Knitting Help - What's Your Knitting Style?
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- Опубликовано: 21 авг 2024
- Thrower, picker, flicker? In this video I briefly cover the six most common knitting styles, and the most common names for these styles.
You can find more information about Knitter's Pride needles, as well as retailers using these links:
Bryson Distributing: www.brysonknits...
Accessories Unlimited: www.accessories...
Knitter's Pride Shop finder: knitterspride.c...
The Knitter's Pride Cubics needles I'm using can be found here:
www.yarn.com/p...
Annie Modesitt's website on Combination Knitting can be found here:
anniemodesitt.com/
The yarn I used for demonstration is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky.
My silver ring is actually a knitting needle gauge, and can be found here: malojos.com/
My nail polish is by Julep, color "Janie": refer.julep.com...
Most people here in Japan are continental knitters thus knitting books mostly show continental way. We call English knitting style "French knitting style". I don't know why...
One day, a French woman came to our knitting class and showed how to knit . we were so excited to see French knitting style but we found out this French woman was also a continental knitter lol. We all were very much confused.
Apple Head another Japanese passing by. What they call "French style" in Japan is the Continental knitting (and they call English/American knitting "American style"), which makes the French lady a "French style" knitter
I'm a continental knitter :) I learned to crochet first and I would think that others who learned crochet first would also be most comfortable with continental knitting, since in both styles the yarn is held in the left hand.
April Rose I totally thought I'd be a continental knitter since I learned crocheting first. I can't for the life of me do it lol. I'm an English knitter
April Rose I agree. That's how it worked out for me. i did use my left and right hand for fair isle. The main color staupys in my left hand and the others I pick up with my right. My fantastic teacher taught me this. I originally learned English style as a little girl.
I thought the exact same thing! I am just a crocheter right now, but I have a huge interest in learning how to knit once I become intermediate at least in crochet. And the continental style a lot more comfortable as a crocheter than the English. I think that, once I start knitting, that's the style I'll use.
Same for me continental knitting was easier for me to pick up since I crocheted first
April Rose I
Another name for my knitting style is 'RUclips tutorial knitting that looks doable to someone who has never knitted before'.
Lol awesome.
You actually made me laugh out loud!!!
Dion7 I learned how to knit by watching RUclips haha.
Yep. RUclips is my only teacher as well. It's not ideal but I'm getting things done. :)
Me too! After watching too many conflicting videos before I knew there were different styles, I decided it didn't matter how the yarn was wrapped as long as it got wrapped, and settled on Combination.
I will never thank you enough for figuring out I was a combination knitter a few years back. You were the first person to give it a name without telling me I was just knitting wrong.
What are your combinations? :)
I was taught how to knit by a right-handed friend, so I started out as a right-handed English/American knitter. When I was in my 20s, I saw a Vogue Knitting article about Continental Knitting with great illustrations. In 10 minutes, I became a left-handed Continental knitter. I'm a lefty and that style feels most natural to me.
This is EXACTLY what I was looking for! And it even talked about backwards/mirror knitting which, I'm not going to lie, I 100% tried to learn instead of purl 😂
I am indeed a combination knitter naturally and learning it actually gives twisted stitches is even better!
I had a knit project I wanted duplicated but when I asked ravelry if anyone was willing they said that twisted stitches were extremely specialized and people would have a hard time doing it.
They were all quite rude about it and told me to give up on it and that I was nuts for thinking someone would duplicate something for me and possibly more over the years. I just needed to make my own in a crochet version and get over it.
(Totally not the reason I tried out knitting though! I just wanted a specific look that could only be achieved with tunisian in crochet. But knowing how to do it in knit is just as good)
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING
I was originally an English knitter, and a thrower, but for medical reasons needed to learn the Continental way, which I find much easier..it did take a while for it to "click" in my hands and brain, but once it did I took off. Now I find that knowing both helps immensely when I do colorwork. I don't need to drop one color and pick up another, I just hold one color in each hand. Now if I could just grow more hands so I can easily do more than 2 colors... :)
I've been learning continental but the problem is that my knitting comes out very loose. Do you also notice that or is it just because I am a beginner and maybe it is this alpaca yarn I am knitting with? I am doing stockinette stitch and it is coming out loose and irregular.
@niloo6890 my knitting was very irregular at first but has improved a lot with time. I also watched a few videos to see how to "tension" the yarn, which helped a lot. I read (or heard) somewhere that by the time you finish a blanket you will have perfected your stitches- but I found it didn't take that long lol 😊 hang in there!
@niloo6890 And btw.. thank you for using "loose" instead of "lose"!!! I don't know when that became a thing but it makes me crazy when I see it 😂
😉I am glad I used the right way. I didn't know it is used that way haha. I wanted to ask you do you use the closed hand technique for continental or your finger is held in an open way? I used the open hand and can't get the tension consistent and can't find a video that has been helpful. But I hope, like you said, that with time, it will get better. @@newinglands
@niloo6890 I use open hand with my finger sticking out. I guess the tension thing is just your preference, and I believe there's a video on either Very Pink or on Arne and Carlos' youtube channel about tension. I also saw a good one on Nimble Needles. I think if you google "knitting tension" a few pop up. I put the yarn around my pinky twice then over the finger that sticks out. Hope that helps 🙂
I love this video! It really shows that there is not "right" or "wrong" of knitting, its whatever feels/comes naturally to you and that is what creativity is. Thanks 😊
PS I'm a combination knitter ✌🏾
Interesting Video! I've been knitting since Kindergarten, but wasn't aware of that many styles.
I raised my family in the mountains, and since we were all skiers, I knitted all our sweaters. Most of the ski sweaters had multi-colored patterns.
My basic knitting technique is continental. When I used multi-colored sweater patterns, I would knit continental style, carrying the main color on my left hand, and using the picking method on my right hand, with carrying any additional color on that hand. That way, I very seldom had to let go of any strand of yarn, and the whole knitting process would also go faster.
Oh, my god. That sounds amazing. I can only hope to become that talented! It's so genius! I knit continental and if I use two colors, i have to twist them every few stitches to keep the knitting even if I don't use each color often enough.
Wow!!!❤
OMG! 😍😍😍😍😍😍 Every time I see that needle set (interchangeable platina cubics) I feel butterflies LOL and then sadness 😭.
One day they'll be mine. 😌💭 that's the dream!
Kanny Lane same!
I'm a 73 yrs old Moroccan grandma, and I learned from watching my late mom since I was still in elementary school... she knitted English flicking style... I always believed it was the only manner of knitting, until lately , looking for designs and patterns for my last newly born grandchildren... I was fascinated ...
I have been knitting for 60 years. As I was left-handed, I was taught at a very early age, to knit in the opposite direction from right handed knitters. Somehow, I have been knitting the combination method/ continental for the knit stitch, but for the purl, I still purl in the back loop, which is amazingly fast. I have always had to adjust my stitches, which is much easier now there is the internet. There are plenty of sites now, that show the stitches left-handed. Thank you for letting me know what my style is, and that other people knit like I do. Up until now, I have always been told that I knit wrong. It is nice to know that I am not doing it wrong, just differently.
I'm surprised that you didn't include supported, aka "Irish Cottage" knitting, where the right needle is either held in a belt or under the armpit. Granted, with the proliferation of circular/interchangeable needles, it's pretty uncommon in America, but I think it would be a good addition to a "survey of styles" like this. Thank you for your videos, I recommend them often!
I honestly didn't even think of Irish Cottage knitting until your comment (and one other comment). I have been knitting for over 40 years, and I have never run into an Irish Cottage knitter in the US. I know they exist (haha), but I can see why that style didn't occur to me! You're right, it would have been good to include.
yes yes that's right... I knit this way, with the right needle under my armpit. circular or interchangeable needles are not so common where I come from so we knit with long needles. I didnt know it had a specific name, I just thought I was a "thrower"
that's how I knit and we are dutch. maybe why people look at me strange. never knew what it it was called before.
There's a few ladies in my local knitting group that are from Ireland, Scotland and the related areas which knit like this! I'm always fascinated by them :)
I could sit and watch a pit knitter for hours. I actually enjoy watching others knit as well as it is a wonderful art I find relaxing. I love theses videos as they are spot on! Thank you
Continental all the way!! So fast for purling. I love that I have that skill as well for color work, so I can hold a color in each hand, throwing and knitting continental for each stitch. I learned from a book, so I had no idea I was learning a different way than most Americans.
Fascinating, I had no idea there were so many methods! I was taught to knit with the classic American throw technique, and I avoided knitting for years because it was so awkward - I stuck to crochet. Then about 20 years ago I saw an article on continental style, and converted immediately, it was so much easier and faster. Ultimately I've found the best of all methods for me is a variation of continental, the Norwegian technique, which I find amazingly efficient and unbelievable fast for a naturally klutzy knitter like me.
I'm primarily a Flicker, but when I have a lot of purling to do I use the Portuguese style of knitting. I can do a few others but those two are my faves! Thanks Staci for all the get videos!!! Happy Stitches everyone!
Una Luna I use the portugese method when I knit stranded colour work flat! As it is easier to do the purl row and therefore the back of the work with one colour around your neck. But only then. I’m an English Parlour knitter (lol) or as they say now, a thrower.
I'm a continental knitter. My grandma tried to teach me English style throwing many many times without success throughout my childhood, I just couldn't make sense of it! I learned to crochet a few years ago from you tube videos as hand therapy after spending eleven weeks in plaster for a particularly nasty broken left wrist. My hospital hand therapist then mentioned knitting would also help and I shared my childhood frustrations. She told me to look up continental knitting and I haven't looked back since! For some reason it makes more sense to me. However reading through here comments I'm concerned that I may be doing it wrong. I have no idea if I'm wrapping the needle rightly or wrongly! Hey ho, it looks OK to me! As a disabled person who walks with the aid of a crutch on my right, I really need as much strength and movement from both wrists as I can get and knitting and crocheting have given me that and opened the door to a whole new hobby. Now I'm off to try Portuguese! X
So, in other comments people mentioned Irish cottage knitting and Norwegian knitting and I discovered I'm knitting Norwegian! What a relief I'm not doing it wrong! Many thanks for all your superb tutorials and hosting this channel helping me to learn from you and all your subscribers experiences x
I am left handed and was taught to knit right handed. I am a flicker. During Covid, I decided to knit blankets and as they got longer and awkward to keep turning, I tried the mirror knitting and found it was so easy to pick up. Now I knit my blankets without turning them at all. Thank you for your videos, they are very helpful.
I’m just learning to knit and I started American style because I didn’t realize there were different styles. Then I found out about continental and switched to it but recently just found Portuguese style and I absolutely love the Portuguese so much better because I was having such a problem with holding my yarn for purl stitches and Portuguese is so much easier. I would love to have Portuguese patterns and instructional videos for blankets, socks. Basically everything.
Very informative! Thank you. My dad told me once that the native women in Peru (where he was born) knit with the yarn around their necks so I always thought of it as “Peruvian” not “Portuguese.”
I'm left handed, but learned combination knitting from my right handed grandma. I wanted to learn left handed because I always had to anchor my right needle on something to keep it from slipping from my hand, but any left handed tutorial I found online looked different than what I had learned, so I taught myself mirror knitting (unknowingly), but it's mirrored combination. So, now I can start with an empty needle in my right hand and do an English combination knit in that direction, and then I do a Continental mirror combination knit in the opposite direction. I always thought I was doing everything wrong, but so far, all my stitches have worked out just fine 🤷🏻♀️
I'm no expert, but there appears to be a Scandinavian style, an offshoot of Continental knitting. At least, that's what I call it. Your left index finger is held close to the needle tips, rather than extended. In every video I've seen here done by someone from Norway or Sweden, the yarn is held like that, and that's how I do it. I taught myself out of a book decades ago, and while I didn't do what the book said, I still learned how to knit. Purling was a problem until I came across the Norwegian purl stitch, and everything fell into place. I found that two-color stranded work is easy, and a third color doesn't add that much difficulty; I can either hold all three strands in my left hand, or I can hold two in the left and throw the third strand English-style.
I am soooooo glad that that your videos are captioned! Hurrah for accessibility!
When I go into knit shops where you can sit and knit, people are always mesmerized by the way that I knit. I throw with my left hand and the resulting fabric goes onto the needle in the right hand. I have never seen anyone do it the way I do except my mother. She taught me how to knit when I was young. One shop owner said it was a combination of two styles of knitting; English and Continental. All I can say is, it works for me, and my finished product looks like everyone else's.
Finally I have a name for my style of knitting! I’m a combination knitter, and yes, I have to figure out how to adapt instructions ALL the time, but I stink at all other knitting styles. I just spent 3 or 4 days diligently trying to accomplish English and did more righteous ripping in the shortest period of time. I love DPNs when I use them my way. No wonder English and Continental knitters prefer magic loop. I love your videos!
Same for me. But I hold the yarn with my left hand. Sometimes it is so difficult to adapt instructions!
I learned combo knitting from my mom. Watched a little RUclips videos after having difficulties knitting a pattern in combo knitting style and I just didn't know the tips in combo knitting that I picked up continental knitting. It was the most natural way since I followed a lot of patterns and came from crocheting. After watching your video and a video from new stitch a day about the way you and Johnny knit, I wanted to try it out. With trial and error about tensioning, I found my tension and now am a flicker which also lead me to have even stitches all around and been knitting that way since. I would definitely try Portuguese knitting, it'll never hurt to learn.
My preference is Norwegian knitting. I spent a whole week determined to learn it and am happy I didn’t give up because it is so much more comfortable and less movement. I badly broke my wrist and didn’t pick up a knitting needle or crochet hook for over 1.5 years. To this day certain things in my hand, thumb and wrist hurts, so I am thankful I learned this way. They say it is more ergonomic. I do modify how I purl a little though.
As a child I attempted knitting under the instruction of my grandma and I'm pretty sure that was picking/continental and it just never stuck. But two years ago I watched a couple of videos that taught throwing and it felt so natural!
Then when I came across Staci's videos I could see she was doing something similar ... but different to throwing - I couldn't quite put my finger on it. (Pardon the pun). I now know it's the flicking style and Staci flicks so darn quick that's why I couldn't pick up the difference. I'm now a confident and reasonably quick flicker myself and knitting is an absolute joy.
I think it's wonderful there's so many ways to approach this ancient, ingenious, culture crossing skill.
Im an English style knitter however I hold the right needle like a pen. The right needle comes up over the top between your thumb and first finger. The index finger then flicks or guides the yarn around when you knit. This way you dont let go of the yarn and is much quicker to knit. Thanks Kim
I do that too, I was told that is lever style or cottage style.
Oh ok! I've never heard of those terms! Thanks for that info I will look it up x
That's how my right-handed mother knitted and I used to watch in awe at the speed she went. It turns out I'm a continental left-handed knitter, without being taught how to feed the yarn properly as nobody could reverse things for me....... My newly found continental friends use long needles and put the right hand needle in their arm pit to keep the needle completely static and all the movement comes from the left hand. It's fifty years since I first learned to knit. One day I'm going to work out how I, this left-handed slow coach knitter, should actually do what's best for me. Unless anyone knows of a good left-handed Cottage-style knitter to teach me how to do it properly. It's really difficult trying to reverse what right-handed people do all the time.
Ideally I'd knit like this, as my mother did:
ruclips.net/video/ezH4qpn3org/видео.html
But everything reversed for a left-handed person
I knit in Switzerland.
So I knit in Continental style, but I purl in Norwegian style.
The yarn stay always in back of the work and on the left hand, it is easy for the rib.
I've been knitting for 40 years and I just learned mirror knitting through a video :)
I like to see all the style. Thank you for your video.
I am a Continental knitter and I've learned the Combo knitting first. Later I've learned the "real" Continental Knitting.
I still use the Combination Knitting for knitting stocking stitch in rows. Purling is far easier than!
I absolutely love your channel. Very helpful. I am a beginner knitter, like 30 days new. Right now just learning and practicing basics until my first project.
Thanks for the video! I've known for quite a while that my style of knitting is entirely different from everyone else. I call it a Franken-style. I am a right handed person. Who knits to the left! But I hold the yarn in my right hand and I throw (sort of), but I pull the yarn up from under the needle and circle it around (with my right hand) and continue. It seems like all styles involve the yarn being held away from the work or outwards from the work. With my Frankenstyle method I hold the yarn flush or parallel to the right stitches - with my right ring and pinky fingers. My stich legs hang to the front so I never have to knit through the back loop to make it "correct". This little frankenstyle of mine results in some crazy tight knitting If I'm not careful so it's great for making stuffed toys and extreme outerwear :-) Thanks for the video!
ezradot I would love to see a video of you doing your Frankenstein-style method as I am a visual-kinesthetic learner!
I’ve been knitting for years and the current project in working on, a sweater for my service dog, is the first time I use a pattern so I’m learning what all the abbreviations mean. This has led to me learning that I’m a continental combination knitter. Knowing I went in through the back for a knit stitch and in through the front for a purl made it easy to grasp when I was a kid, then leaving it up to my imagination on how to combine those two for different textures and patterns was my only limit. I might try to learn flicking, but I do find the picking of continental very satisfying and the tightness of combination satisfying as well. 😅
I've been watching tutorial videos and realized I knit differently so this video was really helpful. I knit combination and never realized it thank you
After watching, this I learned that I'm a combination knitter. Thank you for this video, because it feels most natural but I always thought it was "wrong" because I haven't seen anyone else knit this way.
FINALLY!!! Some clarity! .......sooooo, I’m an American Combination Thrower that never lets go of her yarn because I use my four fingers as a tensioner-the yarn is always wrapped thru my fingers while throwing. And in combination knitting, I don’t turn the stitches like you did in the combination, I just knit thru the back loop (and I throw). For purl, I come thru the right of the front loop, and I throw the opposite direction you did in your video. LOLOL. It always gets the job done. Too bad I can’t respond by video to show you 😜 Great video. Thank you.
I'm a combo continental/mirror knitter. I'm a lefty so I hold the work in my right hand and transfer to an empty left needle. But I knit, purl, and turn my work the same way as anyone else....I don't don't do the "backward" knitting shown in the video. And like most crocheters turned knitters, continental is just more natural to me.
I’m exactly the same. I was panicking a little bit, seeing her hold things the way I do but then proceed to knit into the back loop which I DEFINITELY don’t do lol.
Wow okay, I can knit all but Portuguese knitting. You can say I'm one very strange women. It also deepens on what is needed or in what mood I'm in. I just love learning new styles.
I'm a novice. I think I've tried continental than switched to English which seemed easier. Now with all these other styles I will keep them in mind until I learn one style before I try another. Be happy. 😊
When I first decided to learn I approached family and friends who knew how to knit but the technique they showed me just didn't feel right and I struggled. Both of them, my mother in law and a close friend, were English style. I looked to youtube and found Continental knitting felt very natural to this lefty. :)
Thank you for all your videos! Love your tutorials. I wish I would have found your videos sooner.
I couldn't get the hang of either continental or English knitting until I found Portuguese knitting and it made it easier for me to understand the nature of the stitch and how the others styles of knitting work. It gave me the ahhh moment!
I was a life time "throwing" knitter until I saw your video on Flicking and now that is my style. I was a pretty fast thrower but even faster as a flicker. It is also an easier style to use if I'm using yarn in both hands for two color knitting
omg I have been knitting this way since for almost 50 years. thank you for validating my style of knitting!!
I am most comfortable as an English/American thrower since that is how my mother and her mother knit. Seeing the lever style intrigued me and I think I like it.
I often change up how I knit, and enjoyed watching you explain what those different styles of knitting are. I have for years, since I turned 20, have pain in my hands, and so I learned to change things up so I could knit for longer sessions. Since I was ambidextrous in my writing until 6th grade when work load just got to much to continue to change up how I wrote, and I had a teacher who didn't want anymore lefties in our class, I found it easier to stop.
I guess my default style is a modification of the throwing. At one time, I could throw with either hand, but the real modification that I was going to say is that I wrap the yarn usually around the whole palm and use my hand or index finger kind of like I was using it to press the lever on an old style typewriter's carriage return, just barely sliding the hand over the top of the work on the needle till it drops the yarn around the tiniest tip of the needle. Much more efficient on the knits than purls but again I can always change things up easily.
Very much enjoy your channel and teaching. Thanks.
Hello 😀 I was taught English/American throwing, and recently tried and learned Portuguese knitting from the linked videos - and love it! I'd like to be better at flicking, too. Those needles are beautiful - must get a set. Great videos, thank you!
Hey Staci! I just wanted to let you know that this video encouraged me to finally try on the flicking technique, my natural style has always been continental, but in all your videos I see how easy it looks the way you knit (and of course I'm aware is the result of years of experience) that I wanted to give it a go, so I'm knitting a poncho now and though It'll take more time with the flicking technique, I'm very glad and excited. How silly , right? lol
Anyways... Thank you! xoxo
It's so interesting how different folks knit! I knit english/flicking style when I'm doing primarily knit stitch based patterns, and when I'm doing primarily purl-based stitches, I knit continental style. Whatever works!
I always thought I knit English style, but I guess I am a flicker or lever knitter. I also hold the needles in an over-hand position as demonstrated in this video. I've been practicing continental, but it feels awkward and I can not get a purl stitch without losing tension on the yarn.
I recently decided to learn how to knit backwards. I knitted a shawl that was over 300 stitches wide. One row had bobbles in it. Rather than turn the work twice for each 3-stitch bobble, I simply did the k3x in same stitch, k3 backwards, k3tog and proceeded to the next repeat. So much easier once I got the hang of it and no dropped stitches!
Dear Staci,
I am a continental, combination knitter, this is the way which I learned from my mother back then. I was surprised when I saw your first video, that was the first time that I saw anyone who knits an another way. Thank you for this video, I found it very ineresting, and finally I know how my knitting style is called.
And yes, there is some things I have to differently, for example when I read a lace pattern sometimes I have to turn my stitches, so I can do what the pattern says. And I didn't like the garter stitch, its way more difficult when you want to insert your needle in the back of your stitches. So now, when I do garter stitch, I do it as I have seen on your channel. Thank you for that. :)
It’s funny cause I was self taught from a scarf kit. But this whole time I was told I knit backwards and left handed. Turns out I’m just a combination knitter. It really shines a light on my struggle with learning knitting patterns.
Thank you so much for doing this video. I have been knitting for a long time and I am sure I was taught English style, somewhere along the way I started knitting combination. Recently I was looking at videos on how to knit and purl and realized I knit and purl differently, I freaked out and thought I was doing it wrong and couldn't figure out how to turn my stitches back to English style until I saw this video.
I also noticed that when I knit 1x1 rib in combination style, it gives me a tighter rib than English style, but the stitches in 1x1 combination look wobbly, maybe bc of my tension.
Last but not least, you are wonderful. I watched so many of your videos and they all very helpful!
This was so helpful just in understanding how people are knitting for other videos (admittedly, I always check your vids first). I’m a thrower, but I would love to learn flicking. However, it always seems to eventually make my hand hurt (which is why I ditched crocheting). Thanks for another great video!
Wow Staci! I just learned that I was (for the first year) accidentally a combination knitter! I actually learned the pearl stitch incorrectly and I didn't understand why I always had to knit through the back loop for my knits! I thought I was knitting wrong so I relearned pearl stitches so that I wrapped the other way. Cool, turns out I wasn't "wrong" after all :-)
Same, I think it's quite common. I'm a continental knitter and I think purling in combination is somehow easier at the beginning. ;-)
Also, I read somewhere that it's easier on your joints, so if you're in pain it's worth to chance your knitting style.
I learned how to knit from videos and found continental the most comfortable. I figured out the combination knitting on my own, and now am working on Portuguese style.
I had no idea that I was a "flicker"! This was a very informative video. Thank you!
When I first learned to knit I was a English trower but nowadays I combine continental and flicking. It depends on the project which style I use. But I want to give Portugese knitting a try too. And gonna take a closer look at mirror knitting and combination knitting.
My hand function is poor so being able to use different styles makes it easier and less painful.
Thank you Staci for this overview!
Watching this old video.... I finally discovered that I’m a combination continental left hand knitter....I always said I knit different but it have a name...thanks💁👍🏼🙂
Thanks for the video! I thought I knit crazy, but I am a lefty and a mirror knitter! Yay!
OMG thank you! Most tutorials are done with english/american knitting, I knit continental and I thought I was just doing it the wrong way, specially because I have found you need to pick the stitch the oposite way for knitting in the round.
i just figured out why my stitches were twisting... apparently I've been combination knitting and wrapping my yarn clockwise while purling. I was totally confused as to what was going on. So grateful I found this video.
Love the fact you have a Portuguese knitting playlist!
Combination knitting and mirror knitting look nearly the same as my ‘true lefty’ knitting method. Before I learned Continental knitting, as a left handed person, I knitted ‘true lefty’. The problem was with sweaters and graphic patterns, they needed to be adjusted so the results wouldn’t be backwards/reversed from the written pattern. Thanks for the video, pretty informative!
I already knew that I was a continental knitter (I learned to crochet first), but now I know that I'm a combination knitter as well. In fact, I didn't even know that people actually swooped the yarn underneath. I also hold my yarn by wrapping it around my finger twice and that's it. Not too sure why. Left-handed knitting is also pretty easy too. I just hold my yarn as if I was English knitting. Your video gave me a lot of insight on this matter and now I know.
Excellent video! I have learned so much from you over the past year. Thank you!
I started with English knitting and my gauge is really consistent, but my hands cramp. I switched to continental and it's so much easier on my hands. I can knit for hours. I really wanted to learn to flick, but I think my fingers are too short.
I loved this video, because I am actually comfortable with a few of the knitting styles. But I primarily use flick knitting and continental, because I can use both styles at the same time when I'm making a project with more than one color to keep from having my yarns tangled.
Thank you for this video. Actually seeing these styles one after the other has clarified them for me, particularly English/American vs flicking. I learned English/American 40 years ago, but it never felt comfortable for me, so I switched to Continental (which the lady who showed it to me in the doctor's waiting room called German). I am going to watch your video on flicking now...it could be handy in colorwork. I've never done that because dropping and picking up yarns seemed cumbersome, but I could see it being more natural with yarn in each hand!
It really is natural to knit with both hands after you get used to it, I hope you like knitting that way. I know it has opened a lot of knitting possibilities for me!
I never knew flicking was different from throwing.
Well this is very enlightening...I'm a lefty knitter - hold an empty needle in the left hand, work in the right. I THINK, according to the video...I'm a lefty Continental Picker! I'll hold the work and the working yarn in my right hand. I have actually been knitting the Zasio sweater and (I hate purling, did I tell you that?) I was mirror knitting to avoid the purl stitch until you came out with the Portuguese knitting videos! I have a preferred style, but I'll pick up whatever makes it easiest for me, or eliminates the purl stitch, whichever comes first, lol!
I am a continental knitter who is always so frustrated. I recently discovered that I was combination knitting when I purl. This is the reason my work never looked correct, and I didn’t know why! I am going to check Annie’s website. Thank you!
I'm a continental knitter. I started out as a crocheter and I could not for the life of me get the hang of knitting English style. It was hard. I couldn't figure out how to hold the yarn and it felt very uncomfortable. I thought English was the ONLY way of knitting and I gave up. Then I found out about continental knitting and it was perfect. I can kind of do English style when I do color work but it's kind of messy and slow.
xGhostTown lol I'm he opposite. I'm an English knitter who learned crochet first and I can't for the life of me knit continental. I don't know why
I started out crochet too... and knitting the continental style... however it tires my finger when purling...and so I make-use of the English style.. my fingers are more relax this way. If the project requires more on knitting, I'll do the continental style... if the projects both purling and knitting.. I'll use the English style.
I'm a Continental knitter. I have always attributed that to having crocheted first. I hold my yarn in my left hand, as I do when I crochet. However, I pearl like a thrower.
My sister taught me to knit when I was a little girl. She’s right handed and aim left. I knit right but throw with my left. I’m going to try to switch to continental-right-handed. Hope it works for more even faster knitting!
Lever knitting aka Cottage Knitting or the Yarn Harlot method is one step away from knitting with a knitting belt, so it is different much more so from methods of flicking as Continental is from Combined. I have to say that I do a lot of knitting backwards with my primary go-to knitting style being Flicking but I do not hold my yarn as you do, it is opposite over my first finger and find that this makes mirror knitting more like Continental Combined and is quite comfortable for me.
And I know Portuguese Knitting also which I learned to have another style to do with my hands as I sometimes have some sore joints due to Arthritis. Portuguese is good for multiple color knitting in the round. However I often knit Fairisle with one yarn held in each hand so that is and English Flicking in the right and Continental or Continental Combined in the left hand.
I knit what style the pattern and yarn are most efficiently achieved in.
My least use knitting is Lever knitting as the way of holding the needle can give my right hand a bad cramp in my thumb joint.
I have never gotten a knitting belt and have no straight needles long enough to do it and have so much invested in knitting supplies and crocheting supplies as I also do Tunisian which as you know is a crochet/knitting hybrid.
There is always something different to learn in knitting and crochet.
I do not loom knit and don't want to as I feel like it is like spool knitting and could never gain any speed that way. I did that as a child and have no desire to revert. Yes, many like knitting this way, I just don't know any knitters who knit well who've been tempted to loom knit unless they jumped into using an Addi Knitting machine.
But if you enjoy your style, get good results, I'm glad, even so always fun to learn a new technique.
Another style of knitting is Irish cottage style knitting. This style is when you keep the right needle stationary meaning the right needle should not move and the left needle does all the work for you. This style allows you to have a fluid way of knitting and this is how I knit. When it comes to tensioning your yarn in Irish Cottage style most Irish cottage knitters would usually put the yarn in between their middle and index finger twist their middle counter clock wise and then just bring your ring finger under the yarn. This style uses your right hand not left hand. If you know Stephanie Pearl McPhee she knits this way.
I was a thrower, but since starting socks, which are small enough that such large movement seemed like way too much, and a blanket with cables and seed stitch, flicking is so much more comfortable. I still throw a stitch once in a while, to sort of pull more yarn through my tensioning fingers, but it's become part of the rhythm these days.
Hooray! I found out that I knit Continental Combination. Such a relief that I haven't been doing knit stitches wrong all this time!
i'm a lefthanded continental knitter. When my mother and grandmother taught me knitting continental style, i just automatically switched hands.
I am an American/English/Thrower who wants to be a Flicker/ Lever knitter! It just looks so quick and tidy. Lol
I realize you may never see my comment but my knitting is basically casting on then pulling it through the established stitch. It lets me knit in the dark and wont slide off the needle easily even when working with slick metal needles. I had to re-invent the wheel to teach myself how to knit because I was going only from a small pamphlet and I have a form of autism. I haven't yet figured out how to modify some of the more complicated patterns or lace stitches for my style but there are other benefits. I can knit in the dark. It has a greater natural strength & a greater natural stretch making it work almost like a form of spandex at times. As a result I can take "delicate" fibers such as cotton and treat them almost as if they were something stronger like acrylic.
I once asked a purist what my technique was called and she called it a weird backwards german purl. At that point I hadn't wrapped my head around how to purl yet for all that it was change simple (practically the same as a my garter stitch but with the standard purl set up).
I have an active channel - I see all of the comments! Good for you, glad you found a style that works for you. :)
@@verypinkknits It was very much a "I know this works... somehow but how can I make it work?" thing.
Any way that's part of why I was confused when you tried to help me with stitching in designs on pre-knitted work. I figured it out eventually. ^v^
I definitely love this video! While I watch it, I wished it have been there for me two or three years ago! Finding all in one is great.
I try portugues knitting after seeing your videos and it help my wrist from aching so much (I work many hours with my hands in a same position, the WORST position :S)
But what called my attention the most is what you named reverse. I know there are twisted stitches, but I didn't know I could choose to do it as a way of knitting. I certainly have to search more info about these! so, thanks for the links!
I'm knitting a shawl (I let my mistakes be in it as a reminder) and as I change my way of knitting just for fun and sensation of freedom (And I accept it: my hands and wrists hurts me but I can't help after work to do what I like!), I found these twisted stitches that I make -I think I get these when I knit continental BUT I wrap my lace not as "picking" but the other way... And I didn't notice it until you give us all this info!!!
I think I won't stop playing around and committing many mistakes (any way, these are ones that won't affect the integrity of the garment haha!! And I knit for myself)
Said too much, to short lines, I've the suspicion you will understand half of what I'm trying to say, my english is aweful. Either way, thank you so much for teaching us in such a marvelous pedagogical way of teaching. You are exceptional.
I prefer English style knitting. However, I do both English and continental for color work.
Im an Eastern Uncrossed knitter. Its main characteristic is that the stitches *always* sit on the needle with back leg forward. This is NOT combination knitting. The yarn is wrapped clockways (as seen from the needle tip) on every row. I happen to hold my yarn in my left hand but you can use your right hand too - just wrap the other direction from continental. But the stitches are NEVER seated as for English (unless doing a slanted decrease etc) and you can knit in the round all the way through your project, never encountering a twisted stitch.
With backwards or mirror knitting, since you are a Flicker, you can also flick with the yarn in the left hand and as it is just reversing what you basically do with Flicking, you may find it more natural.
Backwards or mirror comes in handy with Entrelac and with certain lace patterns where there are stitches worked on the purl side and can be hard to find what stitches you need to work whereas you can see where they occur better from the front of the work.
wow I knew a bit about continental and throwing but knew my style is different. Glad to learn about combination. I was half way to combination but hadn't figured out how to fix the twisted stitches
I knit what I've heard called "combined continental" ( not combination!) the yarn is in left hand, but when you knit you knit from the top and behind the stitch not under it.
Purling is the same thing, but the opposite! Yarn in front, and from the top. This apparently twists the stitches but it all looks the same. Looking at other stitches,this seems faster to me but your flicking definitely looks even faster.
Thanks for explaining how you do this, Cassandra. I was watching a youtube video called "Russian Knitting," but on this video it's called combination. I wanted to try the Russian knitting, but I hold the yarn in my left hand (I'm primarily a crocheter/"hooker"), and I wasn't sure how to overcome the way I hold yarn (left handed).
Cheers!
I'm a combination knitter and I've always wondered what it was called
I do combination purls but standard knit stitches- it’s how I was taught and the purls are much simpler
I'm a combination knitter in that I wrap the yarn "properly" for knit stitches but I find wrapping the yarn opposite for purling much easier and faster. When knitting with both I have to knit through the back loop after purling when working flat. In the round I have to lurk through the back loop if I purled that stitch before. It sounds complicated but once you know how to read the stitches it's really nice and quick!
Now I know I'm a combination knitter! I always thought I had learned to knit the wrong way, because patterns had the stitches "twisted"! haaa!
I recently taught myself to knit by wat thing a few videos on RUclips and found that the most common ways were actually difficult for me to do. I had almost given up when I realized that I was messing up so much because my left hand would try to knit if I wasn't paying attention. So I looked up more videos on left handed knitting and the result was I started to knit backwards naturally. Up until recently I didn't know that was what it was called. A friend was baffled that I didn't turn my work and asked if I purled. I responded only when needed. I also use my left hand when I hold my yarn. I'm still trying to figure out how to read patterns though with my style of knitting. I hope I can figure it out soon because I really want to make an awesome sweater
I first learned American style. But once a friend taught me continental, I knit much faster and with less stress on my hands. I can see mirror knitting being useful to not have to flip a large project like an afghan or shawl, I might try it out.
I like this channel. The videos are always clear and I learn something something each time I watch a video. Thank you.
There's the style used by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee aka Yarn Harlot which I think is called Irish knitting style? One needle jammed between the legs or between the torso and the elbow and the two hands, freed, are used to move the yarn and the second needle around. It's quite fascinating to look at.
haha now I know I'm a continental knitter. I used to get so confused before thinking I was doing something wrong because most knit videos I see are done in the 'Throwing' style. The results came out the same so I didn't think too hard about it. I find it difficult to do it any other way. Continental for life lol
Got into a conversation about knitting with a co-worker. She asked what my knitting style was, and I got the strangest blank stare when I replied, "I'm a mirror flicker". LOL. Out of context that sounds like a roommate no one wants - I'm picturing water spots all over the bathroom. (I'm left-handed so during the "flicking" part of the video, everything in her right hand is in my left hand.)
Thank you. Portuguese knitter and I'm wanting to learn a second style. This video is a helpful starting point.
I like to flick. it's fast and easy for me. I sit around on the weekends and flick making a beautifully cabled sweater! just in time for the weather change.
I learned English style, but switched to continental after seeing a lady knitting a sweater on a plane from Copenhagen to the USA. She was knitting so fast that I could barely believe it. The switch was very awkward at first, so I only used it for knits at first then purls. I’m going much faster now, but more importantly, all the pain in my elbows, wrists, fingers, etc. is GONE.
Interesting and thanks for sharing.
I knit continental and using my right index finger to hook yarn toward right needle, it's unique, LOL. I've been knitting like this since I was 14 or 15.
I sure like to learn your style "flicking", it looks easy and faster!!
OK, so I'm an english knitter. Good to know. And since I'm actually Greek I'm a Greek English knitter. I've only started knitting a couple months ago (and I just finished my first baby cardigan -so proud-) but I'm already 100% certain that what is, apparently, called English knitting or throwing is the only way I can do it. It comes naturally to me while all the other methods seem exhausting. I tried continental because that's how my neighbour does it and it seemed faster and more practical but I just can't. Maybe if I practiced but I don't really want to since I'm so comfortable with the English style.