Knitting English Style

[helenmartin77]

i cannot knit any other way than this :S continetal is just too awkward for me :(

when i use straight needles i have the right one under my arm to hold it steady and do all the work with my left needle and right hand =]

[SabalonGlitz]

@helenmartin77 I started doing that as well the other day out of frustration of trying to do any sort of "rigging" on my hand. I found it worked pretty well, but thought it seemed odd. Now I feel justified that it's a valid method :)

[helenmartin77]

@SabalonGlitz it is the way i was taught and feel really uncomfortable doing it differently... have started to get the hang of circulars, but armpit knitting is the way to go as far as i am concerned.

dont worry, you are not alone!!!

[helenmartin77]

@SabalonGlitz it is the way almost everyone i know does it.. its really common in the north of england. definitely a valid method :)

[Br2veHe2rt]

Too much shadow on the dark yarn, obscures what you are doing. Going too fast for beginners. And the voice-over is more like mumbling, no clue what you are saying. And btw, would someone please explain what "English" style is? As opposed to what? American? Japanese? German? Lithuanian?

[waterlily716]

@Br2veHe2rt as opposed to continental.

[ThreeString]

I knit English-style because I have problems with my left hand, and it allows me to basically hold the left needle still and let my right hand do the work. The only time I've had problems with dropping the right needle was when I had too many stitches on a very slippery aluminum needle (I should have used a circular needle instead). I've never had trouble controlling stitch tension, either.

[danaseilhan]

Oh thank goodness. I'm relatively new to all this and I've seen some pretty screwy illustrations of yarn-holding that seemed to involve weaving/wrapping the yarn around three or four fingers. This is all you have to do? Cool. I'm so there. I already hold the yarn in my right hand. :)

[WestEndCal]

The way we throw here in Northumbria is to wrap yarn round middle finger and flick it over the needle - at the same time it also keeps the tension right. This method enables really quick knitting.

[sarrusophone]

@WestEndCal I'd love to see a demonstration of this - do you know any videos anywhere?

[operakatz]

You are indeed demonstrating a method of throwing. Throwing doesn't = dropping right needle. I knit exactly the same way as you and I know I throw. :)

[jennazoology]

I think I must knit in some freaky continental/english hybrid. I knit like english, but I hold the yarn in my left hand. Thanks for the video, it helped me learn that I am indeed a moronic knitter. ;)

[lorikeet90]

I knit like you do - i find the way you hold the thread much easier to control.I have one difference though with the ordinary knit stitch; I don't insert the needle through the front of the stitch (going across the stitch and entering from the left), I come from the right and go straight to the back, so the stitch is to the right of the needle at the back instead of the left. I wrap the yarn the same direction, and the stitch comes out the same way, except for me it's neater :)

[WestEndCal]

I do the same thing as Lorikeet90 with the needle entering the stitch straight in from the right and to the back, and in fact this is true english knitting and I didnt realise there was any other way to do it. My grandma knitted this way too.

[nataraja87]

yes! I hate when continental knitters think that knitting english HAS to always be slow and that you HAVE to drop the needle, you don't! I knit like you except with the tensioned yarn being wrapped around my pinkie, over my ring finger, under my middle finger, and over my index. I can knit almost as fast as a continental knitter and i don't have any problems. I'm going to try to learn continental just to see which i like better.

[LindsayLew]

When I find my camera I will. :/ I have no idea where it went.

[oflower955]

can u do this in a much slower video because i dont understand one of the parts

thank you