Continental, American or Both?

[debbiecakes]

Just out of curiousity, how does everyone knit?

I am continental knitting a super bulky queen-king sized blanket.
I am American knitting two different sport scarves.

For me:
Continental Style = loose, relaxed and quick.
American Style = Tight, tense and slooooow.

The super bulky blanket looks great but when I tried the sport weighted scarves, they ended up looking sloppy so I started over with the American style. Just a quick comparison, I casted on 12 when I started with continental but when I switched to American I had to cast on 26.

I've been knitting off and on for years but I still consider myself to be a novice. Fingers-crossed, with more practice my continental will shape up so I can ditch the American style. Over all I prefer continental because of speed, ease to switch from knitting/purling, and it feels more comfortable in my hands. :)

Comments

[antisoppist]

I'm British. I knit with the right-hand needle digging into my stomach at a 90 degree angle to the left-hand needle and I move the yarn round it with my whole hand. I find circular needles difficult because I find it harder to hold both needles and move the wool.

I lived in Scandinavia where friends decided my knitting was too slow and taught me to knit continental but my way is still faster for me, though I can see continental would be quicker if I practised. Whenever I do try it, I come unstuck when I need to do something other than plain knit or purl and have to switch back to my method for increasing and decreasing.