Adventures with Continental

I’ve been able to progress farther along on my left-hand scarf project. I was able to finish 8 inches in one sitting, yay! Some observations: Tension, tension, argh! It’s always been a problem when I try Continental knitting. If anyone has ideas/suggestions/wisdom to share, I’m all eyes. Practice does help… I think the number of wonky spots where the tension suddenly loosened is decreasing. I’m also moving my finger less and less when I purl. At the same time, my right arm moves more and more. Before Christmas 2005, I knit a Stashbuster Stole (by Clara Parkes, Knitters Review with the same yarn and same size needles (Classic Elite Montera; US 10.5). I put the Continental and English scarves side by side… there’s not as much a difference as I expected. My Continental gauge is about half a stitch looser than my English. Pleasing news for me! PS: My Red Pom socks are blocking; they became amazingly soft after a quick wash. No pictures yet, though, of the socks or the scarf, it’s very overcast today!

Is third time the charm?

I’ve been obsessing thinking about trying Continental-style knitting again. I’ve tried it once in each of the past two years. I cannot remember the details of the first time (perhaps I blocked the memory?). I’m pretty sure I used straight needles and some cotton yarn. Oops!Last year, I joined the Thing-Along and used my sampler to practice Continental. I noticed two things right away; it’s much easier with circulars (somehow, there’s less stress/weight), and I have difficulty keeping tension with my left hand. I experimented endlessly with different ways of holding the yarn. The result was so ugly, because of the crazy tensioning and becasuse I couldn’t manage to stay in ribbing (gulp!). I frogged my Thing and tucked all thoughts of Continental knitting into a far corner of my mind.

The naughty persistent Continental thoughts have pushed their ways out of the depths of my mind. I really want to improve and hope this time it will work out. It’s really all a matter of practice. I commited myself to knitting a one-skein K1P1 ribbed scarf. Yes, for the whole skein, I must knit Continentally (is that even a word?). Luckily, I had some perfect scarf yarn handy: Classic Elite Montera, 50% llama, 50% wool, in 3883 Strawfield. I actually don’t like this color very much (it was part of a grab bag), so it’s perfect for Continental practice. I have one inch completed so far. It seems to go faster this time around, but my left hand was tired after a half-hour and the stitches were getting sloppy. Time for a break. Later I will practice more.
PS: The “I want to be a Continental Knitter” part of my mind snuck a Cro-Knit Tension Keeper into an online purchase last summer. I’m embarassed sorry to say I don’t remember where I put it.