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

[frotz]

I learned English (which I think is the same as what you call American?) eons ago and can do it without thinking. I would like to sit down and concentrate on things well enough to learn to learn continental, but not when I'm in the middle of a project, so when will that be...

English doesn't have to be slow at all, though. Not that I'm quick, but some knitters I know are blindingly fast at it; the movement required to loop the yarn does not have to be a large movement at all depending on just how one is holding everything.

[hobbitbabe]

I agree. I knit English style, but when my one brother and I showed signs of becoming more serious knitters as teenagers, Mum convinced us to learn to hold our right hand under the needle and just move a finger to wrap the yarn instead of our whole hand and arm. Both of us found it frustrating at first, but by the end of the summer were much faster - and that's what I've done ever since.


I've never heard English style called "American" before.