TERMINOLOGY

For clarity, I’m going to divide knitting techniques into Styles and Methods.

Styles are to do with how you hold your needles and yarn. Things like throwing, picking, Continental or Portuguese-style knitting would come into this category. Regardless of which style you use, you can follow any pattern.

Methods are to do with how the stitches are mounted on the needles, and their subsequent treatment (whether they are worked through the front or back). Patterns written for a particular method of knitting cannot be used by a knitter with a different method without adjustment, as the knitted fabric outcome would be different. In practice, the majority of patterns published in English, including all patterns in The Knitter, are written for the Western method, but it isn’t usually found necessary to state that.