I often hear people say things like “I need to learn Continental” or “I’m a hopeless thrower,” when describing their own knitting style. Folks have learned how to knit one way and want to broaden their skills, often in the name of speed. I myself have a weird style that I have dubbed “Continental-ish Throwing.” because I work the yarn from my left hand, but take the hand off to (sometimes forcibly) wrap the yarn around the needles. My style evolved largely because I had difficulty with wrapping the yarn around my left index finger as is common for continental knitting, because I feel the need to have the index finger free for other things. So I just wrap it once around the pinky finger to maintain tension, and have to “throw” the yarn over the needle.
Over the past week and a half I have tried hard to learn true continental knitting. I have spent many hours picking and though I can see the sense in it, I don’t feel it’s for me. I do like the ease of bringing the yarn over to switch from knit to purl, but I found it a bit awkward overall. I tried and tried to get used to it, but it’s just not me.
The conclusion I’ve come to is that we all just have to knit our own knit. In any gathering of knitters you’ll see several styles of knitting, and that’s okay. This craft is one of many things in which there is no right or wrong way to do it. While my technique looks clunky to some, it works for me. I’ve completed over 20 projects (and NOT all hats) in the 2 years since I started knitting, so I must be doing something right.
Needles and Balls 