Continental vs English knitting
Continental holds the working yarn in your left hand; English holds it in your right. Learn whichever your hands take to first.
Updated August 11, 2026ยท6 min read
Continental holds the working yarn in your left hand and scoops it with the needle tip. English holds it in your right hand and wraps it around the needle. The fabric comes out identical. Learn whichever your hands take to first, and don't let anyone tell you the other one is correct.
English, step by step
Also called throwing, because your right hand throws the yarn around the needle.
- 1Hold the needle with stitches in your left hand, the empty needle and the working yarn in your right.
- 2Push the right needle tip through the front of the first stitch, back to front, so the tips cross.
- 3Let go of the right needle or pinch it with your right thumb, and wrap the working yarn counterclockwise around it.
- 4Pull the right needle back through the stitch, catching the wrapped loop.
- 5Slide the old stitch off the left needle.
Continental, step by step
Also called picking. The left index finger holds the yarn up and the right needle picks it off.
- 1Drape the working yarn over your left index finger and hold it taut a couple of inches above the left needle.
- 2Insert the right needle tip through the front of the first stitch, back to front.
- 3Tilt the right tip toward the working yarn and scoop it from right to left.
- 4Pull the scooped loop back through the stitch.
- 5Slide the old stitch off the left needle.
The right hand barely moves. That's the whole appeal.
The actual differences
| English | Continental | |
|---|---|---|
| Working yarn hand | Right | Left |
| Motion per stitch | Wrap with the hand | Scoop with the needle |
| Typical speed ceiling | Slower, more hand travel | Faster, less hand travel |
| Purling | Straightforward | Awkward at first for most people |
| Tension control | Easier to keep even early on | Takes longer to even out |
| Crochet crossover | None | Yarn hold is nearly the same |
| Ribbing | Steady | Faster once purling clicks |
| Colorwork | Fine | Fine; two-handed uses both |
Continental is generally faster because the yarn travels a shorter distance. That matters if you knit a lot of stockinette. It does not matter for a scarf.
Which to learn first
- You crochet already. Start Continental. Your left hand already knows how to hold yarn at tension.
- Your tension is all over the place. Start English. The deliberate wrap makes it easier to feel how tight each stitch is.
- You want speed and you're patient. Continental, and accept that purling will feel wrong for a week.
- You have wrist or shoulder pain on the right side. Continental moves the work to the left hand and the needles.
If none of those describe you, pick either. Switching later costs a few evenings, not months.
Where people get stuck
- Continental purling feels impossible.
- The scoop direction reverses and the yarn sits in front, which is genuinely harder. Try Norwegian purling, where the yarn stays behind the work, or knit in the round for a while so you can skip purling entirely.
- Your Continental fabric is too loose.
- The left index finger isn't holding enough tension. Wrap the yarn once around your left pinky before it reaches the index finger.
- English feels exhausting over long sessions.
- You're probably letting go of the right needle to wrap. Learn to pinch the needle with your thumb and flick the yarn with the index finger, which is the flicking style. It's English with most of the arm movement removed.