The Knitting Studio

Knitting styles

Six ways to hold the yarn, one fabric

Knitters across the world make the same stitches with completely different hand movements, and every one of them produces identical fabric. What differs is speed, which muscles do the work, and how the two hands share the job. Nobody's method is wrong; some are better suited to particular hands and particular projects.

The big two: throwing and picking

Almost every knitter you meet uses one of these. The difference is simply which hand holds the working yarn — and that single choice changes everything about the motion.

English — yarn in the RIGHT hand also called "throwing" index middle ring little the index finger flicks or the whole hand throws the yarn round the needle The right hand releases the needle (or does not, if you flick) and wraps the yarn. Very easy to see what is happening — which is why it is taught first. Continental — yarn in the LEFT hand also called "picking" index middle ring little the needle tip hooks the taut yarn; the hand barely moves The left index finger holds the yarn in the air and the right needle scoops it. Fewer, smaller movements, so it is usually faster and easier on the wrists.
The yarn is threaded through the fingers the same way in both: over the index, under the next two, sometimes round the little finger. What differs is which hand it is threaded through — and therefore who does the work.

English (throwing)

Easiest to learn

The working yarn lives in the right hand. To make a stitch you insert the needle, then use your right hand to carry the yarn around the tip, then complete the stitch. Most people begin by letting go of the right needle to throw, and later graduate to flicking — keeping hold of the needle and moving only the index finger, which is dramatically faster.

Strengths · very easy to see and correct; excellent, even tension; the natural choice if you also crochet with your right hand.
Weaknesses · more hand travel per stitch, so slower until you learn to flick; ribbing is laborious because the yarn changes sides constantly.

Continental (picking)

Faster once learned

The working yarn lives in the left hand, held taut over the index finger. The right needle goes in and simply hooks the waiting yarn. Because the yarn never has to be carried anywhere, the movements are tiny. Knitters who crochet often find this instantly familiar — the motion is nearly identical.

Strengths · fast; small movements; ribbing and colourwork are much less tiring.
Weaknesses · purling feels awkward at first and can end up looser than the knits, which shows as uneven stockinette until your tension settles.

English vs Continental Style Knitting

The clearest side-by-side comparison, aimed at people choosing for the first time.

Open on YouTube ↗

Continental vs English — Comparison, History and Demonstrations

Both knit and purl demonstrated in each style, with some background on where they came from.

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Four more worth knowing about

These are not obscure curiosities — each solves a specific problem better than the big two do, and each has a large population of knitters who swear by nothing else.

Portuguese / Incan

The yarn runs from the ball, around the back of your neck or through a pin on your chest, and then to the work. Tension comes from that anchor rather than from your fingers, and stitches are formed by flicking the yarn with your left thumb.

Why people love it: purling becomes easier than knitting — the opposite of every other style — which makes ribbing and flat stockinette wonderfully quick. It also demands very little grip strength, so it is a common answer for knitters with arthritis or hand injuries.

Norwegian purl

A Continental variant that purls without ever bringing the yarn to the front of the work. The right needle travels behind the yarn and scoops the purl through from the back.

Why people love it: in ribbing, the yarn stays put on one side the whole time. It looks impossible the first ten times you watch it and then becomes automatic. Slightly slower per purl stitch, much faster per row of rib.

Lever / Irish cottage / "pit" knitting

The right needle is anchored — under the arm, in a knitting belt, or in a sheath at the hip — and does not move at all. The left hand feeds stitches onto the stationary tip while the right hand pivots like a lever.

Why people love it: it is the fastest hand-knitting method known; competitive speed knitters use it. Because the working needle never moves, the strain on the wrists is almost nil. It needs long straight needles, so it will not work with circulars.

Combination / combined knitting

Purl stitches are wrapped the "wrong" way, which is faster, and this leaves them mounted with the left leg forward. On the next row you compensate by working into the back of those stitches.

Why people love it: it fixes the loose-purl problem that plagues Continental knitters, and gives beautifully even stockinette. The cost is that you must understand stitch mount well enough to adapt patterns — see below.

Stitch mount — why "it looks twisted" happens

A loop can sit on the needle in one of two ways, depending on which direction the yarn was wrapped. Neither is wrong, but you must work into the correct leg for the mount you have, or the stitch comes out twisted.

Western mount (the usual one) right leg sits in FRONT Work into the front leg. This is what "k1" assumes. Eastern mount (wrapped the other way) left leg sits in FRONT Work into the BACK leg, or the stitch comes out twisted. Combination knitters do this deliberately on every purl row.
Green and pink mark the leg that sits nearest you. The rule is always the same: work into whichever leg is in front, unless the pattern deliberately says tbl.
How to tell if a stitch is twisted

A twisted knit stitch is narrower than its neighbours and its two legs cross at the base instead of sitting parallel. Occasionally that is exactly what you want — twisted rib is crisp and stands up beautifully — but if a whole row is twisted by accident, you wrapped the previous row backwards.

Which one should you use?

Honestly: whichever one your hands stop noticing. But if you want to choose deliberately, here is what each is actually good at.

StyleYarn handSpeedErgonomicsBest atStruggles with
EnglishRightModerate (fast if you flick)Good Learning; even tension; bulky yarnLong stretches of ribbing
ContinentalLeftFastVery good Ribbing, colourwork, long plain stretchesPurl tension at first
PortugueseNeck or pinModerateExcellent Purling, ribbing, knitters with hand painNeeds a pin or a tolerant neck
Norwegian purlLeftFast in ribVery good 1×1 and 2×2 ribbingLooks baffling until it clicks
Lever / cottageRight, needle anchoredFastest knownExcellent Production knitting, plain stockinetteRequires long straight needles
CombinationLeftFastVery good Perfectly even stockinetteYou must adapt patterns for stitch mount

Switching is allowed

Plenty of knitters use two styles: Continental for knits, Portuguese or Norwegian for purls, English when they need to strand a second colour with the right hand. Your fabric will not tell on you.

Two-handed colourwork

The best reason to learn both of the big two: hold one colour in each hand and the yarns can never tangle. Anyone doing serious Fair Isle ends up ambidextrous eventually.

If your hands hurt, change something

Pain is information, not weakness. Loosen your grip, go up a needle size, switch to circulars so the weight rests in your lap, try Portuguese or lever, and take breaks. Knitting should not hurt.

How to Knit Continental Style

A focused lesson on holding the yarn in the left hand, from scratch.

Open on YouTube ↗

English Knit Stitch vs Continental Knit Stitch

Short and direct — just the two motions, one after the other.

Open on YouTube ↗

Continental vs English — What Is It, and Why Does It Matter?

Good on the practical consequences: tension, speed, and when to switch.

Open on YouTube ↗

Flat or in the round — a second kind of style

Independent of how you hold the yarn, there is the question of how you build the object. Both approaches make the same garments; they simply arrive from different directions.

Worked flat, then seamed

Front, back and sleeves are knitted as separate pieces and sewn together. Seams add structure and stop a heavy jumper stretching out of shape, and shaping is simple because you can see the piece laid out.

Costs: you must purl every second row, and you must sew — which many knitters dislike more than any part of knitting.

Worked in the round, seamless

The body is a tube, the sleeves are tubes, and they are joined into a yoke and worked to the neck. No purling in plain stockinette, no seaming, and you can try it on as you go.

Costs: no seams means no built-in structure, so heavy yarns can droop; and a mistake found late is a mistake in a very large tube.