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Continental Purling Method


HomekeepingGran

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Some of us on the Your Choice Lace KAL were chatting about how hard Continental Purling is to learn. I'm no exception. I could NOT get it to work for me no matter what I tried, which is why I learned Combination Knitting, finding the purling a ton easier. But Combo has its own problems, mainly that Combo purling reseats the stitches in an unusual way so that the leading edge of the stitch ends up on the back of the needle instead of the front. In stockinette this isn't a particular problem because you simply knit into the back and go on. But if you want to knit lace or other patterns you have to rethink all the usual instructions and switch them for other stitches in order to get individual stitches to lean the correct direction. So... I was determined that I had to learn Continental knitting somehow. I hate having to always re-interpret every single set of directions or charts into Combo style.

 

 

Somewhere in the past I%2

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I'm not sure if it's just my computer or if something really happened to the post above but... it turned wacky. What on earth? :eek I'm going to redo the explanation for the photos and hope nothing else crazy happens.

 

Photo 1: Basic hand position for Continental purling, my style.

 

Photo 2: Getting ready to crook my finger over the extended yarn. The needle is through the mother stitch and in position.

 

Photo 3: Finger is dipped down over to bring the yarn over the needle tip.

 

Photo 4: Yarn is pulled through the mother stitch and finger is back in the ready position for another stitch.

 

 

P.S. It says I edited it at 2:08 p.m. but... I didn't! :think

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You know, everybody does a different way and this just may not work for you, Tammy. But I did say in the part which disappeared (!) that I still had to practice this for a while to get it down. What this style did do was give me a way to keep that yarn on my finger instead of falling off. The finger crook holds it back.

 

Worth a try but maybe not.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I can do both ways, easy for me because I was taught to knnit right handed & taught to crochet left handed. I am left handed, so it is really easier for me to knit backwards, or purl continental. When I am knitting lace, I like to mix it up & do both ways to make it interesting for me.

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Oddly enough I just figured out how to purl continental. I just could not get it and would always do it in a very awkward way that would have my fingers aching. Well recently I sat down and went to knitpicks tutorials and practiced and practiced until I think I have it figured out. I'm still painfully slow but hopefully with practice that will be remedied.

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That's very interesting, Carla!:knit I've set aside my knitting (wool sweater) for now and am crocheting a bamboo-cotton top for myself, but when i get back to the knitting I'll have to remember to try this.

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Being a self taught knitter in the Continental Method I have found Kintting Help . com to be my go to source for explaining the correct way to do stitches

 

here is the link to the video on the proper way to do the continental purl stitch

http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/purl-stitch

 

I never understood it till I followed along with the video. After lots of practice I can now purl this way without thinking about it.

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I taught myself to purl this way this summer (as opposed to my normal combined purl of scooping) because I used circs to make a tank and it came out all slanted because of the way the stitches sit. So for several months I've been making some charity blankets and stuff to practice knitting the continental picking way. It's not quite mindless to me yet, and I still prefer my way of knitting, but I'm glad I can do it now, so that when I hit really complicated matters, I don;' have to translate in my head 'ssk means k2tog for me', I can just get in the groove and go.

 

But your photos are so nice and clear. Thanks! I used knittinghelp and Teach Yourself Visually Knitting to learn the English (but still continental) way to knit. I wlll never learn to hold it in my right hand--it's so awkward.

 

Patty

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I taught myself to purl this way this summer (as opposed to my normal combined purl of scooping) because I used circs to make a tank and it came out all slanted because of the way the stitches sit. So for several months I've been making some charity blankets and stuff to practice knitting the continental picking way. It's not quite mindless to me yet, and I still prefer my way of knitting, but I'm glad I can do it now, so that when I hit really complicated matters, I don;' have to translate in my head 'ssk means k2tog for me', I can just get in the groove and go.

 

But your photos are so nice and clear. Thanks! I used knittinghelp and Teach Yourself Visually Knitting to learn the English (but still continental) way to knit. I wlll never learn to hold it in my right hand--it's so awkward.

 

Patty

 

I'm a little lost. Why did your stiches slant with circs? Were you knitting in a circle or just using circs to knit back and forth? What about it made them slant?

 

And... are you saying you wrap the pick with the yarn off the back of the finger like this? Cool. I know there have to be some others who do it; for that matter I first saw it on a blog which I didn't mark and could never find again. :bang

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  • 2 years later...

Bump.

 

I recently have re-visited Continental. I learned from somewhere to wrap the yarn around my left index finger twice and let it feed off the back of the finger so I can catch it to dip into the yarn for the stitch. My tension improved dramatically when I did this and is much more even.

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  • 1 month later...

I watched several videos on that site. I learned continental knitting from a brittish lady in Germany. The way I learned is the right needle does all the work and is soooo much faster than the American way of knitting. My purling is similar to the video but I use the right needle to wrap around the yarn and pull it out to complete the stitch. I don't think I can use my left middle finger for the purl stitch. There is no right way to do the stitch. I've seen so many ways people do the stitch and they all work. So just do it the way that works for you. :yes

Being a self taught knitter in the Continental Method I have found Kintting Help . com to be my go to source for explaining the correct way to do stitches

 

here is the link to the video on the proper way to do the continental purl stitch

http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/purl-stitch

 

I never understood it till I followed along with the video. After lots of practice I can now purl this way without thinking about it.

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