First things first: a yarn hold is not a big cargo area in a ship all filled up with yarn. Teehee.
Although that would be wonderful to behold, wouldn’t it? 🙂 Behold… get it? *blushing* We are total word nerds.
No, a yarn hold is simply how you hold your yarn as you work with your needles. You use a yarn hold for both crochet and knitting.
Your yarn hold is important, but it isn’t always easy to sort out. You want to be able to hold the working yarn with enough tension that you can make a stitch, but loose enough that the yarn will continue to pull from the ball to make more stitches.
Some people like to hold their working yarn in their right hand and wrap it around the left hand needle in a sweeping motion. This is called the English method, or throwing.
We both prefer to keep our working yarn in the left hand, and use the right hand needle to catch the yarn and make the stitch. This is called the Continental method, or picking.
The basic differences between English and Continental (for right-handed knitting):
English: working yarn held in right hand, right hand or finger wraps the working yarn to create the stitch
Continental: working yarn held in left hand, right needle creates the stitch by how it catches the yarn
Because it is what we know and prefer, we are going to show you how we hold our yarn for the Continental method.
But remember: the best way for you to hold your yarn is the way that you like, and that helps you knit more comfortably!
The Yarn Hold
After you have cast on, hold the needle with the cast on stitches in your right hand. Place the working yarn between the ring and pinky fingers of your left hand, with the tail going out the back and the needle on the palm side.
Loop the yarn going between your hand and the needle around your pinky one time, and then back out the front.
Hook the yarn that stretches between your left hand and the needle over your left pointer finger.
Move the needle with yarn into your left hand, and pick up the empty needle with your right hand. You are ready to knit!
If you don’t remember how to cast on, just go to our “How to Cast On” tutorial. And on Thursday we’ll post our newest Basic Knitting tutorial: “How to Knit.” Yay!
But hey! Don’t wait until Thursday to check back!
Tomorrow Abbie will be sharing her review of a new CD for parents and children, and you’ll have a chance to win a copy! This is Abbie’s first review ever, and she is, as always, a silly goose. 🙂
If you are a Pinterest lover, we’ll say “Oh thank you ever so much!” if you will kindly pin our yarn-hold collage below. *mwah!* If you were right here with us, we’d also pour you a cup of tea. And we’d sit and knit a bit together. Ahhhh.
So now after all that, do tell… are you an already-knitter or a want-to-be knitter? If you are already knitting, do you knit English or Continental? Have you ever tried the other way? What made you choose how you do it?
Click here to leave a comment.
I’m a continental girl, because that’s the way my mother in law taught me. It seems more efficient to me, but Ellen seems to like European. And if their was a ship with a cargo of yarn? I’d be diving right in to that hold!
I know, even though it’s hot as can be here, the idea of swimming in yarn still holds a silly amount of appeal!