Richards what is a butler?
Bobby Rosas It holds your cake in one place, through the centre (like a paper towel roll holder).
I find the same thing Kristen. This is my preference too.
Thank you so much for this comment. I had never realised taking the yarn from the center would cause a problem but it's obvious when you think about it. You get the same thing when unrolling a hosepipe. I'll use the bowl method from now on.
Thank you for sharing this tip!
@@bobbyrosas9124 It's like a stick on a stand that you poke the centre of the ball through.
Very useful information, thank you.
Thank you for all the research that you have done to help us. I really needed this.
Thank you.
My problem I found is that for some reason my knit stitches seem to have pretty good tension, and then my purl stitches are ridiculously loose.
So I've been playing around with knitting on the thicker part of the needle, and purling as close to the tip as I dare.
These are useful tips, thank you. I am trying to pick up continental so I can do stranded work more quickly.
Speed isn’t the end all be all, but I have so much I want to knit and colour work, which I also just picked up feels like it takes SO long!
Thank you for this tutorial. This is the best explanation I've seen on tension and holding the yarn. Rachel S.
Thank you for the wrist tension tip! I've always been such a tight knitter and I really appreciate you pointing out some of the issues I've had and giving solutions! It's already helping me out so much.
I wish I would have started knitting continental! I have been knitting English and am having trouble trying to change !
I think my biggest issue with continental knitting is that as a crocheter I use my right hand for 99% of the movement. The left hand just holds the yarn completely static and I do all of the movement twisting and grabbing with my right hand. but knitting needles don't have hooks and I can't "grab" the yarn. so I start contorting my left hand trying to make it work, but my left hand is just stupid and I can't figure out how to do it efficiently. in the end it's slower for me than holding the yarn in my right because I can't get my left hand to play along.
Hi! If you're having a hard time grabbing the yarn with the needle tip, you might try changing the angle that you hold the needles. Since knitting needles don't have hooks, you may need to adjust the angle to grab the yarn a bit better. Also, if you use the middle finger to help bring the yarn down for a knit stitch and the thumb for a purl stitch, that can make it easier to grab the yarn. This is not necessary to make a stitch, but can make it easier if you are switching from another style and are not used to continental knitting. I hope this helps!
@@YayForYarn Thank you for the reply. I'm still a barebones beginning knitter, so maybe I'll figure it out eventually. I tried it a little , but I was ending up with my stitches way tighter than the rest of what I was working on. I can't really reach the yarn to push it with my middle finger so far. we'll see.
I have the same problem 😅 I will be forever a crocheter at heart 😁❤️
Have a look at "lever" knitting - a much faster way to knit "English style", where you hold the yarn in your right hand... It's my "go to" knitting way - as efficient as continental and a lot easier for purling...
My brain is confused because I'm left handed but crochet very proficiency right handed. I'm trying to learn to knit continental right now
I just started knitting. At the begging I was tight knitting but not too tight. Then I learned continental method and it was good at the beginning but now I’m knitting too loose. I’ll try out the tips and hopefully I can figure this out
So many great tips! Thank you😊I may just give knitting a try again! I learned to crochet first(self-taught) and when I tried to teach myself to knit it was an epic fail. I assumed it was because I learned to crochet first and couldn't get past working with just one "stick" at a time lol my stitches were too tight, I kept missing stitches, dropping stitches, etc. Literally everything was wrong so I just gave up. I've been thinking about trying again lately. Just waiting until I could afford different needles. Thinking about trying bamboo maybe. I have aluminum and couldn't keep the yarn from slipping off.
Bamboo is wonderful for when your first learning. I first tried on aluminum and it was a disaster lol. Honestly I still really enjoy using them, even after the initial learning curve.
Thanks for an informative and helpful video. I've tried to tension the yarn between my fingers so many ways. I'm the end, the yarn actually comes off my middle finger towards the needle, not my index finger. I do the same for crochet. I keep trying to practise using my index finger but when I stop thinking about it, I automatically go back to my middle finger.
I think my index finger likes to be completely free to hold the needle.
I have the same issue, it feels unnatural to use my index finger to tension the yarn
The shape of the wool is never an issue for me. As I always pre-pull what I need , to complete a row. But the rest of the tips were helpful. Thanks.
I am new to knitting and this is what I've been doing too. I tried the centre-pull balls about 4 times and they always knotted up quite badly, or the yarn wouldn't come out easily. So now I take the yarn from the outside of the skein and pull out a few arm lengths at a time.
Thanks, this was really helpful. I can see now the problem for me is holding up my index finger away from the knitting.
Fantastic video!
I am just starting to learn knit, and my tension is insanely tight. And I'm using bamboo!! That might be my issue. Thanks for the insight
Thanks for all your hard work
This really helped. Thanks!
Tension has always been an issue for me and most of the time it is caused by a factor you didn’t mention-stress level 😂🤓 I really have to relax when I’m knitting and tell myself it’s not a race. Thank you also for the video explaining continental knitting. People I have knitted with have commented on my “style”. They use English. Like you I learned to crochet first so it seemed awkward to hold the yarn in my right hand. Thank you for showings some tips and tricks for working on tension and a better way to purl (I’m still practicing that one, but I’m getting better).
My question, I have a lot of unfinished projects because they would get “wonky” looking. Now I my daughter is having a baby and I really want to knit a simple but elegant baby blanket. I think I want to use chunky yarn, because I will see faster progress. I have enough time if I get started soon. The baby is due in September. Can you recommend several yarns (washable because I want her to use it, not save it) and a couple of easy patterns. I can knit and purl, cast on and bind off. I have not tried to cable because I’m afraid I will mess up the counting.
Any help you can give me is sincerely appreciated. Keep your videos coming. They get to the point and are super helpful for knitters trying to get better.
Onward to practice,
Diana
Hi Diana! I'm glad the videos have been helpful to you so far. I do have a simple baby blanket pattern, my Easy Brioche Baby Blanket. This is knit in my "shortcut" brioche stitch, which is much simpler to work than the regular brioche technique. It makes a super-squishy, airy fabric. Pattern includes instructions for #5 bulky weight yarn or #4 worsted weight yarn held double. Video tutorial is available here: ruclips.net/video/FyBSgyX2QIQ/видео.html And the written pattern is available here: yayforyarn.com/easy-brioche-baby-blanket-free-knitting-pattern-by-yay-for-yarn/ As for yarns, I like KnitPicks Brava Bulky, (review here: ruclips.net/video/6ce2m3gbW4s/видео.html) but there are other soft, bulky-weight acrylic yarns available. Hobby Lobby makes a nice one (I Love This Chunky Yarn), and I have heard that Lion Brand's Color Made Easy yarn is pretty good, too. Paintbox Yarns makes a nice chunky acrylic, which comes in lots of colors, but I have not tried it yet. Hope this helps!
How did it come out?
Thank you for these very good instructions!
I realized when I started experimenting with Continental that my crochet tension is guided by my middle finger (not index) which causes stress when knitting, trying to retrain that bad habit because I really like Eastern Continental (clockwise yarn wrapping).
When I was a girl my mom taught me how to knit English style. A friend of ours that was from Germany was at the house while I was struggling to knit. It was such an awkward feeling to have to let go of the right needle. She taught me the way they knit in Germany. Later I learned it was called Continental Knitting. After she showed me that style I just took right off. I am so glad she taught me that.
My knit stitches though are usually tight and my pearls are loose. I don't know why but I think I will try a couple of your tips.
Try making a slight tug on the yarn on the 2nd purl stitch. It tightens up that yarn between the stitches and has helped me a great deal. Hope it works for you too!
Thank you for this really helpful video!
Changing my yarn-wrap helped a lot, as did being sure to work just *past* the pointed tips. One problem I still have with continental knitting though: whenever I have to push the yarn on the left up - ie fairly often - it messes up my tension and I have to re-wrap. Not an issue with English knitting, of course, because the yarn is on the right hand so it's not affected by the left hand moving around. But yeah, moving the left hand with continental, throws everything off. How does one deal with this?
Hi Steph. If there is still some resistance when you push the stitches up the left needle, you might try working towards getting the tension to be a little looser. When the tension is relaxed, yet consistent, the stitches will not take very much force to slide them up the needle, which makes it easier to do so without re-tensioning the yarn each time. It's okay if the stitches are snug around the needle and aren't as easy to slide, as that won't affect the evenness of the finished fabric, but slightly looser tension would be a goal to keep in mind. I hope this helps!
Brilliant info ... thank you ✅
Whenever I begin with an initial border, it turns out way too loose even if I’m consciously trying not to knit loosely. All my blankets and scarves end up with that beginning end bigger than the rest of the fabric. Can you help?
I am not sure what the cause would be, and it would be hard to know without watching you knit, but one possible way to fix that would be to knit the beginning of your project with a smaller needle. If you know approximately how far you typically knit before the tension evens out, you could knit that section with needles one size or two smaller, and that can help compensate for the looser tension in that part of the project. I hope this helps!
@@YayForYarn What a great idea! I’ll try it on my next project. Thank you!
I wrap the yarn almost like you do except I don't wrap the yarn around my pinky and I knit with my hand close on the needle. I can't seem to make my index stick out, it cramps for me.
Also a crocheter here that is having tight knit tension issues. The yarn in my left hand is loose, it is the right hand's movement that is tight, but I can't seem to fix it I don't understand how to hold the stitches on the right needle. Should they move up with it oh idk probably a lost cause lol
Hi. As you work into the stitches on the left needle, each stitch on the left needle gets a new loop pulled through it, which then sits on the right needle. The stitches on the right needle need to keep sliding along the needle so they are not all bunched up. Keeping the stitches evenly spaced on the right needle helps keep them from being too tight. Also, as your stitches go onto the right needle, make sure they slide past the tapered tip and onto the straight shaft of the needle. If the stitches are sitting on the tip, they will be the size of the tapered section instead of the size of the shaft. That will make it much harder to slide them along the needle. I hope this helps!
I have tried every which way of holding the working yarn and the only thing that works is draping it gently over top of my index finger and through the back of my middle finger, no wrapping involved. I always see people wrap and loop their yarn around their fingers and i’m like whaaa?!?!?! how does the yarn flow like that!? mine gets caught immediately !
Okay I have a problem. I’ve never had issues with tension and my stitches are always uniform and exactly how I like,however, im knitting a sock with a 0 size needle and very tiny yarn and my stitches are doing that weird thing where half of the stitch is straight and the other half is normal, so instead of normal “\/‘ it’s more like “⁉️” and I’ve seen other knitters or Tunisian crocheters have work like this but it’s never happened to me, it looks like a straight line down my work then a row of twists. Hopefully you know what I’m talking about. If so, do you know what causes this? Because I’m trying everything and I can’t seem to get it to even out
Hi Kayte. My first question would be, are the sock needles a different material than you would normally use? For instance, if you're used to aluminum needles and then you begin knitting socks on wooden needles, that can affect tension. Another thing you might try is changing how you wrap the yarn through your hand. For me, I find that when I work with thinner yarns like sock yarn, I need to wrap the yarn an extra time around one of my fingers to put more tension on the yarn. This is because the thinner yarns have less surface rubbing against your hand, so there is not as much friction or tension as when you use a thicker yarn and hold it the same way. Does that make sense? I hope this helps!
Hi! Thanks for the video. I have been continental knitting for years but no matter what techniques I try my first and last stitches are always loose. They get worse as the project goes on. You name it, I've tried it. I'm hoping someone knows what is wrong. Has this ever happened to you? If so, how did you fix it?
Hi Peggy! Have you tried tugging the first stitch of the row tighter before working across? Sometimes that can help compensate for the stitch below (end of the previous row) being loose. Or, have you tried slipping the first stitch of each row? That can also help neaten up the edge if it is loose and uneven.
Thank you for your suggestions. Yes I've tried. Very fine yarn works ok with those suggestions, but when knitting worsted weight or larger it dosent work.
Have you tried knitting into the back of the first stitch?
I think what my issue is, is that when I do continental style, I’m stretching the stitch on the left needle too much in order to grab the yarn with the right needle. I wonder if it has do with the approach in going into the left needle stitch.
I’m not a tight or loose knitter and my hand tension seems okay, I’m somewhere in the middle. I also crocheted first so I do prefer continental buuuuut my projects end up looking much messier with continental vs English. I wish this wasn’t the case!
Hi Rachel. If continental knitting seems to stretch the stitch on the left needle, it may be that your left index finger is held too far from the left needle tip. If your right needle has to reach too far to grab the yarn after it is inserted into the stitch, that can stretch the stitch a bit more than necessary. You can also move the index finger closer to the needle tip each time you grab the yarn, but I think it is more efficient to keep the index finger close to the needle tip the whole time. I hope this helps!
@@YayForYarn thanks for responding! It’s funny that you mention keeping the left index closer - I actually do. I do more of the closed style of continental knitting than open. I think it’s my inability to move the right needle in a way that doesn’t pull the stitch too much, like I have to really wrap it to grab it, if that makes sense. I really do appreciate you giving me tips!
Very nice. Thanks.
What’s the best way to hold yarn if your a loose knitter please
If you're a loose knitter, you may need to wrap the yarn around one of your fingers in your tension hand to add more tension. If that is not enough, you could wrap it around another finger if you need to. Feel free to customize how you hold the yarn to make it work best for you. I hope this helps!
Thanks 😊
I have an issue with all of my knit stitches getting twisted somehow when I knit continental. It LOOKS like I'm making the stitches the same way you do. It doesn't happen when I purl.🤷
Hi! If your knit stitches are twisted, and you are inserting into the front leg of the stitch, it may be that you are wrapping the yarn around the needle tip backwards. With continental, the motion is mainly done with the needle tip, but you always have to make sure that the yarn is going around the needle tip in a counter-clockwise direction. I hope this helps!
Interestingly enough, I find that the tension method I use for crochet is too tight for my knitting. Go figure!
Store-bought centre-pull skeins can actually be too tight, and cause uneven tension because the yarn doesn't want to come out of the skein at first. The main way I've dealt with that is to just pull out a whole bunch at a time by hand, knit that until I run out, and then pull out some more. As one uses up more yarn and there's more space in the centre, it generally loosens up and is fine. An alternative way of dealing with it -- especially if the yarn is fuzzy & sticky -- is to use a yarn bowl and pull from the outside, or, if the ball is too large to fit in your yarn bowl (like, a fluffy 100g skein can be quite big) then put it in a box at your feet.
Thanks.
I dont have tight thread. Bit i have big problems with k2tog😤
Hi! Is it difficult to insert the right needle into the k2tog? Or do you find it hard to pull the new stitch through? If it is hard to pull the new stitch through, perhaps you could try using the middle finger of the left hand to secure the yarn around the needle tip as you pull the new stitch through. If it's difficult to insert the needle into two stitches, it can make it a bit easier if you scoot the stitches closer together on the left needle. If the stitches are spread out on the needle, there is not as much slack available in the stitches, which can make it harder to insert the needle into multiple stitches. Scooting them closer together can help make that easier, even if your knitting tension is not too tight the rest of the time. Please let me know if that helps!
my issue is that my pinky does not meet my ring finger and there is a gap between the two, even when my fingers are placed together. The gap is also increased by my wedding ring. So, when I wrap the yarn around my pinky and clasp it next to my ring finger, there is still a gap that allows the yarn to slide right through (tension is way too loose).
Hi Jennifer. If you need more tension, and it doesn't work for you to wrap the yarn around your pinky finger, you can wrap it around a different finger if you like. Or, you could wrap around the pinky and around another finger if that works better for you. I would suggest trying a few different ways of wrapping the yarn to see what feels right to you. All that matters is that the yarn should come over the top of the index finger toward the knitting. Otherwise, it doesn't really matter how you wrap the yarn, as long as your method works for you. I hope this helps!
thx Bri.. great vid as always hun..
love ur work..
❤️🙏❤️
❤️🇺🇸❤️
🧶🧶🧶🧶😍💕💕💕💕
is the arrow for native?? i am.. half but always wondered haha.. if so hi sis!!
You're welcome, Tina! I'm not native, I just added the arrow to my logo because it looked cool. 😊
Thank you.⚘⚘⚘⚘
i just can't get it right! i've tried every one of these and it slips right through my fingers.
If none of these tension methods are tight enough for you, you can create your own. If you need to, you can even wrap the yarn around each finger, not just the pinky finger. You could wrap it around the pinky finger and the middle finger, for instance, before bringing it up over your index finger. Just test the tension by pulling on the yarn to make sure it slides through easily, but with just a little bit of control. It doesn't need to be tight. I hope this helps!
Miss your addi tutorials 😩❤️
❤❤❤
My only tip for knitting is that your hands should actually do less than you think... relax. Let the needles be tools.
My yarn always loose from my finger...
That can happen sometimes. Try a little different way of holding the yarn, and see if that helps. Happy Yarning!
Wonderful! I’m new to continental and this is the most helpful video ever!