Continental Knitting

If you look at my del.icio.us bookmarks, you'll see that yesterday I saved a lot of videos helping with learning the Continental (German) style of knitting.

I've tried. I've tried in the past. It just feels SO WRONG to my hands. I taught myself to knit decades ago; and I learned the "English" way. I just feel totally annoyed when I try it the Continental way. ::sigh::

When I crochet, the yarn comes from the left; when I knit, the yarn comes from the right. That's how it feels right to me.

I do not "throw" the yarn. Well, not in the manner of actually taking the yarn in my fingers and wrapping it around the needle. I move it over with my right forefinger. So I am not doing a whole-arm motion when I wrap the yarn. I do not feel I would be bumping into anyone on either side of me with my elbows.

Also, when I try Continental knitting, it feels like I am trying to crochet without a hook--yeck! And as for repetitive motion: if my hand or wrist gets tired doing crochet, I can move to knitting. The motions I use for the one are so different from the other, that either is a rest from the other.

So I guess I'll give up trying to learn the "better" (in some peoples' opinions) way of knitting. I knit to enjoy myself, not to be the fastest knitter on the block. If I want something FAST, I'll crochet. :-P

Comments

yaaay for doing something the way you want to, cause that's how you enjoy doing it!

i've had people bitch at me for doing something "not right" when it works just fine, and i enjoy doing it the way i'm doing it... and i mean... that just sucks the fun out of it, usually for good. there's a couple of hobbies i pretty much gave up cause i was sick of people telling me that i was "doing it wrong" when the end result came out the same way.
Aaah, my sister (who is a professional-level crocheter and who knits Continental style) told me that Debbie Stoller, of Stitch 'N Bitch fame, knits English style! So I'm in good company. :-)

She too said the same thing: do what feels comfortable and what you like. :-)
*nod* when it comes to something that i like, that is kinda dying... like crocheting! or any needlework actually... i'd rather people enjoy doing it their way, than convince them it's too much of a pain to keep alive.
Oh, LOTS of people are keeping knitting and crocheting alive!!! There has been a tremendous resurgence in both since about 2000 (possibly a bit earlier) or so!

Long live the fiber arts!! :-)
uh huh, i know. but a lot of those will quit after the "fad" of it goes away.

but it never woulda gotten off the ground if people went "grammer nazi" about crocheting.
I tend to drift in and out of my "crazes". I took about a 20-year hiatus from knitting myself. :-P Lemme see: crochet was about 15 or 20 years. :-D

I was really into fountain pens several years ago, then I just totally dropped that for about four years. Lately I've been flushing out my pens so I can at least store them properly. Cat'r is going to help me go through bottles of ink (already opened, that is) to see which are still okay to use and which need to be pitched.

I was on a beading craze a year or so ago. Right now I have zero interest in it. But I am not going to get rid of my supplies and tools. I'm sure I'll get back to it *some* year. :-P
heh. i used to do calligraphy. i like doing it, still. just yeah... my brothers got ahold of my pens, and most of my ink dried out.
Oh, I forGOT about calligraphy! I still have tons of books. I think that was in the 80's. hehehe

When I was on my fountain pen kick, I got back into calligraphy a little.

July 2008

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