Knitting Question - How do you hold your yarn?

[pageta]

So I've taught myself how to knit using books. Then I went to my local yarn shop the other day and watched someone else knit and they hold their yarn completely different than I do, and they were much faster than me too. Now that I look back at all my helpful directions, all they ever show you is the needles - they never show someone holding the yarn while they knit.

I hold my yarn in my right hand, but I have to drop the right needle in order to wrap it around when I make a stitch. The people in the yarn shop held the yarn around their left finger and then it was just a little wiggle of the finger to wrap the yarn instead of dropping the needle and picking it back up. Is there a website that shows how to hold your yarn while you knit? I tried doing a search, but all I can find is pictures of needles and thread without any hands. Can anyone give me a good description of how they hold their yarn?

[Green4God]

You can hold with either your left or your right. One is called continental and I can't remember the name of the other. For videos of a real person knitting go here or here or here or here

HTH!

[gottaknit]

I knit continental, as in holding the yarn in the left hand. I never have to take my hands off the needles so it's much faster for me. (Although there are some very fast English-style knitters out there!)

Here's how I do it: Leading the yarn away from the knitting, I first run the yarn over my index finger, then under my middle finger, over my ring finger, and then under my pinky. If I'm purling I sometimes wind the yarn around my pinky (under then over towards the ring finger) to keep the tension (I tend to purl too loosely).

This is an especially fast way to purl, IMO. I just twitch my index finger a little to wrap the yarn around the needle. HTH!

Good Luck!

[kimberlylibby]

I knit with yarn in my left hand also

[puddingpop]

I'm a continental knitter, too -- I learned from my Ukrainian grandmother who couldn't fathom knitting with the yarn in her right hand!

Hmmm... I need a new knitting project...

[yllek]

I first learned right-handed, but switched to Continental. Handy, because I use both hands to carry yarn for multi-color knitting...

Kelly

[Meiri]

After reading Stitch and Bitch, I found out that I'd be better off to try knitting continental style because I'm lefthanded. I'm finding knitting to be much easier now.

Feeding the yarn from your right hand is English style.

[mehndi mama]

I do it like you do - the slow wrong way But when I'm feeling patient, I do try to hold my yarn the proper English way - wrapped once around my pinky & hooked over my index finger. You can also feed it in & out between your fingers (which is how I do it when I do Tunisian Crochet). It's REALLY hard to get used to (for me, at least), but I keep working at it, hoping that someday it will feel right!

[Ann-Marita]

I learned to knit with yarn in right hand when I was 8 years old. When I was 22 I learned to knit with the yarn in my left hand - over index, under middle finger, over ring, under pinky).

Yes, yarn in the left hand is faster. For me, MUCH faster. It made the difference between knitting being drudgery and knitting being enjoyable.

For certain stitches, I hold one color yarn in my left hand, and the other in my right hand.

[pamelamama]

Then there's the combined method, just to spice things up for ya.
http://www.modeknit.com/combined.html


and STELL! HOLY MOLY! LOOK at that SIG! (Besides the over-two-lines detail ) -- You're pregnant!!! Hooray!!!

[Morwenna]

I also hold my yarn the 'wrong' way--and I think I am pretty darned fast I am a 'reformed' left-handed knitter, my mother could not figure out how to teach me left-handed so I adapted--wonder if that has anything to do with it?

[KathyS]

I can't seem to load the vidoes for viewing. I would love to see one with the yarn being held in the left hand. I Too knit holding the yarn in my right hand and have gotten pretty fast at it. I rest the right needle on my thigh and then I dont' have to lift the right needle all the time. I guess thats considered wrong

[puddingpop]

Kathy, there is no "wrong" way to knit -- whatever works to produce the correct stitches is "right"!

[oshunmama]

I drop the right needle and wrap, then pick it up again--and I am one of the fastest knitters I know. It is not necessisarily the right way, but it works for me. And the more you knit that way, the faster it will get!

I also type incorrectly, btw......but type quite a respectable wpm although I do it completely wrong. I think it just takes lots of practice in the "wrong" way to get it up to speed!

[CraftyMommaOf2]

Continental here. I cannot hold the yarn in my right hand...feels so wierd.

[Peppamint]

I think I do the English, but not correctly. Um, what I mean to say is I try to do the English, but I end up using my forefinger on my right hand to loop over the right needle.

Maybe that's why my dishcloths turn out like triangles instead of squares? My first couple dishcloths looked fine, the last one I did was really bad. Not sure what happened.

[Kristeen]

I am just like oshunmama! Apparently I knit improperly AND type improperly! I can type over 40wpm though!

Yay for deviants!

[pageta]

Well, I bought The Knitting Experience: The Knit Stitch because it had great pictures for how to knit continental style as well as other cast on methods and details about knitting that I didn't know. I sat down with it this afternoon and figured out continental style. Then I went back to the soaker I'm working on and by the time I finished a couple rounds, I was faster than I was with the English style. I still am not great at it, but it's getting more natural. I'm doing something where my shoulder gets tense when I knit continental style so I need to fine tune my technique some more. I'm glad I took the plunge, though. I knit to relax, but I do like finishing projects, and if they take too long, I get bored and worry that they'll will get left by the wayside.

[Dragonfly]

Does anyone know of a site where I could see a video of someone doing "combined" knitting? I looked at the linked site and, just from the animated gif, it looks like what I do (though I thought I was knitting continental style). I can't see the hands, though, so can't really tell.

[kliz03]

Another How to Knit Video Website

I recommend this how to knit video site. It has a bunch of basic videos that give great tips on beginning knitting: http://www.monkeysee.com/play/5538-knitting I just started to knit and these videos have been a big help!