The joys of continental knitting

I've been wishing I could knit 'continental style' for some time now and after completing my recent Hap Blanket (pattern by the talented Ysolda Teague) I was finding that my usual 'throwing' action was giving me some shoulder pain. Because of my current infatuation with the lovely Hap I immediately cast on for another - on the principle that you can't have too much of a good thing. But then I found that my shoulder was really starting to hurt........eeeeek.

So I dug out an old link to a continental knitting tutorial and decided that, as this project basically starts with a large central garter stitch square it would be ideal to practice on. Whenever I have tried continental knitting before it hasn't gone well - lets just say that there were tension issues and leave it at that.

So I found this link and gave it a try, and amazingly everything seemed to fall into place this time. After a few awkward starts I was managing to keep the tension reasonably even. For me, the key seems to be to wrap the yarn around my little finger first, and then tension across my ring and index fingers. If I try and do it the way they often show you in tutorials - just using the ring and index fingers I can't keep a proper hold of the yarn and it all goes loose and floppy - not a good look.

So anyway - full steam ahead continental style...

Current project

We are in the middle of a heatwave and I have a sudden urge to knit a blanket - wierd but never mind.

The pattern is Ysolda Teague's Hap Blanket and it was a great and really fast knit. So much so that I've had to cast on for another one... I know I should be catching up with the other things on my needles but this is so much fun.

Test post

Well - I guess I have to start somewhere and this can be my first test post - dipping a toe in the water so to speak.

I've been knitting for over a year now and find that knitting is a great way to preserve my sanity after a busy day chasing around after two even busier pre-schoolers. Well. it beats housework for fun and it's less damaging than a bottle of Pinot - although I have been known to mix the two with predictably dire consequences.