Does anyone switch between Continental and English knitting?

[GoodUserNamesTaken]

Hello!

I was wondering if anyone switched between knitting methods, and if it makes a difference if you do? I just learned Continental knitting, and I like it better than English knitting, but purling in the Continental style is REALLY hard.. I like the English version better.

Can you switch between the two? Does it make any difference? And does anyone else do that?

Rachel, who is quickly becoming a knitting fool...

[alaska]

I switch all the time.
Whether it matters depends on whether you keep consistent tension when switching. If you in one piece, you are consistently doing a contintental knit and an english purl, you're fine - you're actually being "consistent", if that makes sense.

If I can dig them out, I knkkow of two great videos - one showing continental purling that's very easy, the other is a great video showing how to do a norwegian purl. I'll try to find them for you.

[GoodUserNamesTaken]

Thanks! Is it the videos on KnitingHelp.com? If yes, I've seen those videos. They are AWESOME!!! I love them.

[flapjack]

Yep- another switch knitter here.

[orangefoot]

There is an easy continental purl which you can find here (not sure I like her now after seeing the post below though) Once you can purl like this you won't need to switch at all as it is so easy.

I mixed this purl with an ordinary continental knit and it twisted my stitches but I was too dim in knitting to see how. Flapjack told me where I was going wrong and now I continental knit into the back of the stitches and everything is grand!

[texaspeach]

I knit both ways, but not in the same piece. my tension is different in each way, looser in continental and tighter in english, so it looks all screwed up if I mix them. I prefer continental - purling feels awkward at first, but after you do it a few hundred times it gets better

[dara00]

I knit a mix of the two and I can't fix it! I hold the yarn in my left hand but I wrap it around the needle rather than using the needle to go under the yarn!

[mamadaisy]

I just recently started switching. How else can one get through a big dk weight sweater in mostly stockinette without keeling over from boredom? I find my tension to be fairly equal though sometimes I am looser with Continental.

[lorelei]

I can't seem to get the hang of holding the yarn with my right hand- and I'm right handed! I think (imho) that I can knit faster Continental than folks I know who do English, because I'm not wasting time wrapping the yarn around the needle, I just kind of scoop it up. Or maybe it's just that I do knit faster than the folks I know, regardless of style. lol

I think as long as you do the same thing throughout the piece you're working on, it won't matter if you're doing both types of knitting.

eta: this looks to be the same thing I'm doing-
http://www.modeknit.com/knit.html
http://www.modeknit.com/purl.html

I didn't realize there was a name for it. lol

[eepster]

I do both. I knit continental with my right hand and english with my left. I go back and forth this way sort of like in this video.

Originally Posted by lorelei

eta: this looks to be the same thing I'm doing-
http://www.modeknit.com/knit.html
http://www.modeknit.com/purl.html

I didn't realize there was a name for it. lol

I do that too sometimes just thought it was continental but with the stitches on the needle facing the other way, I had no idea it had a name.

[Realrellim]

If I'm knitting stockinette, I knit Continental and purl English. I can purl Continental but don't like to for long stretches. Also, I basically wrap rather than pick when I knit Continental. It doesn't feel as comfortable for me to pick.

If I'm doing K1P1 or K2P2 or whatever, then I do it all Continental so I'm not constantly changing. It's possible and I've done it that way, but I find this way to be more efficient.

[Knittin' in the Shade]

Originally Posted by orangefoot

There is an easy continental purl which you can find here (not sure I like her now after seeing the post below though) Once you can purl like this you won't need to switch at all as it is so easy.

What post below? What do you mean? Annie is awesome!!

[love2bmom]

I only knit both methods when knitting Fair Isle (stranded). Then I have yarn in both hands. Your tension can be different with the different methods. The teacher I had for stranded knitting said that you should always carry the color you want to "pop" in the left hand. That the stitches lay a little differently.

[KnitterMama]

Only in a very literal sense - as when I'm doing colorwork, I knit continental with my left hand and English with my right. My gauge between the two is still slightly off ...