Continental Knitting Tutorial (LEARN TO KNIT)

By popular demand, today Vicki from Island Yarn shows you exactly how to knit in the continental style!
In the more common knitting style, the yarn is held in the right hand and "thrown" over the needle, but in Continental knitting the yarn is held in the left hand.
Because the yarn is held in the left hand and the working needle picks the yarn through the loop, the motions are smaller and can be quicker, which may lead to faster knitting!
You can see this a lot in ribbing and when working with colorwork, since the yarn can be more easily managed and tensioned!
Some knitters even find that this method places less strain on their hands and wrists!
Always remember keep going and always keep knitting!
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[@eleanorloper843]

....if I could love this a dozen times I would!!! I have been an avid crocheter for years and learned to knit by "throwing" the yarn. This is the best way to transition from crocheting to knitting for me. All of those other tutorials are so invovled and so complicated, but yours makes the movement more natural for me. Thank you for sharing this technique!!

[@islandyarn8763]

@eleanorloper843 thank you so much! I'm so glad that it was helpful! 💜

[@dorothywallace2452]

thank you so much

[@nadinestapler3881]

This is great. Thanks 😊

[@ruthwinkle9166]

Thank you so much for this video! I weave as a hobby, I don't knit. But while at a thrift store, a sweet elderly lady saw the ball of wildly coloured yarn in my hand, and proceeded to tell me how to knit in the "Old World" style. She was such a kind old soul! ♥ She said to hold the yarn in my left hand and the right hand needle went down and to the back to get the loop. This continental knitting seems to be what she was talking about, so I'm going to give it a try. I may have a new hobby after this! :D

[@islandyarn8763]

@@ruthwinkle9166 thank you!! Definitely let us know how it goes! You can do it! 😁

[@Nanee907]

Excellent demonstration! Thank you 😊 I am a crocheter of over 50 years who is learning the joy of knitting. I am, however, left handed so continental is not natural to me. I flick with my right hand but am intrigued with the process and speed of continental. I have yet to figure out the holding of the yarn without using a death grip 😂

[@leadmetopeacejeanie]

oh my goodness, thank you so much. I watched many continental videos and yours was the best. I slow you down, fast forward, slow it down. I've knitted for 50 years and knew there was another way, a faster way, and this is it. I'm making boring washcloths and I am SOOOO slow and clumsy but I am determined to become comfortable with this!! Thank you again for such a great video! Have a wonderful weekend! Hugs, Jeanie

[@islandyarn8763]

Oh yay! I'm so glad to hear it! Thank you!!

[@jbal6097]

I learned continental knitting (but not the pearling) by doing an adult size of the Baby Surprise jacket. For me, the switching back and forth between the knit and the pearl stitch was the hardest part to train my fingers to do. You’re so right…it just takes a lot of practice. I also can (still) never do the first stitch of a row in continental…lol…just a weird hangup of mine…I always get it twisted.

[@sandranorth0009]

If you slip your 1st stitch purl wise. At the beginning of each row you will get a lovely plaited border. (Arnie & Carlos)

[@devyntillman4188]

Very helpful. Thank you.

[@alexiseileenn]

I’m watching this wishing there was a way to do this with one stick and a little hook on the end…😂😂 oh wait! 😅 I am a crocheter and trying my best to pick up knitting but I miss my hook 😂

[@islandyarn8763]

@@alexiseileenn lol...lmk if you figure that out! Maybe try Tunisian crochet! 🤔

[@DDChatz]

1 Can you explain what "continental" knitting is? If it refers to being from Europe, it's wrong. I am from Europe and don't knit like that. Just like food dishes, it is an Americanized way of doing things (no offense). 2 It is much easier for beginners to wrap the yarn around the left hand (for right handed people) index finger and direct the yarn with that finger.

[@islandyarn8763]

This is what "picking" the yarn is generally called here in the US...I didn't name it, so I'm just using the word people understand here as this type knitting. As opposed to "english" ....or "throwing" the yarn. Having taught many beginners, I find about half go for picking and half go for throwing more naturally. But this isn't a learn to knit video....it is for those who knit one way and wanted to learn this way. Thanks.

[@hattiem.7966]

My Mom learned to knit this way from her Canadian neighbor who had moved to a NC beach in the 1940's. Mom was a sewer for years and I wish she had taught me crocheting.

[@ThirdStreetCreates]

Continental knitting was a way that was generally knitted from as early as the 15th century basically in Russia and Germany. After World War II people became uncomfortable with the idea of what was then called German knitting, and so it was renamed, continental knitting, and has been ever since. It was simply just changed to vocabulary after the war. This information was in a textbook and a class I took on textiles and fibers in college.

[@Nanee907]

I imagine that your #2 depends on the person. Nothing is the same for everyone.

[@tmfromdenmark9158]

In Denmark we all knit Continental. It is much easier for children 😊