Knitting Styles

When I talk about Knitting Styles, I’m referring to how you hold your needles and work the yarn. There are several types of knitting styles that vary in technique from one to the next. I’m not certain how many there are as they vary depending on the country of origin. So if you are learning one method and find it’s just not for you, there’s likely another one that will better suit you!

In the states, I feel the ones you’ll hear about the most are:

• English: “throwing” technique with the right hand.
• Continental: “picking” technique with the left hand.

I didn’t find out about these until much later in my time knitting by going to many, many, many knitting groups and meeting tons of brilliant knitters along the way!

• Portuguese: You take the working yarn and wrap it around the back of your neck to create tension.
• Combination Eastern/Western: Combines Eastern and Western techniques to create speed. However, this term refers more to how the stitch sits on the needle and which loop is worked.
• Irish Cottage or Lever: the right needle acts as a stationary pivot, often tucked under the arm or held rigidly, while the left hand moves stitches, resulting in minimal right-hand movement.

You can Google any of these terms and learn more about them, I’d treat this as a guide to help you choose your own adventure. I did some Googling myself to write this post and wanted to share what I found.

The Cozy Cuttlefish did a lovely walk through of five styles and wrote about it here.

What will work best for you?

At heart, I’m the Remy in Ratatouille and say “anyone can knit.” It’s simply a matter of finding what works for you and an exercise in patience. But let’s add that there are things in this world that are one person’s cup of tea and not another’s.

There’s no magic wand, you’ll likely have to try a couple to see what works best for you. I started out with English and set my knitting down for college and came back continental.. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ , yeah you got me too.

Suggestions

• If you are left handed, you may find continental easier. (Note that this is what I’ve heard from lefties. I’m a righty.)
• Watch others – pick a knitting style that you are drawn to more than another and go on an Adventures of Knitting Styles on YouTube to see if you are still drawn to it or something else. Try the ones that stand out to you.
• Take a Knitting Lesson – if you are fortunate to have a Local Yarn Shop (LYS) (not Michael’s, etc) take advantage as they typically will offer classes either in a group setting or one-on-one lessons. This supports a local business and by domino effect, others in the community as LYSs are thinning out.
• If your friend knits – ask them to show you what they know and you can rule that out before trying another. If you’re just starting out they may also have supplies to unload on you. ;)

Whichever style(s) you try, it’s important to note what works and didn’t work for you. It could be as simple as you tried with metal needles instead of wood/bamboo and the yarn kept slipping all over the place. It could also be that your brain doesn’t like the way the technique works. That’s fine! It’s a mood thing. So it’s honestly a good thing to learn multiple knitting styles.

I will occasionally wrap as in the English method and in the blink of an eye be back to continental. My brain does not like the “insert needle into stitch knitwise, wait… move left hand to grab the working yarn..wrap the right hand needle, wait grab left hand needle, ok now pull through.”