Five Knitting Styles, a Buyer's Review

Hi. I'm Dan Haskin. This is a new knitting blog I'm trying out. Hope you like it.

Abstract

In this article, I give a review of five different knitting styles: English, Flicking, Continental, Norwegian, and Portuguese. I formulate a rubric which I use to evaluate the various techniques. Based on my findings, I select the Portuguese technique as my current technique of choice, for the relatively small amount of strain it places on the fingers, and for its high tactility.

Motivation

My name is Dan Haskin. I am Scruff McGruff on Ravelry. I was diagnosed with moderate to severe anxiety in 2019. Ever since, I have been pursuing crochet and knitting as a hobby to help combat my anxiety and other problems. I started knitting in earnest after my wife bought me a book, Guys Knit. I had knitted with my mother as a child, and through this book rediscovered the technique and was introduced to the larger online world of knitting.

I have been a continental knitter for some years, but I have been concerned because of the strain it places on my left index finger. I started "shopping around" for a technique which would place less strain on my fingers and joints. I have family history with arthritis and also rheumatoid arthritis in my Dad and Mom. I wanted to learn a new technique that would make it easy to knit even with these potential problems, into which I feel sure I will age, that wouldn't hurt my hands.

Method

Definitions and Set-up

To ease writing about knitting, I also adopt the same finger terms as this page. For each finger -- index, middle, ring, pinky and thumb -- I refer to the first knuckle as the "base knuckle", the next as the "middle knuckle", the last as the "top knuckle". I refer to the finger section between these knuckles, as "segments"; thus, each finger has a base, middle and top segment.

For my set-up, the yarn I am using is "Jacob" by West Yorkshire Spinners. I'm knitting with 5.5mm circular bamboo HiyaHiya needles while finishing up my Clubhouse Raglan Hoodie.

I will be reviewing the following techniques:

Those links were all videos on purpose. Reading about what happens between the fingers and yarn is difficult without first seeing it. Those videos were selected as the somewhat authoritative sources for those styles of knitting, at least insofar as this blog post is concerned. It is recommended that the reader peruse these videos if unsure of what the different techniques entail before reading further.

Other styles exist, notably Scottish and Irish Cottage, which will not be discussed in this post. Scottish was not attempted, as I do not have 14-inch straight needles in my possession. As to Irish Cottage or "Lever" knitting, as it is called, I simply couldn't get the hang of it.

Video links notwithstanding, for purposes of exposition, a brief overview of the different styles are as follows.

English knitting style is done by holding the yarn between pinched fingers in the right hand, placing the right needle into the stitch, and then throwing the yarn about the right needle before pulling the right yarn through and pulling the stitch off the left needle.

With Flicking, the yarn is wrapped (in my case) about the right-hand pinky once, then tension is held between it and the right-hand index finger, with the yarn resting on the middle knuckle. The right needle is held in a pincer grip between the right middle finger and thumb. To execute a stitch, the right hand leans forward on the pincer grip and the yarn is again thrown about the right needle by the index finger.

Continental knitting calls for a similar technique of tension, but on the left hand. The yarn tension is held in the index finger of the left hand, and the right needle travels around or "picks" the yarn after the needle enters the stitch instead of the yarn being thrown.

In a variation on that theme, Norwegian has the knitter hold the yarn very close to the left needle tip in the left hand. Tension is maintained by weaving the yarn in and out of the different left-hand fingers. Picking is employed to grab the yarn, but the top segment of the left index finger maintains its grip on the left needle at all times. This behavioral invariant makes the technique a bit involved when purling, but has its advantages and proponents.

Portuguese knitting is accomplished by putting the yarn initially about the neck or a pin on the shirt. In my case, I found that both techniques caused significant neck and back pain. Instead, I wore an arm band on the left arm just above the elbow to which I clipped a carabiner. Doing this seems to work well, and I avoid any back and neck pain. I then clip the yarn into the carabiner. The carabiner is especially important when maintaining tension, as it is metal and therefore the yarn slides easily across it. I found this device to be very important to get the tension right because of its low friction. 

The suspended yarn from the right hand to the carabiner I call the "inbound yarn", because it comes close to my body. The yarn suspended from the carabiner to the work piece I call the "outbound" yarn.

Tension is maintained by passing the yarn around the middle finger of the right hand. Purling is done by throwing the outbound yarn over the right needle using the left thumb. Knitting is done by passing the right needle under the outbound yarn, slipping the needle into the stitch, and performing a bit of acrobatics to get the outbound yarn between the needles and wrap it about the right needle. Then the stitch is pulled through and off the left needle.

Rubric

I will be reviewing these different techniques using the following rubric:

  • How much cognitive load does this technique impose?
  • Is it doable with fingerless gloves on?
  • How much finger strain does it cause?
  • It fast to knit?
  • Is it fast to purl?
  • Is it as fast to knit as to purl?
  • How is my yarn tension?
  • Is the technique tactile?

An explanation of the rubric is as follows.

Cognitive load is a measure of how much thinking or muscle coordination is needed to use the technique to good effect. This is obviously and important factor in measuring the usefulness of any technique; however, as we shall see, techniques with high cognitive load aren't necessarily bad.

The fingerless gloves requirement may seem an odd one, but there's a history here. I used to ride the bus a lot. I would often knit while on the bus. This was a wonderful way to pass the time, but often when I would be waiting for the bus or train I would be at the station outside and often in the cold. I wanted to keep knitting, but as any knitter will tell you, knitting with cold hands is difficult. I don't ride the bus with my current job, but I was nevertheless curious to see how effective the different techniques were in the presence of fingerless gloves. In my tests, I wore a pair of MukLuks very similar to this pair which my mother had gifted to me some 12 years ago, with the top buttoned back.

Finger strain is an important topic, one that does not receive enough attention within the knitting community. As a 6 foot tall, over 300lb male knitter, I have, relative to other knitters I have seen on YouTube, pretty massive hands. I don't know how big exactly, but if I reach, I can play a 10th interval on the piano and wear a size 13 ring. It is for this reason -- my relatively large hands -- that I am a loyal HiyaHiya fan. They sell tip extenders for their interchangeable needle sets, which lets me turn a 4 or 5 inch needle into a 6 or 7 inch one. The extra length keeps my hands from cramping up. My day job is programming, so I spend several hours touch typing on a keyboard. I constantly must stretch to stave off carpal and ulnar tunnel syndrome for that alone, and then come home and knit as a hobby. Often when knitting, the middle of my right hand goes numb. Further, I am a pretty tight knitter. Maybe this has something to do with the anxiety for which I learned knitting to fight. Maybe it has something to do with my industrial strength hands. In either case, I have in the past put a good bit of strain on my left index finger while knitting in the Continental style. This will be touched upon later in the post. I want to evaluate different knitting styles based on how much strain I feel when I knit with them.

Speed is important to me. I really like to be able to knit relatively fast. I like knitting up sweaters, and they take a while. Anything to speed up the process helps keep this ADHD knitter engaged and interested.

Speed is a multifaceted subject in knitting. Of particular interest is the difference in speed between knitting and purling. I will write later in this post of a concept I like to call "speed symmetry", the trait that a knitting style is as fast knitting as purling. Similarly, "speed asymmetry" will be discussed, when the two speeds are different. Symmetry will be important to any knitter who likes to knit flat, then stitch the garment together, rather than knitting in the round. After doing several projects, especially this campsite waffle cardigan, I can really see the value in knitting flat. Particularly for someone who enjoys packing their knitting in the bag and knitting on the bus, knitting flat is nice because I don't need to take the whole garment with me wherever I go. I don't need to lug around this heavy sweater that's mostly done, but not quite, and get the sweater pilled up everywhere from stuffing it into my bag to boot. Instead, I just need to have the back or side panel of the sweater or one sleeve at a time in my bag. Much more portable to knit flat. There are other benefits of knitting flat of course. Sally Melville discusses the importance of garments having seams at length, for example. All this is to say that noting the speed symmetry of any particular style will be of interest in my review.

For each technique, I knit as fast as I can for 60 seconds on a project that I currently have on the needles. I record the number of stitches I was able to accomplish in that one minute. I do this for both knitting and purling (I'm doing the hood, which is knitted flat, and so has a purl side) to determine the relative speeds of both.

Yarn tension will also be examined. As already mentioned, I'm a pretty tight knitter. I will be judging the different techniques based on how even the tension is and how relaxed the tension feels in my hand. Relaxed is good; it means the yarn is not too tight, but tight enough. I certainly don't want to adopt a technique which makes my tension tighter than it already is. As it stands, I must size up one or even sometimes two sizes for typical patterns when I knit my swatches.

Finally, I will be looking at the tactility of the techniques. Tactility in this context is the ability to knit by feel, without having to look at the knitting, and know where I'm at in the pattern as I'm knitting. Of particular importance is the ability to know that I have in fact knitted a stitch, and that I have not dropped any stitches, all without having to look at the work itsef too often. This attribute helps when doing long knitting jobs like sweaters. It allows the knitter to knit while watching TV or watching the kids without making mistakes.

Results

The following table summarizes the results of my study:

Type Cognitive load Doable with gloves Finger strain Yarn tension Knitting st/min Purling st/min Tactility
English low yes lowrelaxed 20 21 low
Continental medium yes high relaxed 42 35 medium
Flicking medium yes medium high inconsistent 29 16 low
Norwegian medium yes medium high relaxed 26 15 medium
Portuguese high yes medium low relaxed 16 29 high

English

I found English to be good in many ways. Its only downsides are that it is relatively slow and not very tactile.

Cognitive load for English style is famously low. I have taught my young daughters and nephew using this technique for this reason. It is good for beginners precisely because it is very easy to see what is going on and what to do next, with the fingers on the right hand having very simple jobs to do relative to the other techniques. That hand need only hold the yarn and needle, wrapping it with yarn occasionally.

Since the yarn is manipulated with pincer fingers, fingerless gloves are also not a problem at all.

The tension comes from throwing the yarn around the right needle while holding the yarn between pinched fingers. Thus the strain of maintaining the tension comes from the wrists, which are large and strong joints relative to the knuckles.

The yarn tension felt relaxed and relatively even, which I found surprising given how much the right hand travels while doing this technique.

The speed symmetry, at least in the limited tests which I ran, are unmatched. It is truly as fast to knit as to purl with this technique. It is a flat knitter's dream.

The two downsides are low tactility and slower speeds. While purling is faster in this technique than many others, it was the slowest for the actual knit stitch in my tests. Knitters who knit in the round may find other stitching techniques faster, at least insofar as their experiences align with mine. As to the ability to knit by feel, this is doable by holding both needles in the left hand when throwing the yarnwith the right. However, it is difficult to index where the right needle is when the right hand has left it to throw the yarn. Often I will miss the needle when throwing.

Continental

Continental is a little more complicated than English, as many fingers have different jobs all on the same hand -- the pinky or ring for tension, the index for tension, the middle and thumb for holding the needle. This juggling act creates significant cognitive load, which is why I find it hard to teach to children.

I tried doing this with gloves, and was suprised to find that it worked just fine. I am used to the the pinky wrap for tension on the left hand resting on the middle segment, but with gloves it had to rest on the top segment of the pinky instead. Other than that, things progressed as normal.

As previously stated, this search of a new technique is predicated on the relatively large strain this technique places on the left index finger of my right hand. In continental the yarn tension is regulated by the index finger of the left hand and the yarn rests on the middle segment, nearly to the top knuckle of the index finger, so that the finger must always be fully extended in order to properly render the tension. It may it must maintain this tension statically throughout the entire knitting period, causing (at least for me) considerable strain and pain within an hour or so of starting.

I started knitting with continental because of its advantages in speed. The speed of continental knitting is superior is in my hands. Management of the yarn is relegated to the relatively idle left hand so that the right hand might engage in the action of actually making the stitch unencumbered. There aren't as many steps in making a stitch, Something like a two-cycle engine instead of a four-cycle. By employing a quick throw-like motion with the left writs when purling and since both hands are engaged in the action of making a stitch, purling is nearly as fast as knitting with continental. It enjoys the symmetry of speed very similar to that of English, only with nearly twice the speed, at least for me.

Tactility is much higher with Continental than with English, since the hands never leave the needles. The yarn is easily caught by feel with the right needle, and I find I rarely have a problem knitting by feel with this technique.

Flicking

Flicking might be seen as "right-handed continental," since it is very similar to that technique, only the yarn is kept in the right hand. Thus, many attributes in my tests were similar. The cognitive load, tactility and doability with gloves were all similar to that of the Continental style for this reason. There were notable exceptions to this similarity, particularly with regard to tension and strain.

With Flicking I was unable to regulate my tension nearly as well as with the other techniques. While knitting I was monstrously tight, while when I was purling my stitches were problematically loose. I have done this technique enough to be decent at it, having done it a lot especially to employ the right hand with the "alternate" yarn color when doing colorwork in the past, but I found it hard to throw the yarn at speed during my tests for this blog post. Purling was doubly awkward with the flicking technique, and I found the speed to be much slower purling than with knitting.

I didn't notice as much finger strain as Contintental with Flicking because the yarn tended to settle or rest next to my middle index knuckle. Being lower on the finger than Continental style, wherein the yarn rests on higher on the middle segment of the finger, there was less strain on the finger when keeping tension. Other knitters might find it to be more comparable to Contentental though. They may find in their hand that the yarn rests on the middle or top index segment instead. Notwithstanding this smaller amount of strain, it was still substantial, especially with the aforementioned tension problems.

Norwegian

Norwegian may be seen as a closer version of continental and shares with it some attributes. Tension and tactility are very similar, as is cognitive load (as long as you remember to "pull the chord"). Finger strain might be lower with this technique for some knitters, but I personally found myself working hard to keep the top segment of the index finger straight, so as to keep the yarn in place. I still kept the top segment of the left index finger on the needle, as is required by the technique, and so the needle provided some leverage; however, I personally found more joint pain with this technique than with continental, perhaps because I felt the need to keep the finger tense to straighten that segment.

Norwegian seems purpose built for knitting with gloves on, which makes sense given the northern climate of that country. This is because the yarn always rests on the top segments of all fingers involved by definition, and these segments are the parts of the fingers which are not clothed by the glove.

For speed, I found Norwegian seems to be somewhat faster than English, though still slower than Continental. The requirement this technique imposes in keeping the tensioned yarn very close to the needle tips means that this technique requires what feels like extra steps when purling. This accounts for its relatively slow purling speed.

Portuguese

I started learning Portuguese style as a curiosity at first, but grew more serious later on. The current project I am knitting, I have knitted up so far entirely using the Portuguese technique (though somewhat modified, as described above).

The cognitive load with this technique is high. In the first place one must "clip in"; that is, situate the outbound and inbound yarns so that they don't twist together while traversing the carabiner. I must take care to knit into the proper yarn strand as both the incoming and outgoing strands are held in the right hand. All this requires a good deal of hand-eye coordination. Finally and most importantly, as the speed is asymmetric favoring purling, patterns must largely be done in the round and they must largely be converted to purling. Purling is like knitting backwards and on the wrong side of the work. This means that the order of any special stitches, such as increases or decreases, must be reversed in the rows where they reside in order to faithfully render the pattern backwards and inside out. For example, if a row starts with an SSK, knits to the middle, calls for an m1r, a knit stitch, and an m1l, followed by knitting to the end, and finishing with a K2tog, the order of stitches in that row must be reversed. This translates to a row which starts with P2tog, purls to the center, m1l (with purl), purl, m1r (with purl), purl to end, and ends with SSK. I didn't realize this at first and switched my my m1l's for m1r's on my currently-in-progress hoodie when "knitting" up the yolk. On top of all this, reading stitches on the purl side of the work is pretty difficult. Holding the work up to a bright light helps, but I find sometimes I must simply turn the work right-side back out again ("inside out" from the purler's perspective) just so I can read what I have stitched. Thus the cognitive load with Portuguese style is indeed a hurdle for anyone wishing to try the technique.

Knitting with gloves takes a small speed hit but can effectively be done. The speed hit comes from the fact that the yarn must rest on the middle segment of the middle right finger rather than the base segment when wearing fingerless gloves. This causes the inbound yarn to be close to the outbound yarn in the right hand and it's easy to pick up the wrong yarn when knitting so that I have to be more careful.

All that said, Portuguese has a lot going for it. It is extremely tactile. The hands never leave the needles like with Continental but there is still a throwing motion with the thumb like with English. Thus both the yarn and the needles are always handled directly with the fingers. This serves to make it very easy, almost instinctive, to knit (purl, actually) without looking.

Further, since most of the strain of keeping tension rests either in the hands or in the thumb, with some tension on the middle finger of the right hand, I find this to be the easiest on the fingers. I can go for hours without my fingers hurting very much. When I'm done after a knitting session, the pain doesn't linger either as it does with Continental. The one that hurts the most is actually the middle finger of the right hand, as tension is kept by that finger. However, that is the strongest finger (other than the thumb), and the yarn rests on the base segment, the part of the finger with the most leverage. The other finger which receives tension in this technique is the thumb, when it throws the yarn over the needle. The thumb is very strong and, I find, find deals with the tension pretty well hour after hour.

Additionaly, it is relatively easy to adapt this style of knitting to colorwork. In this mode, a second yarn color is held with the inbound yarn coming around the base segment of the left middle finger and going to a second carabiner attached to an arm band above the right elbow. The outbound yarn then runs from this carabiner to the work. In this setting, the inside-out pose which this style strikes becomes an advantage for the tension of the colorwork by ensuring the floats are properly sized by default. For this reason I have used the Portuguese style in the past to good effect to maintain good float tension in e.g. these mittens I knitted for my Dad while not having to stop every so often and stretch the floats out, thus maintaining better speed during the colorwork project.

For speed, this technique is the fastest technique for purling, but the speed profile is unfortunately highly asymmetric. A two-step purling process is complimented with a six-step knitting process: lifting the incoming yarn above the right needle, placing the needle in the stitch, replacing the outbound yarn, manipulating the right needle into place while picking the yarn, pulling the new stitch, and finally lifting the outbound yarn again to allow the right needle to move to the next stitch. Conversely, purling only needs the knitter to place the needle, throw the yarn, and pull the stitch. This dichotomy makes for a speed profile comparable in my hands to that of Flicking or Norwegian, for an overall middling speed score.

Decision

Having tried all of these techniques, I think I'll try sticking with Portuguese for the time being. Its cognitive load is unfortunate, as is its speed symmetry, but its comfort level makes up for any speed defects. The ability to comfortably knit for a long time, and that without need of looking at the work much, more than makes up of the loss of speed. I can accomplish as much or more knitting as with other techniques simply because I am able to knit comfortably for longer.  Besides, I'm a huge fan of knitting colorwork. As knitting colorwork is best done inside-out, Portuguese for me seems to be a really good fit.

If I were more committed to flat knitting than I was to comfort, I might have picked English. I think of English as "knitting for beginners", but this study has me taking a second look at the style for its own merits. Its speed symmetry and ease on the fingers are definitely something I had overlooked before.

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