Continental has oblique (diagonal lines not on true diagonals) on every row. If you stitch so that these lines are only on every other row, that is not Continental.
What you are stitching is a combination of Continental and Half-cross. Many teachers and book call this Continental — it’s not, it’s incorrect and causes ridges and major distortion. I know many fine needlepointers who think this and therefore mistakenly malign the true Continental Stitch.
The source of the problem is thinking you must always go up in a clean home and down in a dirty hole. If you think that then the combination stitch will result.
Correctly done, in Continental every other row (the even rows) will come up in a hole which already has some thread in it, and down in the empty hole.
There is no other way to do this stitch properly, no matter how you turn the canvas.
Watch the video, see what I mean, and enjoy this wrongly maligned stitch.
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
I have some plastic canvas I can practice this when I get home. Love the video. Thanks so much