I’ve watched many videos on how to knit and I can say that my style is a weird hybrid that makes purling difficult. Having watched the videos you linked I think I may have try that style since it makes sense to my “Why am I having to change the way I’m holding things when no one else is?” brain.
Thanks for the links. I don’t have any problems holding my yarn or needles, but I imagine it’s something that’s not far off, so this is welcome.
I found this video on IRISH cottage knitting.She really IS lightning fast.
Crazy Knitting Lady
I also found this video: Crazy Knitting Lady II
I knit both English and Continenetal and prefer English hands down. I use Continental when double stranding. I don’t think that fact you knit English or Continental makes any difference in repetative stress injuries. Repetative stress is caused by the same motion over and over whether it is English or continental.
More important is how you hold your body, whether you are doing which method properly and that you take reaks to stretch at regular intervals.
My LYS has a 3 hour class that is offerred several times a year on Knitting ergonomics.
I find that when I am knitting non stop, as I am now, it’s my neck and shoulders that hurt. My hands may ache but once I start knitting they limber up.
Like Melissa, I’ve been crocheting a long time and I only just started to learn to knit in the last month or so.
I tried the English way but my right hand didn’t want to hold the yarn and I got annoyed at having to take my hand off the needle to wrap. So knitting Continental is much more like the hand position I was used to in crochet.
But I don’t understand why all the knitting books say Continental is better for left handers. If I had been a left handed crocheter, I think I’d like English better.
I was a crocheter most of my life - and I’m a left hander who crochets right handed … because my mom taught me and she’s right handed. I guess I was so young when she taught me that it wasn’t a problem. However, I guess I may be more ambidexterous (sp?) than I thought because I mainly eat and write with my left hand. I iron (on the rare ocassion I actually iron), wash dishes, cut with scissors, etc with my right hand. Maybe that because I’m pushing 50 (next year) and back then there weren’t as many left handed conveniences? I don’t know. Anyway, since I had crocheted for years, holding the yarn in my right hand just didn’t feel right. I tried. When I switched to holding it in my left hand it felt much better. I hold the yarn the same way for both knitting and crocheting.
I am right handed and was a crocheter first, too. I tried continental and it just didn’t click. English worked much better. I can now do both ways and I find it handy for ribbing and fair isle, but I wish continental knitters would quit saying their way is faster and better. Some english knitters are very fast. It’s really all in the way you hold the yarn and needles as well as your natural speed. 
That’s interesting, WandaT, I was left-handed till the age of 3 when I was forcibly changed. I may be a bit ambidextrous.
Jan, I’m still incredibly slow (at least to me) even though I knit Continental. But I’m comparing it to crocheting.
[color="#330099"]I knit with both hands, and sometimes backwards.
I started with crochet.
Most of the time I knit like the continental video you linked in your OP, but I like to keep my fingers close to the needle. Sometimes just the index finger like she said not to do. Hey sometimes that easier.
Less often I will knit from the right like the vid that Jan linked. When I do you can bet it is because my left hand is bothering me. Either that or I have yarn in both hand doing a fair isle pattern.
Sometimes I have trouble with my hands; I may get numbness and pain from the elbows down. I stop and shake out my arms to relax my forearms and that helps but I usually have to take a break soon after the pain and numbness sets in.
Sometimes when the “yarn entropy” gets too great :nails: I toss the project in my canvas sac and stuff the whole thing in my backpack for a timeout. When it has become more compliant I will then pull it back out and again archive balance. I think yarn is afraid of the lonely, dark in my backpack. 
I fight entropy one stitch at a time. Every stitch and row is a win, every tink or frog a step backwards. Sometimes I think a project would be well served to be tossed in the fire place until the acrylic burns and melts down to a fuming black lump. Oh, I haven’t done that but I think about it. Yea, once or twice.
Like a gambler: you’ve got to know when to hold it, and you’ve got to know when to fold it. 'cause every WIP’s a winner and every WIP’s a looser and the best that you can hope for is to knit your last knit. :doh:
Did I really just type all that? LOL
What was that phrase I coined a while back, ambidextrous interweavous perhaps.
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Well well, I’ve been knitting continental for some time now. When I started, I did english style, and my sister taught me, but I found it troublesome to switch between knitting and purling and choose continental for the facility. I’m crocheting as well, so all flows well…
Hi!
The video you listed is the perfect instruction for continental. One of the things she most stresses is that the yarn needs to lie over the TOP of the left hand fingers. This is crucial and makes knitting life so much easier!!!
I used to knit english style but decided to teach myself continental and fortunately found the video you attached. What a treat! Now when I knit continental projects just move along very fast without my intentionally pushing the speed.
I, too, tried knitting one piece inside another (what great fun!). They were leg warmers so I didn’t have to fiddle with increases and decreases which made it easier to learn. I managed to hold both strands of yarn in my left hand, separating them just a little so they’d be easier to pick up, and the project just flew along! And with very little stress. Which, I guess, is a very key element to getting projects done. If you don’t have to keep stopping to rest and can just flow along things get done!
I know it’s very awkward to try out a new style of knitting but believe me - once you get over the fumble-fingers it’s so worth it to learn continental.
Happy knitting and Merry Christmas!
Ruthie
I only know how to knit Continental but it doesn’t stop me from getting “knitter’s claw” when I knit a lot… Right now I’m taking a break from my knitting because my left thumb is sore and my left index finger has a notch in it from tensioning the working yarn!
It might be nice to switch back and forth if you can do both styles, but then again, it might change your gauge. I’d be careful if switching mid-project.
I really wish I knew how to do that Irish Cottage Knitting. Man she is fast!!! Even when they slowed down the video I couldn’t tell what is going on.
I think I learned the continental way but I had a friend in Germany teach me her way and it was faster. I use these gloves to help to ease some of the pain. I get a new pair each year!!:mrgreen:
http://domeproductsonline.com/contents/en-us/d7.html
Jan, I know a lot of Continental knitters say it is a faster way to knit than English. The records show that both Continental and English knitters win world speed competitions. But I think when some of us say it is faster we mean it is faster for us. I know I have done (and still do) both and I find that for myself Continental is faster overall, especially for any sort of work that switches between knits and purls. I understand that some folks can manage those changes very well with English knitting, but I couldn’t. We are just all different.
To the question, “how do YOU knit?”… I started out English and didn’t know any other ways existed. Then I was exposed to Continental after many years of being an English knitter. I decided to switch and am glad I did. For me it is is much easier on my hands, but there are still repetition issues.
I use both when I do stranded color work, but I’m trying to learn to do that holding both colors in the left hand, so far I still find it faster to use both hands.
I’ve dabbled with Combined knitting and like its ease of performance, but my knitting doesn’t look right when I knit that way. I don’t know why, I wish it looked better and I’d use it more. Also I don’t know how to do the fancier stuff using that method.
I just learned Eastern knitting last night and think it might be the easiest of all with a little practice. I still have the issues of “how do you do the fancier stuff” with that method.
I can knit backwards as well, albeit slowly, it comes in handy at times and I have actually used it in projects to do stranded color work flat so that I could always have the right side facing, and for bobbles.
It is amazing there are so many different ways to do the same thing. Just fascinating. And they are all good, some just work better for different people.
I think English knitting looks so elegant, but I just can’t keep my tension consistent when I knit that way. I wish I could, because it would make stranded knitting do-able. Thank goodness Continental was pretty easy to pick up. For a lot of years, I kind of knit English, but I dropped the yarn after I wrapped it around the needle, so it took FOREVER. After I was exposed to Continental (from KH videos), I was so excited to learn how to do it.
I know most of the people who say it do mean for them, but not everyone means it that way. I felt pressure to learn the “better” way when I was a new knitter when what I needed to hear is that there are different ways to accomplish the same thing and there is no one right way. We all need to do what works for us personally. I can knit continental, but for me it’s harder on my hands that english knitting. 
My tension is very different depending on if I knit English or Continental. My English is tighter.
In the book I learned from, I learned how to use straight needles in English style. I like that style, and it easily transferres to Circular and DPNS.
I am a new knitter (on my 2nd project, a cabled scarf for a friend) and I knit English, simply b/c that’s how I was taught. Continental looks too complicated to me honestly, and I’m fine with how I knit now. I’m getting consistently faster so I’m not too worried about speed at the moment. I do sometimes cramp up in my wrists/forearms, but I imagine that could happen with either style of knitting. Maybe when I’ve mastered throwing then I might try continental.
I knit Portuguese style. It’s much easier on my hands and much faster. I learned English first, but b/c of hand issues, had to learn a new way. This was easy to adapt to and purling is a breeze!
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Something new for me to learn. 
That’s like free candy to me. Sweet but burns calories instead of adding them. :oops:
Yep, I’m a knitting geek.[/COLOR]