"AGRES" wrote in message
news:6WAQa.59798$Ph3.5632@sccrnsc04...
But, the other day, someone on RCTY said that Continental style (feed yarn
with left hand) was faster. I have a big, mindless project going, so the
other night, I looped the yarn over my left hand. It was easy and felt
natural, and the stitches really flew off the needles. I had never before
knitted that fast in my life (stitches per minute). I assume that I leaned
to knit Continental style as a child, and then switched for some reason,
but the motor skills remain.

But, the gauge was much looser. I had to drop down two needle sizes to get
the same number of stitches per inch, and then the stitch definition was
not
as good and the fabric was not a firm and dense.

Wow--I taught myself Continental-style knitting and I find that I knit even
tighter that way than I do when I knit American-style (right hand
"throwing"). I really noticed this when I did some Fair-aisle knitting with
one color in each hand--I had to frog quite a bit and really concentrate on
knitting *very* loosely (for me, anyway!) with the left-hand color.
However, I tend to knit very tightly American-style as well. I can't use
bamboo/wood needles because I break them--not because I sit on them or some
other accident, just that I have a tight enough tension that the needles
bend more and more, then finally break. I know now why bamboo slivers were
used to torture people--I managed to skewer myself several times before I
finally gave up on bamboo/wood. Now I use aluminum for larger sizes and
stainless steel for sock needles.
--
LittleBit

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting
different results.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)