Continental Style

I was inspired by another blogger who was determined to master the Continental technique so I thought this dishcloth would be an easy piece to try it with. It definitely changes the gauge of your stitches. I put the arrow in just in case you can't find where I changed styles. Too me it's quite obvious, especially in real life. Who would have thought that guage would matter on a dishcloth.

Yes it's faster once you get the hang of it, but I learned something I didn't expect. I had to stop crocheting because I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and my left thumb and forefinger would just cramp up in agony when I crocheted. That is when I started to knit, first with a machine because I thought my days of using my hands were numbered and the machine was an attempt to maintain my creative side, but when I tried by hand, I didn't know why, I didn't have pain like when I crocheted. Well, I now know it's because of how I hold the yarn. Continental style knitting holds the yarn the same way crochet does and it uses the same joints. So, although I have mastered the technique, I will not be using it. The trick was to use my right forfinger to hold the yarn around the needle to complete the stitch. I'm just happy that I mastered something that I thought I couldn't do :)