Of throwing and picking

Most of my American knitting friends use a technique, which is called "throwing" the yarn. It refers to a movement, where - coming from your right hand - you lay the yarn around the right knitting needle to pull it through a stitch in order to create a new stitch.
Being German I use a knitting technique, which is commonly called "continental knitting" or "picking", where you carry your yarn through your left hand. Biggest difference? Continental is faster. And I think it's a good way to go, if you want to get your scarf/socks/sweater/cardigan etc. done faster.
Thanks to my dear friends Suzanne and Heather, who - together with their friend Jen - are the talented, proud and hardworking owners of Albuquerque's coolest fabricstore Hip Stitch, I just got the chance to "spread the word", that is to teach a continental knitting class at their store:

Suzanne, Heather, Sherry and Nancy felt up to the challenge of learning something new and worked hard for over an hour to get the hang of continental knitting.
This is what we did.

You start off by wrapping the yarn around your left hand like this:

This is what you need to look down at before you start:

Now you actually start knitting, you come into the stitch on the left needle from below with the right needle...

You go over the yarn with the right needle and pull the yarn through to make the new stitch, which is created on the right needle.

Then you pull the old stitch off the left needle - et voila, done!

My ladies did great, everyone mastered the technique by the time we were done and now all they need to do is practice, and in two weeks we will get together for a refresher.

For me this was the first class that I taught in ten years. Back then I held classes about marbling paper and bookbinding, and that seems centuries ago. Well, it kinda was, because it was before kids! Now thank you again, Suzanne and Heather, for giving me the chance for a comeback, that I totally enjoyed.

I certainly hope that it was a good class for the participants as well.

- After all I ran that morning before teaching :-)....