Continental Knitting (Picking)

When it comes to knitting mechanics, there are a few different ways that knitters will hold their needles to make their stitches. Every knitter finds a style that works for them. In this video, Jill Wright breaks down the Continental (or picking) method of knitting. She demonstrates how to create tension in the yarn, as well as how to work the knit and purl stitches.

In Continental knitting, the yarn is held in the left hand. Jill explains how she tensions the yarn in this style of knitting. She wraps the yarn around the pinky finger and brings the yarn up and over her forefinger. This yarn configuration allows her to pick the yarn up onto the needle as she works the stitch.

To create a knit stitch, Jill follows these steps:

• With yarn in back, insert the right needle from front to back through the stitch on the left needle.
• Scoop yarn around the right needle and pull through the stitch on the left needle, making a new stitch on the right needle
• Drop stitch off the left needle
• A new stitch has been created on the right needle

To create a purl stitch, Jill follows these steps:

• With yarn in front, insert the right needle from right to left into the first stitch on the left needle
• Scoop yarn around the right needle counterclockwise
• Bring the right needle through the loop on the left needle, making a new stitch on the right needle
• Drop stitch off the left needle
• A new purl stitch has been created on the right needle