English vs continental?

I’m a beginner knitter and just learned about the difference between continental style knitting and English. I think I sometimes switch between the two or sometimes I just make the knit stitches in English style and the purl stitches continental. I haven’t figured out which one I like best yet.
Which way do you like to knit?

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@OwlYarnCrafts, I like continential best. I heard that many knitters like it bcuz it is super efficient.

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I prefer continental, because I can hold my yarn on the same side as I hold yarn for crochet, which is my primary craft. Continental feels more familiar and comfortable to me.

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Continental does seem more efficient because it doesn’t have the extra step of looping the yarn around, and I also like it for the reason that @TeaLover mentioned, that it’s more familiar because it’s similar to how I hold the yarn when crocheting. Though it’s also harder on my wrists than English style if I’ve been knitting for a while.

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The most efficient way to knit is the one you are most comfortable with.
My go to is to hold the yarn in my right hand and flick it with my finger under instead of over the back needle to knit, and the opposite direction under the front needle to purl…it’s absurdly fast for me.
But I use both hands for fair isle and a variation of Scottish knitting for large items.
On small items, I will get to the end of a row and switch hands and knit back the other direction to avoid having to turn and purl in a complicated pattern.

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i agree! i’m a beginner at knitting but continental makes more sense to me, although i do english style sometimes. i drift between the two depending on what i’m making and how much effort i feel like putting into it lol

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I definitely prefer continental, I feel it has made me way faster and I can get more done. I still use English knitting for things I find too fiddly for continental but it feels slow, haha. It makes ribbing more bearable too which is a nice bonus.

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I’m pretty sure I use English, it’s the way I was taught so that’s how I typically do it. I’ve seen videos on continental though and it looks like it would be much more comfortable/easy to get the hang of for people who have been crocheting lots before knitting (that’s me!) so I would love to maybe try it sometime! :smile:

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Lol, I wish I knew what you were talking about! :joy::laughing:

Learning to knit is on my bucket list

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I’m a combination continental knitter (my mom taught me to knit when I was 21.). There are some wonderful tutorials on youtube so you can check out all the styles and decide which one is most comfortable to you. I love knitting.

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oh welp i dont really use a method anymore.

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I’m with you there… after a while, you just sort of settle in and do your own thing

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