Nubby yarn/Continental knitting

JoeE · 01-02-2007, 10:36 PM

Does anyone else have problems knitting continental with nubby yarn? I'm using Lion Brand Homespun, and I've given up on conti and gone back to English. I keep splitting the yarn (that's probably not how you describe the problem) when I try to "scoop" it conti.

Also, when I try conti knitting with nubby yarn, my wrists get sore a lot quicker. I can knit for hours using the English method.

I admit a bias towards English knitting for some inexplicable reason, but conti is definitely faster--and I'm type "A" enough to prefer getting something accomplished in the least amount of time possible. I also get better results with my purling having a similar tension to my knitting when I do it continental. But...there's something very relaxing about English knitting to me, and sometimes I feel the need to slow down and just enjoy the process.

Anyone else have the same feeling about English, or am I just a bit odd.

Joe

five_six · 01-03-2007, 03:43 AM

no, i'm with you 100%... i've tried conti many times, keep trying to convince myself to do the change (as it's apparently soooo much faster), but then i realise, i don't knit to be the fastest knitter on the planet (kudos to whoever is), i knit because i enjoy making something... so i always find myself changing back to english - even mid project sometimes. And really - how much time difference is there in completely a project. I think that it is negligable really and a week out of my life isn't so bad to actually enjoy the knitting process.

Ingrid · 01-03-2007, 03:46 AM

It's the Homespun. It's awful stuff.

I'm a forever-English knitter, but if all the yarn left in the world was Homespun, I must might have to give up knitting altogether.

five_six · 01-03-2007, 03:55 AM

Quote:

I'm a forever-English knitter

Ingrid, that is such a relief to hear someone say that... i guess sometimes i can be a little too influenced by other people who think i knit 'the wrong way' (which i intellectually know doesn't exist), but the pressure to be a continental knitter can sometimes be great. Sometimes it's hard to justify your style preferences, but you have made me feel a little better for loving english so much (or Welsh, as it apparently turns out for me, but i always thought i was an english knitter!!).

Thanks

suzeeq · 01-03-2007, 06:24 AM

At least you were able to edit them, Dee.

I do English too. Occasionally I'll do some circular knitting conti to relieve some of the tendonitis on the right wrist from extending the fingers, but the rotating I do during conti also strains the tendons, so I don't know which is worse.

sue

brendajos · 01-03-2007, 06:31 AM

you can delete them as long as there are no posts following yours. so if you posted three times you would have to delete the last one that posted first, then the second to last. if someone has posted after you, then you are outta luck unless you can convince them to delete their post too!

Ingrid · 01-03-2007, 01:15 PM

I took care of the extra posts.

I learned how to knit English, I'm decidedly right-handed, so that's what I do. I can knit continental, but why change? I just have to concentrate a lot more on each stitch and that certainly doesn't make it faster for me. It bothers me when people say conti is the 'right' way--it's not. It's just a different way. Faster? Maybe. But I've certainly managed to produce a thing or two.

five_six · 01-03-2007, 02:00 PM

thanx for deleting them... now i don't look silly (although some of the later responses now do

)

Ingrid · 01-03-2007, 08:39 PM

Sometimes KH gets a little wonky and it doesn't seem your post took, even though it did. Last night I had a few doubles myself.

janelanespaintbrush · 01-03-2007, 08:55 PM

Originally Posted by five_six

i guess sometimes i can be a little too influenced by other people who think i knit 'the wrong way' (which i intellectually know doesn't exist), but the pressure to be a continental knitter can sometimes be great.

Funny, I think it's more often the other way around.

Maybe not on this forum, but generally. To be honest, since most US knitters are throwers, one of the reasons I chose conti was because I liked the idea of doing things a little differently than the majority.

For those who have trouble doing conti, but would like to learn, I think any new skill is bound to be awkward and fatiguing at first, but will get easier with practice. (Not that I think everyone should convert, because then I wouldn't be special anymore!

) When I tried combination for the first time (to get more even tension for flat stockinette, ribbing, and other knit-purl stitch patterns), I really had a hard time getting my fingers to purl differently. Now I can switch back and forth (conti and combo) with no problem. Still haven't tried English, though.