Yup - if your 'empty' needle is in the right hand, that's Continental.
You enjoy purling Continental method? Kudos to you - that's like the hated thing from what I hear.
Continental (as I was just informed yesterday because I'd heard it was faster so I gave it a try) is designed for a tighter knit. So if you're pulling stuff tighter and tighter - it's probably why your yarn is untwisting and splitting a bit. I'd look at some stuff you've done - measure the length recommended by your yarn for gauge and just see how many stitches you have in there vs the recommended gauge. You might be surprised at how many stitches you're working in that distance - I was knitting almost double the recommended stitches for the yarn o.O Knowing just how 'loose' you can knit really can make a difference as far as your feeding goes.
The goal with the finger-looping is more control, rather than tightening tension - allowing yarn to flow and stopping it when you've got enough to work with or are working the stitch.
One thing that's helped my tension was that when I cast on - I cast on w/ the needles I was going to be using - but cast on around both of them (so you cast on with a double-sized loop than the rest of your knitting). Then slip out the one needle and knit like normal. Might feel exceedingly loose at first - but it works up with a nice, even cast on area once you've knit a few rows.
edit: Oh yeah - and with the Continental stitch - make sure you're pushing your stitch beyond the tips on the right needle - that way you're getting the full diameter of the needle and the stitch size you should be getting, not a smaller, tighter stitch on the tips, a hazard w/ that method.
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You enjoy purling Continental method? Kudos to you - that's like the hated thing from what I hear.
Continental (as I was just informed yesterday because I'd heard it was faster so I gave it a try) is designed for a tighter knit. So if you're pulling stuff tighter and tighter - it's probably why your yarn is untwisting and splitting a bit. I'd look at some stuff you've done - measure the length recommended by your yarn for gauge and just see how many stitches you have in there vs the recommended gauge. You might be surprised at how many stitches you're working in that distance - I was knitting almost double the recommended stitches for the yarn o.O Knowing just how 'loose' you can knit really can make a difference as far as your feeding goes.
The goal with the finger-looping is more control, rather than tightening tension - allowing yarn to flow and stopping it when you've got enough to work with or are working the stitch.
One thing that's helped my tension was that when I cast on - I cast on w/ the needles I was going to be using - but cast on around both of them (so you cast on with a double-sized loop than the rest of your knitting). Then slip out the one needle and knit like normal. Might feel exceedingly loose at first - but it works up with a nice, even cast on area once you've knit a few rows.
edit: Oh yeah - and with the Continental stitch - make sure you're pushing your stitch beyond the tips on the right needle - that way you're getting the full diameter of the needle and the stitch size you should be getting, not a smaller, tighter stitch on the tips, a hazard w/ that method.