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

[afuna]

I started out English-style, switched to Continental, and eventually learned combination knitting -- which isn't a combination of english and continental, but is a combination of western knit + eastern purl.

So I hold my yarn in my left hand, and knitting and purling involve a quick scooping motion for both. The stitch sits on my needle differently depending on whether I've knit or purled it, so I have to pay attention to whether I should knit through the front loop or through the back loop, but it's easier than it sounds, because you can feel the difference when inserting the needle, even without looking at your hands.