I learnt to knit the “throw” (English) way but was wondering if it’s time to change to the “pick” continental way. As it would appear that the continental way is quicker but does it alter the way you decrease and increase stitches? Any advice would be great.
I switched to continental - Norwegian style as taught on the Arne and Carl site. It is much faster and I am not that fast a knitter! Took me a few days to train my brain. Hardest is the purl and Very Pink has a decent tutorial too. Definitely worth it though. I also make less mistakes since your are picking not throwing - Try it!!
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I’m a sample and test knitter with very very tight deadlines and knit English, Continental, combined, Portuguese and even left handed. There is no magical technique as what works for one person may not work for another. That being said, it’s great to learn different ways to knit so that it makes certain techniques much more fun. Pick the style you enjoy most, relax and remember it takes time to learn something new. Speed will come with practice.
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100% agree. I learned to knit Continental for when I do Fair Isle colorwork - so I can hold yarn in each hand. That said, I’m very right-hand dominant so Continental has never come easily or quickly for me, despite lots of practice to try to improve. The “fastest knitter” contests have been won by people knitting in a lot of different styles. In my view, the “best” style for any given knitter is the one that they feel most comfortable with so that they enjoy the knitting.
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I made the switch in January 2019 mostly because of shoulder pain. I found the Norwegian purl to be the best for me. By the time I finished a modest scarf I had it down. I have much less pain as a result. I do think I am somewhat faster using Continental, especially when working brioche. The various increases and decreases are constructed the same way, just with a different hand motion. Added bonus is using both methods when working colorwork.
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I agree with the Norwegian style. After watching Arne and Carlos on Knit Stars I decided it was time to learn Continental. I had also been a thrower all my life. It only took a few days and I had it down. I had to slow their video way down to get the purl but it got easier also. Decreases and increases are the same
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I also support learning as many different styles as you can. I find different styles work for different kinds of knitting projects. I love Portuguese knitting for knitting lots of purls - I like it so much I redesigned the ballband dish cloth pattern to be primarily purl rows instead of knit rows so I could knit them using the Portuguese style easier, because I found it so much faster to do that pattern in that knitting style.
To the OP: I suggest learning continental and then you have the ability to make a choice about how you want to knit specific projects, instead of being restrained to only one technique.
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Many thanks for your suggestions will check out the Arne & Carlos site.
I’ve used the Continental style for years and find that I can knit for hours without pain, just have to get up off the sofa every now and then! I also changed the direction of my stitches, over versus under when picking the stitch, and have discovered that my style is called Eastern. When on the knit side the stitches are presented with left leg forward, making knit stitch easy. On the purl side I find it very comfortable. Never did understand why people hate purling so much! Don’t know if it helps, but the simplest answer I gave to my daughter about style is “just make sure that the stitch isn’t twisted when you knit unless you want it that way.”