Slipperiness and Continental style

I'm a new knitter and I'm doing fine with English style. I'm working on
getting the hang of Continental style because of its advantages--I think
that if I get it down, it'll be faster, and I'm going to want to try
Fair Isle knitting with the two-hand method. I'm starting to get the
hand movements down, but I'm having trouble with tension. I have little
trouble feeding the yarn with just a little bit of tension using the
English style, but with the Continental style I can't seem to find the
happy medium between a single wrap around a finger--too loose, inability
to keep the new stitch on the needle while pulling it through the old
one--and a couple of turns, or a turn around the pinky--the yarn won't
feed. Any suggestions?

With the yarn around the finger, you have to release the yarn. So when
it becomes tight, you flick the finger to release the wound around yarn.
This keeps the tension even.

I hope this is clear.

Arlene



Harlan Messinger wrote:
I'm a new knitter and I'm doing fine with English style. I'm working on
getting the hang of Continental style because of its advantages--I think
that if I get it down, it'll be faster, and I'm going to want to try
Fair Isle knitting with the two-hand method. I'm starting to get the
hand movements down, but I'm having trouble with tension. I have little
trouble feeding the yarn with just a little bit of tension using the
English style, but with the Continental style I can't seem to find the
happy medium between a single wrap around a finger--too loose, inability
to keep the new stitch on the needle while pulling it through the old
one--and a couple of turns, or a turn around the pinky--the yarn won't
feed. Any suggestions?

arlene wrote:
Harlan Messinger wrote:
I'm a new knitter and I'm doing fine with English style. I'm working
on getting the hang of Continental style because of its advantages--I
think that if I get it down, it'll be faster, and I'm going to want to
try Fair Isle knitting with the two-hand method. I'm starting to get
the hand movements down, but I'm having trouble with tension. I have
little trouble feeding the yarn with just a little bit of tension
using the English style, but with the Continental style I can't seem
to find the happy medium between a single wrap around a finger--too
loose, inability to keep the new stitch on the needle while pulling it
through the old one--and a couple of turns, or a turn around the
pinky--the yarn won't feed. Any suggestions?
With the yarn around the finger, you have to release the yarn. So when
it becomes tight, you flick the finger to release the wound around yarn.
This keeps the tension even.


I do release the yarn, just as I do with the English method. My point is
that the friction of the yarn as wound around my fingers is too great to
allow it to slip. But if I wind it around my forefinger one less time,
or if I skip winding it around my pinky, then I don't have enough
tension at all. Maybe in that case it's because I'm still not properly
figuring out how to firmly clamp down the pinky at the same time that
I'm holding the left needle the way it needs to be held.

Hi Harlan -- I knit Continental (actually "Continental combined,"
which I didn't know the name of until I started reading knitting boards
on the internet ) and I had to pick up my knitting to see how I hold
the yarn. I then looked at instructions on several knitting sites, and
none of the positions they showed looked like mine! So I think there
are many ways to hold the yarn and regulate the tension, and you just
have to find what works for you.

Here's how I do it: it's is hard to describe (I haven't figured out how
to post pictures here, but maybe I can eventually) but I'll try .
Coming from the needles, the working yarn passes over the tip of the
index finger and is held in place between the middle sections of the
index and middle fingers. Only these two fingers need to touch the
working yarn. The tip of the middle finger rests against the tip of
the needle and pushes forward stitches as necessary to be knitted. The
thumb, ring finger and pinky hold the needle further back. In order
to switch between knitting and purling, the whole hand rotates forward
or back, pivoting around the needle, to bring the tip of the index
finger with the working yarn to the front or back of the work as
necessary. Does this make any sense? I can try to take a picture and
post it if you want, but it might be easier for you to just go to a
knitting shop or class and watch how various people hold their yarn.

(Just an aside -- are there medical terms for each finger that are more
serious and dignified than "ring finger" and "pinky"? What are the
different fingers called in other languages??)


Harlan Messinger wrote:
arlene wrote:
Harlan Messinger wrote:
I'm a new knitter and I'm doing fine with English style. I'm working
on getting the hang of Continental style because of its advantages--I
think that if I get it down, it'll be faster, and I'm going to want to
try Fair Isle knitting with the two-hand method. I'm starting to get
the hand movements down, but I'm having trouble with tension. I have
little trouble feeding the yarn with just a little bit of tension
using the English style, but with the Continental style I can't seem
to find the happy medium between a single wrap around a finger--too
loose, inability to keep the new stitch on the needle while pulling it
through the old one--and a couple of turns, or a turn around the
pinky--the yarn won't feed. Any suggestions?
With the yarn around the finger, you have to release the yarn. So when
it becomes tight, you flick the finger to release the wound around yarn.
This keeps the tension even.


I do release the yarn, just as I do with the English method. My point is
that the friction of the yarn as wound around my fingers is too great to
allow it to slip. But if I wind it around my forefinger one less time,
or if I skip winding it around my pinky, then I don't have enough
tension at all. Maybe in that case it's because I'm still not properly
figuring out how to firmly clamp down the pinky at the same time that
I'm holding the left needle the way it needs to be held.

Jackie wrote:
(I haven't figured out how
to post pictures here, but maybe I can eventually)

Uh no, you can't. Text only except in binaries groups.

sue

Jackie wrote:
Hi Harlan -- I knit Continental (actually "Continental combined,"
which I didn't know the name of until I started reading knitting boards
on the internet ) and I had to pick up my knitting to see how I hold
the yarn. I then looked at instructions on several knitting sites, and
none of the positions they showed looked like mine! So I think there
are many ways to hold the yarn and regulate the tension, and you just
have to find what works for you.

Here's how I do it: it's is hard to describe (I haven't figured out how
to post pictures here, but maybe I can eventually) but I'll try .
Coming from the needles, the working yarn passes over the tip of the
index finger and is held in place between the middle sections of the
index and middle fingers. Only these two fingers need to touch the
working yarn.

Hi, Jackie. It seems to me that with my index finger above the work and
the tip of the middle finger on the work I can't quite picture how to
have the middle sections of my index and forefingers pressed together!
Argh, I'll have to experiment.

[snip]

(Just an aside -- are there medical terms for each finger that are more
serious and dignified than "ring finger" and "pinky"? What are the
different fingers called in other languages??)

The Latin term for the ring finger is "digitus anularis" = "ring
finger". The pinkie can also be called the "little finger", if "pinkie"
sounds too cute.

Starting with the thumb:

Spanish: pulgar, índice, dedo de corazón, anular, meñique
French: pouce, index, majeur, annulaire, auriculaire
German: Daumen, Zeigefinger, Mittelfinger, Ringfinger, kleiner Finger
Dutch: duim, wijsfinger, middelvinger, ringfinger, pink (whence "pinkie")

The Spanish for "middle finger" translates as "heart finger". The French
for "middle finger" translates as "biggest [finger]". The Spanish for
little finger translates as "ear [finger]". The German and Dutch for
index finger mean the same thing as Latin "index" does: the "pointing"
finger.

Hi Harlan.

I am a Continental knitter also. My working yarn is wrapped around the
pinkie under the ring and middle fingers and over the index finger to manage
the tension. I notice if I get the wrap too far down on the pinkie finger
the tension is too tight and I cannot release it as well. The best place is
right at the middle knuckle. I had to knit a row to see exactly how it
works for me, but I move my pinkie finger away from the ring finger slightly
to free up a little more yarn to knit with...it is a very subtle movement.
I periodically have to let the wrapping go and re-do it as I knit.

BonnieBlue

"Harlan Messinger" wrote in message
...
arlene wrote:
Harlan Messinger wrote:
I'm a new knitter and I'm doing fine with English style. I'm working on
getting the hang of Continental style because of its advantages--I think
that if I get it down, it'll be faster, and I'm going to want to try
Fair Isle knitting with the two-hand method. I'm starting to get the
hand movements down, but I'm having trouble with tension. I have little
trouble feeding the yarn with just a little bit of tension using the
English style, but with the Continental style I can't seem to find the
happy medium between a single wrap around a finger--too loose, inability
to keep the new stitch on the needle while pulling it through the old
one--and a couple of turns, or a turn around the pinky--the yarn won't
feed. Any suggestions?
With the yarn around the finger, you have to release the yarn. So when
it becomes tight, you flick the finger to release the wound around yarn.
This keeps the tension even.


I do release the yarn, just as I do with the English method. My point is
that the friction of the yarn as wound around my fingers is too great to
allow it to slip. But if I wind it around my forefinger one less time, or
if I skip winding it around my pinky, then I don't have enough tension at
all. Maybe in that case it's because I'm still not properly figuring out
how to firmly clamp down the pinky at the same time that I'm holding the
left needle the way it needs to be held.

BonnieBlue wrote:
Hi Harlan.

I am a Continental knitter also. My working yarn is wrapped around the
pinkie under the ring and middle fingers and over the index finger to manage
the tension. I notice if I get the wrap too far down on the pinkie finger
the tension is too tight and I cannot release it as well. The best place is
right at the middle knuckle. I had to knit a row to see exactly how it
works for me, but I move my pinkie finger away from the ring finger slightly
to free up a little more yarn to knit with...it is a very subtle movement.
I periodically have to let the wrapping go and re-do it as I knit.


After *lots* of practice, I'm finding I'm starting to be able to manage
with two turns around the index finger only, making sure one turn is
close to the hand! I also found the rhythm hard to get down, but I'm
getting there. Thanks.

Harlan Messinger wrote:
BonnieBlue wrote:
Hi Harlan.

I am a Continental knitter also. My working yarn is wrapped around the
pinkie under the ring and middle fingers and over the index finger to manage
the tension. I notice if I get the wrap too far down on the pinkie finger
the tension is too tight and I cannot release it as well. The best place is
right at the middle knuckle. I had to knit a row to see exactly how it
works for me, but I move my pinkie finger away from the ring finger slightly
to free up a little more yarn to knit with...it is a very subtle movement.
I periodically have to let the wrapping go and re-do it as I knit.


After *lots* of practice, I'm finding I'm starting to be able to manage
with two turns around the index finger only, making sure one turn is
close to the hand! I also found the rhythm hard to get down, but I'm
getting there. Thanks.

When I learned Continental method, I learned it from a woman who had
learned it in Germany (and called it German style).

I do not wrap the yarn around my index finger at all! My left hand
holds the knitting yarn exactly the way it does when I'm crocheting:

Have the skein on your chair to the left of your lap. With your right
hand, hold the needle(s) that have the cast-on stitches above your lap.
Position your left hand palm up, with fingers spread. Advance that
hand forward, toward the length of yarn stretching from the needles
down to the skein, so that the yarn slides between little and ring
fingers. Curl that hand toward yourself and rotate it palm down so
that the yarn goes around the outside of the little finger and
stretches across the back toward the thumb side. Bend and lift your
middle finger to clear the yarn, and lower the finger again so that the
yarn runs under it.

So, the yarn runs from the skein down between the ring and little
fingers, across the palm side of (and at the base of) the little finger
and up the far side of that finger, then across the backs of the little
and ring fingers, under (palm side) of the middle finger (middle
section or farthest joint), and over the last section of the index
finger. Hold the left needle with the left hand almost the same way
you hold the right needle with the right hand. The yarn is lying there
on your left index finger, ready to be plucked; plucking it pulls it
along from the skein through the fingers. Works beautifully! IMO.

The only time I knit anything using English method, as I was originally
taught, is when I'm doing Fair Isle. Continental is more comfortable,
and faster -- somewhat for a row of k st, definitely for a row of p st,
and extremely for a row of k1 p1! If you can actually throw the yarn,
get it to go around the needle tip with a flick of your righ index
finger, you may not see as much difference -- but I haven't seen more
than two (of lots and lots) knitters manage that.

Cece

The way in which you knit is an individual thing; one cannot assume one way
is 'faster' than another. It may be faster for you, but not someone else.

I am a thrower...my left hand/arm hardly moves at all...my right hand does
nearly all the work. I have always knit this way...to me knitting
continental is like knitting with my feet. It is all in how you learn!

I currently can do nearly 280 sts./ 3 mins. stockinette on #8 addi turbos.
(yes, I am eyeing the world record....!)


"Harlan Messinger" wrote in message
...
I'm a new knitter and I'm doing fine with English style. I'm working on
getting the hang of Continental style because of its advantages--I think
that if I get it down, it'll be faster, and I'm going to want to try Fair
Isle knitting with the two-hand method. I'm starting to get the hand
movements down, but I'm having trouble with tension. I have little trouble
feeding the yarn with just a little bit of tension using the English
style, but with the Continental style I can't seem to find the happy
medium between a single wrap around a finger--too loose, inability to keep
the new stitch on the needle while pulling it through the old one--and a
couple of turns, or a turn around the pinky--the yarn won't feed. Any
suggestions?