A short while ago I posted an Instagram video of me working brioche. Why? Because I knit and purl using my left hand for the yarn, ie. Continental style, and I t's particularly well-suited to brioche leading to a very fluid and fast movement compared to working it with the yarn in my right hand.

I really rate Continental knitting anyway, as it's far faster and better for avoiding RSI. It takes a bit of perseverance to transfer from British style knitting (ie 'throwing') to Continental style knitting (ie 'picking'), but it's very worthwhile, especially if it makes the difference between an increasingly painful shoulder and no pain at all. 

Anyway.. These videos are testers really. I am hoping to get better, more instructional ones soon. But for now, here's brioche knitting using Continental (video is at half speed):

And here's brioche purling using Continental (video slowed to 0.2 of its original speed so might look jaunty): ​

I hope that helps. The project is Stephen West's Syncopation Adoration which I made using Whitfell DK in Ebony for the main colour and a whole load of 10g DK Yarnlings for the stripes. I worked on 160sts for a smaller cowl as well. It's incredibly smooshy!


1 comment


  • In my experience transferring from yarn in the right hand to yarn in the left hand took 6 months of hard work and perseverance. Totally worth doing though.

    Stephanie C Peters on

Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published