I have historically been an English knitter. However, I’ve seen the argument made that continental knitting is less tiring because the movements are smaller. As a result, I’ve been trying to make the switch. If both of these terms mean absolutely nothing to you, then boy howdy, do I have a quick summary post for you.

• Appropriate weight yarn 
• The correct gauge needles

Any Pattern by Anybody

Despite the confusing names, English and continental knitting simply refer to how the working yarn is being held while you work each stitch.

If you are holding the yarn in your DOMINANT hand as you wrap the yarn around the needle, you are an English knitter. This style is also often called “throwing”, since you are wrapping the yarn around the needle in a throwing motion. I find that throwing is a more descriptive name, and less country specific as well. I tried to capture a video of me knitting this way, and I apologize ahead of time for the shifting camera focus as my hands move. I am right-handed, so when I throw, the yarn comes from the right, and my hand leaves the needle completely.

The other option is to hold the yarn in your NON-DOMINANT hand, and to use the working needle to pick up the yarn as you go. This is often called continental knitting, or “picking”. For me, this means holding the yarn in my left hand. As you can tell in the video below, I am a lot slower with this method. I’m still not quite used to using my right-hand needle to find the working yarn, but I can definitely see the theory behind it being more efficient with the smaller movements. For example, I can keep both hands on my needles with this style.

At the end of the day, I think it just comes down to comfort. People can knit incredibly fast using either style, so it’s really just a matter of practice and preference. I will say that I find picking much faster when I am knitting rib stitch (alternating knit and purl) as it saves me from having to move the yarn around from the back to the front of the work. However, if I’m doing a big panel of stockinette in the round, I still find throwing faster. I’m hoping I will get faster at picking soon with the practice I have been doing.

Visually, I personally haven’t noticed any big tension differences between the two styles, but in my mind, I knit a little tighter when I throw since I can pull the yarn snug after every stitch, whereas the yarn is just kind of there when I pick. This is definitely something I will have to explore more, and if there is a discrepancy, I hope it will even out with practice.

While these two styles are certainly the most popular, it turns out that there are other knitting styles beyond throwing and picking! These include lever knitting (“flicking”), Portuguese knitting (yarn held around the neck), and Shetland knitting (yarn held at the hip). I had no idea that these other techniques existed, but they seem really neat. I also learned about the difference between Western, Eastern, and Combination knitting methods, which I had no idea was a thing, but that’s a discussion for another day. Suffice it to say that I knit Western, with my leading leg in front and my yarn wrapped counter-clockwise. What about you? How do you like to hold your yarn? Do you knit Western? Do you need more information about that? Let me know!

Until next time, happy crafting!