Hold your float yarn away from your working yarn as you knit yournext stitch. Typical stranded colorwork motifs are worked with two different colors per round, with the colors changes happening often (this keeps the floats short). Give it a try and see if its the solution for you. September 27, 2021 @ Focus on one section of the fabric at a time and knead it. So what do I do? If youve been too intimidated to give colourwork a try, this tutorial will demystify the process and take you through it step by step. No good! I know its a slow work in progress. The rest is just details! The hat used almost one full skein of the main colour yarn. long for their taste. A float carried across five stitches in fingering weight is a much shorter float than one carried across five stitches in bulky yarn. beginning projects for stranded colorwork. Keeping your Dominant Color and Background Color consistent will ensure that your colorwork motifs pop rather than recede into the background. A critical thing to keep in mind when knitting colorwork is where you're holding your main color (MC) vs. A huge thank you for sharing your wisdom! When you go from knitting one stitch in the MC to one in the CC, they dont sit as perfectly as they might if they were done in the same colour. The guidance suggested catching the floats (the stitches youre carrying of one colour behind the colour youre working with) every [], [] After that I got to start on the yoke and the colourwork. colorwhether on one finger, in a Yarn Guide, or in your left hand while the other strand is in your Omit them, of course! 7:46 am. Read More. ): While all this can seem like a lot of info, you wont figure any of it out unless you get going. When working a stranded pattern, you never want to carry the non-working yarn across the back of the work for more than about 5 stitches, or whatever constitutes about a inch at your gauge. The only color you knit to create a new stitch is the one from your left hand. 7:56 am. Great videos. Typically, stranded colourwork is knit in the round, rather than back and forth in rows. Please note: Your videos have inspired and taught me so much. I was told it is never too loose when knitting multi colors . Youve effectively trapped the float already! Nothing wrong with that, but it would slow you down a bit. I don't want to have long strands of floats inside the hat, nor do I want it to be too tight. Really enjoyed your Q & A youtube video, very useful as a newbie to stranded knitting making the most of lockdowns in UK to experiment! If you happen to know both styles of knitting (I do know both because I learned to knit English-style and then converted to Continental-style), work one strand in your right hand to throw and one strand in your left hand to pick. Float is a common term for the strand of yarn that runs across the back of colorwork fabric the strand that makes colorworkstranded. Simply open the latch, lay each strand in its own channel in the Yarn Guide, snap the top shut, and October 28, 2021 @ Thank you for your generosity in sharing your knowledge. Weve got some handy tips on making this dream a reality. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. get more info on choosing a colourwork sweater size here, Check out our tutorial on swatching for colourwork here, Week of Colour: Strategies for Designing a Palette, Applying Colour to Stranded Knitting Motifs, design your own Strange Brew colourwork yokes, like these ones, The Three Needle Bind-off: A Bind-off and Seaming Method, Blocking: how to finish your hand-knit hat, First, you knit a stitch (or several) in one colour lets call it the, Then you knit a stitch (or several) in another colour lets call it the. would you do one on catching floats in purl side?Im knitting a Marie Wallin pattern in pieces and Im trying to find the best way to trap the floats in purl. Think of the dominant color as the one creating the design rather than the one creating the background. Enjoy! Eva Pick up the other strand and knit with itand so forth. Holding both strands of yarn too tightly can result in fabric that is taut and puckered. Katherine Hill By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. I get this question a lot, and its a tricky one to answer. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. I love your blog and all your instructions along with perfectly placed videos! Heres an extra special tip for you: I use the tacking technique to weave in ends as I knit all kinds of projects, color knitting or solid knitting! For more information, please see our Stranded colorwork without floats in 3 minutes - THE KNITTING - YouTube I loved your tutorial on catching floats! Follow the instructions in theSwatching for Circular Knittingsection of ourSwatching 101article to learn more. Not following a pattern, just my rough one I made. Thank you!! This creates floats, where yarns pass across the back for several stitches. Ive done a couple colorwork projects and I appreciate all of this good info in one place! Also note that if you Here's a video from Tiara the Unicorn explaining three different ways to catch floats, followed by written directions below that. Ive found that this method of weaving in works best with worsted-weight and smaller yarns. floats, by wrapping the two yarns while youre knitting. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. 2010 - 2022 Tin Can Knits. other. Please confirm you want to block this member. Learn how stranded colorwork can be used in design with five accompanying projects including mitts, cowls, and sweaters. Nervous about your first colorwork project? The Japanese word ajiro describes a herringbone pattern in basketry, which seems fitting for a country known for its long fishing traditions and bold graphic representations of natural elements. The method you use to strand your working yarns may also have different effects on your tension. Marge Sturgill If you do come to a spot where its necessary to carry your yarn across more than 5 stitches, remember to catch your floats every so often. Whale woman, Lindy Van Fleet Knitting colourwork (also known as stranded colourwork or Fair Isle knitting) may seem difficult, but its actually quite simple. I am sort of figuring it out as I go but it is a little wonky. In this example, the dominant color, carried in my left hand, is the contrasting color (blue), while the background color, carried in my right hand, is the main color (charcoal). I have a question on color dominance. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Laura Trickel Wrapping floats can help, but even if youre wrapping stitches frequently, you still want to be For example, in Round 1 of the colorwork chart below (adapted from the Lucernepattern), the first stitch is worked in C1, the next in C2, and the following two stitches are worked in C1. Equipped with the basics of stranded colorwork knitting, you can now proceed with confidence! As a, It's the holiday season and you know what that meanstime for last-minute handmade gift ideas!, Knitting Instructions & AbbreviationsGuide to Subbing Brown Sheep Yarns in Knit & Crochet PatternsGuide to Weaving With Brown Sheep Yarns. I so appreciate it and YOU! Tears. First of all: choose the right pattern for learning to knit with two colors at a time. Contains spam, fake content or potential malware, https://www.interweave.com/store/vintage-modern-knits-ebook, Free Resin Jewelry Video: Yupo Paper, Alcohol Inks, and Resin, Knitting-Themed Artists We Love: Inspiration from Fiber & Needles, Celebrating Beadwork Artists on International Womens Day. UFO to WIP: Can This Crochet or Knitting Project Be Saved? I have some puckering snowmen on a hat right now, but Ill live with it. When flipped to be a Background Color (right), these Hammock stitches become smaller and less distinct. Knit Picks and KnitPicks.com are registered trademarks of Crafts Americana Group, Inc. Thank you so much , Mona Wadington (Photo 1) Keep the stitches on your right needle stretched out as you bring the unused color behind them. the other, as is the case when just carrying two yarns in one hand without the Yarn Guide. (Don't know what the proper terminology is). The only Marie Wallin garment Ive knit, I adapted to be knit in the round and I steeked the armholes and front neck. strands in Tension is the most difficult aspect to master in colorwork knitting. September 29, 2021 @ Your great presenation has take the fear out of at lease trying colorwork. Most color work patterns use a light to medium weight wool yarn our Nature Spun Fingering, Nature Spun Sport, Lanaloft Sport, and Prairie Spun DK are ideal for color work projects. These patterns are particularly well-suited for practicing stranded colorwork as they're smaller projects, worked in the round, and feature motifs that don't require working with more than two strands or colors of yarn in the same round. arlene j shipper Color in the boxes with two or more colors. 10:33 am. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. You want it to be loose, so the floats dont cause puckering, but not so loose that you get distorted stitches. I am a knitting chicken. You will always draw the CC yarn (the one on your left) up from underneath the other colour, so it will create slightly longer dominant stitches. It can elongate the stitches a little bit because youre adding bulk as youre knitting the stitch, which is especially noticeable when using larger-gauge yarns. How To Make Intarsia Knitting Patterns Use some graph paper for your chart. Youll weave in the ends later. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Finally, spread out your sweater and leave it to air-dry. Thank you. Most often, knitters will "lock" these floats if they become longer than 3 or 4 stitches. dominant color in a pattern is not necessarily the same as your MCin fact, it usually should be joan Your email address will not be published. Insert your right needle into the next stitch like normal. Whichever camp you fall into, note that you must have normal (non-wrapped) Ill be using myHearth Slippersto demonstrate in the photos, as this pattern involves a very long float the first time you work Chart C. Im working the Large size, and the float is carried across 21 stitches. After knitting this stitch, I have 7 stitches of my 21-stitch span knit. You may only see one color in each stitch on the front of a project, but remember that there are as many Thank you for the idea of tying ends and letting them felt themselves over time. tangled, then, is key to working with multiple colors. Intarsia Knitting: A Guide To This Colorwork Knitting Technique Thanks! I recently completed a color work sweater and the yoke is snugger than the body. Some knitters like to wrap floats frequently and regularly, while others do so when the floats feel too Ive always been intimidated to try anything with more than one color. Unlike charts for lace or cabled patterns, which will require you to be familiar with a number of chart symbols, all youll need to keep in mind when following a colorwork chart are the colors of the boxes. This effect is referred to ascolor dominanceand is a result of how the yarns are stranded in relationship to one another on the WS of the fabric as you work. Colorwork Without Interlocking Floats - Technique Tuesday But since youre here and maybe youre in the mood lets talk about some of those details. To help shorten the floats while maintaining good tension, "tack" these long floats to the wrong side of the work. Keep in mind that if the pattern youre working on has significantly more stitches with one color vs. Im all about creativity. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Personally, I dont like this approach. Its better to stagger the tension so you dont end up with one column of stitches pulling towards the inside of the project. Youll see the left-hand yarn strand is wrapped behind that stitch, keeping it tame. I havent written it up in a blog post, but I covered trapping the non-dominant float in my video on Youtube about stranded colorwork. colorwork with 200 new motifs. Unlike other types of colorwork knitting techniques (such as striping or intarsia), stranded colorwork requires you to carry along the strand of yarn not in use across the back of the work. I watched the video but would like more information & can't seem to find it. When carrying both yarns in the left hand, you may need to use your thumb to hold the floating yarn (blue) out of the way. sometimes called Scandinavian knitting, is the one endorsed by Elizabeth Zimmerman in Knitting Colorwork without stranded floats? : knitting - reddit.com swatch) the one you prefer. After knitting this stitch, I have 7 stitches of my 21-stitch span knit. Youll want to keep this in mind when choosing the right size if youre knitting a sweater with a colourwork body (get more info on choosing a colourwork sweater size here). True Fair Isle knitting is more specific originating from the island of its namesake in Shetland, northern Scotland but generally can be used interchangeably with the term colorwork. (We found that for this reason, colorwork charts are quite helpful for, For example, in Round 1 of the colorwork chart below (adapted from the. To swatch for a stranded colorwork motif, we recommend the Speed Swatching method for circular knitting; because most stranded colorwork patterns are worked in the round, it is best to swatch in the round as well. 6:29 am, Thank you, been nervous about trying this but after watching and reading feel confident to give it a go, growbakeknit