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How to tension the yarn for continental knitting

Playing With Different Tensions
Practice Makes Perfect

When learning to continental knit, holding the yarn in your left hand as opposed to your right is the main difference. The key is to mastering this technique is to determine how to maintain tension in your left hand. It doesn't matter how you wrap the yarn around your fingers, so long as you can have the proper tension that allows you to be in control of the yarn.
You must make sure that the yarn stays tight when you want it to, and flows easily when you want it to.
The biggest mistake people trying this for the first time make is they keep the yarn tensioned either too tight or too loose. Play with different wraps around your fingers to find which works the best for you.

How to Purl (continental style)
purl continental
How to Purl (continental style)
The purl stitch is the complement to the knit stitch and is essential to learn. Continental style purling is slightly trickier than in the english or 'throw' version. 
Next Step >
Alternate Step: How to increase KFB (continental style)
kfb continental
How to KFB increase (continental style)
The KFB (knit front and back) increase is a simple increase stitch. Increases are often used to shape a knitted piece.
Alternate Step >

How to YO (continental style)
yo continentalHow to YO (yarn over) continental style
The YO (yarn over) stitch is a simple type of increase. This is a stitch done accidentally by not moving the yarn to the back to knit or front to purl.

< Previous Step

Advanced Step: How to Pick up stitches after frogging or ripping
pick up frog ripHow to pick up stitches after frogging or ripping
Although ripping out is a last resort to fix mistakes, knowing how to get the stitches back on the needles the right way can help you get moving back in the right direction.

Advanced Step >

More videos you might like...

rib continentalHow to Rib (continental style)
How to Rib (continental style)
The rib stitch can have many different styles depending on how many knit, purl and even slip stitches are combined. Learn how to perform a basic 2x2 rib continental style.

Discover the Rib
tinkHow to Tink (unknit)
How to Tink (unknit)
Most mistakes can be fixed by just backing up to the spot of the mistake rather than ripping out and starting over. Learn how to unknit back to a mistake to fix it.

Learn to Tink

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