English Vs. Continental

For the next lesson we will be learning the difference between the English and the Continental version of knitting. There isn't much of a difference between the two except the way that you wrap the yarn around the needle. In the book I can knit Edie Ekman suggests for people who are left handed that, " You might find it easiest to hold the yarn with your left hand in the Continental method. Because all knitting instructions written for knitting from the left hand needle to the right hand needle (3).  Although there isn't much of a difference, you will want to make sure that you are consistent in your stitches otherwise your scarf will come out looking odd.

For the continental method you will want to take your yarn after you have placed it in the needle as done in my previous blog post and wrap it from left to right around the back of your right needle like this:

As you can see the yarn has been pulled from the left to the back around the back of the yarn. After you get the yarn around the needle you continue with the directions from the previous blog which is to pull the right needle through the yarn that is on the left needle.

If you continue to do your stitches like this then the product should look something like this:

Now,  for the English method you will want to wrap your yarn from right to left when you start out. To do this you start the stitch the same way that you would in the Continental method but instead of going around the back you end up going around the front. It should look something like this:

 After you pull it around the front you will continue to make the stitch like the way you do in the Continental method. In the end it should look like this:

When you compare the two styles after the first row it doesn't look like that big of a difference(Eckman 3). But if you try a few rows using both methods you'll notice it looks weirdly inverted and curls when you take it off. See for yourself:

Today we saw the difference between two types of knitting. Which method do you prefer, Continental or English?

Eckman, Edie. I Can Knit. Big Sandy, TX: Annie's Attic, 2013. Print