Continental Thrower?

Hello all,
I’m very curious about something: does anyone else knit continental style (working yarn in left hand) but also “throw” the yarn rather than pick (wrap clockwise rather than counter clockwise)? For some unknown reason I’ve been knitting this way for years and for a couple of reasons I’m wondering if I should force myself to change this. Thanks!

I knit continental but don’t throw yarn. I have crocheted for over 50 years but knitted only 3 so it was natural for me to knit continental. I would say it it works for do what your comfortable with and can get even tension

I don’t knit this way, but was wondering what the reasons are for thinking of changing?
I think the most important aspect of knitting style is that you are comfortable and it doesn’t cause strain or pain.

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Two reasons I’ve been wondering. First, I just purchased my first 9-in circular and as I’m adapting to it it occurred to me that if I change to picking, it might be smoother knitting on the smaller circulars. Second, as I am (slowly!) becoming a more advanced knitter and trying more complex patterns, I wondered if my end result was going to look different due to throwing vs picking. Thank you both for the feedback!

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Are you twisting your stitches when you wrap clockwise? Can you post a photo of your knitting?
Knitting continental shouldn’t change the mount of the sts. The stitches will still have the right leg of the stitch in front.

I’ve seen videos of knitters who knit Continental but seem to throw the yarn. It’s one of those things that works for the knitter. To me it looks odd but that’s because I don’t do it. I’m sure my way of knitting would look odd to lots of others. You mentioned picking clockwise - that’s Eastern European and the stitches on the next row are knit through the leading leg which is in back. Combination knitters use purls worked with a clockwise wrap and knit through the leading (back) leg on the next row. I’m a Continental picker. I can’t do a lot of finger movements and not have hand/finger pain or maintain even tension so I’ve worked out how to minimize all movements when knitting. I use Norwegian purls and all my stitches are mounted with the leading leg in front. How you knit and what works for you as an individual is what matters. If you think changing how you do it seems like a good idea, you can try other ways and see how it goes. In the end IMHO if it ain’t broke it don’t need fixing.

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Try as I might, I cannot figure out how to upload a photo, just a link to a photo. That said, this feedback has been very helpful. I might experiment with the true Continental style with the picking rather than throwing. I won’t, however, try it in the middle of an arm because when I did, it looked really weird. Thanks all. Forum participation is new to me and I’ve had a rewarding first experience!

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Thanks very much for your posts.
As far as photos go:
Screenshot (3)_LI
Click on the landscape icon in the top of the Reply box.
The next screen will ask you to choose a file.
Once you choose the file click Open and then click on Upload. That should do it.

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I use 9" circulars and knit English style EXCEPT I purl continental. Works for me, and I find that I do not have back/shoulder issues since I quit throwing :older_woman:

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Nope, don’t change in the middle. Never change to a new knitting technique mid-project seem like good words to live by. Your tension is very likely to be different and if you do adopt a different technique you may find the needles you would typically use are the wrong size. As long as you knitting looks good to you and you’re not in pain from knitting, don’t worry about it. I’ve made adaptations to be able to knit. If I hadn’t had to do that I’d probably still be knitting the way I started.

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Good to hear your first steps into forum use were rewarding ones. This is an excellently run forum, friendly, clean, maintained. I love it.

I agree about not changing your style mid project. Some swatches to practise different styles will give you the chance to trial things and get a feel for what you are comfortable with.

When I found this site I had never knit continental (or heard of it) and gave it a go just to see how it was. I don’t use it as my standard knitting style but learning was very useful and fun and now I can hold a colour in each hand for stranded colour work which I find comfortable.

When I upload a pic I usually click on the choose files button as salmonmac said and then I get an option to choose camera or a folder. I usually choose camera and take the pic there and then. Click OK, then upload.

I had posted this on a FB chat group I have with a couple of friends. I right clicked, Copy Image then pasted it here, knocked it down to 50% size. The size choice is in the preview, for me using a laptop it’s on the right of the box I type in.

image

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I knit continental and pick.

Wrapping the yarn the other way so that the loop sits on the needle with the back leg forward is Eastern style, no matter if thrown or picked. I knit Eastern (and pick, my left hand never leaves my needle in a row.) It is a perfectly fine way to knit.
But it is often at odds with US or Brit patterns. (Actually any English language patterns because even Eastern Euro pattern creators translate their patterns to Continental or Brit style of knitting). Your slants will be different & you have to translate them in your head. But most charts are fine & work well, being graphic in nature and not terminology dependent. .
UPDATE. I just realized that I was assuming that the stitches were entered from the right, which is the correct way for knit Eastern stitches. If she is entering the stitch from the left as one would for Eng. Or Continental, the stitches, wrapped the other way would be twisted.

In order to knit properly, the stitch must be entered from the front for knitting and the back for purling. In Eastern, the front is on the right when knitting and the back/left when purling. Im sorry if I confused anyone.

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No. This is a misconception. If you never do combo knitting, wrapping the same way on every stitch, both knit & purl, there are never any twisted stitches. I wrap that way & can endlessly knit in the round with nary a twisted stitch. I confess purl stitches wrapped the other way take a while to get used to. They are less straight forward than english or continental purls, imo. But once you get used to it, Eng & continental feels “loosy goosy” and seems incorrect.

OTOH, if she wraps one way on knits & the other way on purls, she will get twisted stitches unless she carefully goes about untwisting as she goes (as Annie Modisett does in her combo style).

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Sorry to be confusing, @FluffyYarn. We’ve fairly often had convetional knitters ask about knit sts. Although then wrap purl sts counterclockwise, their knit sts are wrapped clockwise hence the twisted sts.

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No need to be sorry. Ive seen posts like that too. And I just realized I left a huge factor out of my answer! Im off to update it. So many tiny things to mention.

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