Knitters - do you pick or throw?

[Pleiades45]

They say you learn something new everyday, and today I have.

When knitting I hold the wool in my right hand and wrap around the needle. Apparently this is throwing.

There is a continental style which involves holding the wool in the left hand and using the right needle to pick it through the stitch. Apparently this is a faster method of knitting.

Does anyone know if this is right?

In that case I throw

I throw as a matter of course. But pick and throw (one thread in the left and one thread in the right hand) when I am going Fair Isle. Clever eh?

You old show off DutchOma

I throw.

Another thrower here.

I pick, maybe because I am righthanded, but taught to knit by my left handed mother ?

Screwing my eyes up tight to think about this (I can't tell my left from my right)

...I throw

Throw.

I've never heard the other style referred to as 'picking' though - it's normally called 'continental'. I fail to see how it's faster myself (all things being equal - ie it might be for a left handed person).

i read the title as "kittens- do you pick or throw?"

Chipping, that's what I wondered - how could it be quicker?

Her Royal Zimmerness (Elizabeth Zimmerman) says that knowing how to do both is very useful, so 10 points to DutchOma for explaining why :) (I think EZ says it's to do with particular increases and decreases, I've just realised I can't remember where my Knitting Without Tears has gone despite only buying it a month ago, eek!

Yes, that's right.

I "pick" continentally and it's undoubtedly much faster than "throwing" English-style :)

Ok, I think it's time to find a you tube video and check this out. Thanks for the replies

Pleiades, Her Zimmerness does say the continental style is faster. I get the impression that purling must be harder to do, though.

I throw.I self learnt,so I felt this is easy for me.

I wondered if my tension might be better if I held the yarn continental-stylee?

I found a video and tried to knit continental but failed. I guess it's like trying to write with my left hand when I'm right handed and have been using my right hand for so many years. I'm still intrigued so this won't be the last of it.

I'm a thrower too, I have tried continental style and I reckon with practice I could get reasonably quick, however I believe it does tend to make your tension looser, and mine is a little on the loose side anyway. I think the fastest knitters do continental style though, I'm sure I heard that the fastest knitter in the world does.

Oh god, well if it makes tension looser count me out definitely! I thought the yarn might be under a more even tension and thus it would be tighter.

Yes, picking is more difficult on purl stitches and I cannot manage to get them on the pin straight for the next row.
With Fair Isle though, you are knitting in the round, so you are always on the 'right' side. So when you are doing ribbing it is easy to do the purl stitches with the right hand and the knit stitches with the thread in the left hand.
Yes, I so felt like a bit a 'showing off'

Ooh, get you DutchOma, with your fancy swapping of hands!

Do you have any views on tension for knit stitches? Tighter with pick or throw?

Tighter with throwing, which is why (showing off again you have the background colour in Fair Isle in the right hand (throwing) and the contrast colour in the left hand (picking) so that it stands out that bit more. Just so you know...

Strokes tribpot's hair.

I can do both, or either, like DutchOma...much easier when knitting fairisle.