Learn how stranded colorwork can be used in design with five accompanying projects including mitts, cowls, and sweaters. Ive knit for over 50 years and have just stuck my toe into colorwork. When you knit colourwork, the stitches sit a little differently than in regular stockinette. If your stitches are twisted, then you are bringing the yarn through the wrong way. In reality, there are a few different methods, but Ill be demonstrating what I think is the most common below. Check out our posts about: You sure you really wanna open that can of worms? and our September 28, 2021 @ To accompany the colorwork charts in our patterns, we provide a key showing which colors should be held as the Dominant Color and the Background Color. Tension will be easiest to tackle if you choose a pattern that doesn't require long floats. October 28, 2021 @ Feel free to post questions in the comments, orshare other tips or methods you know of! Marge Sturgill Stranded colorwork without floats in 3 minutes - THE KNITTING - YouTube Five beginner-friendly Tips for Stranded Colorwork Knitting 10:33 am. Hi Elizabeth Thanks so much for your kind words! Theresa Hofstetter floats (with three stitches or less) alone, but floats of five or more stitches may benefit from It might sound daunting, but once you get the hang of it you'll be sailing in no time. October 4, 2021 @ Add a key, so you remember the boxes with dots are purls, and the boxes without dots are knit. The project that that strikes my fancy for todays post is from Vintage Modern Knits by Courtney Kelley and Kate Gagnon Osborn. If you finish knitting something and onlythenrealize that you should have trapped the long floats dont worry! 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. to you and that allows you to get the most even tension in your knitting. Please confirm you want to block this member. 6:08 am. Unknown 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. What is the best method for making sure your floats are loose enough when knitting. Simply pick up loose bars of yarn in the order they belong (according to your chart), and youll be back in business. (We found that for this reason, colorwork charts are quite helpful forlearning how to read knitting charts.). 7:56 am. Finally, spread out your sweater and leave it to air-dry. A baby sweater or a pair of mittens, however, will provide ample opportunity for fingers to catch on floats, so trapping those floats is a good idea. Carrying Fair Isle Floats - v e r y p i n k . c o m - knitting patterns moon sprites & icelandic wool month at tolt, Float is a common term for the strand of yarn that runs across the back of colorwork fabric the strand that makes colorwork, So, if Im knitting a piece that has long floats, how often should I trap them? Nervous about your first colorwork project? In other words, when you alternate between colors of yarn, the previously unused strand travels behind the stitches just worked until it is ready to be used again, resulting in a horizontal strand on the wrong side (WS). Im trapping my float every 6th stitch as I work across the span of charcoal grey, but you could trap every 5th or 4th stitch as well. First of all: choose the right pattern for learning to knit with two colors at a time. I don't want to have long strands of floats inside the hat, nor do I want it to be too tight. Knitting Colorwork: Tips & Tricks - Ms. Cleaver I may seem biased in encouraging you to knit with wool, but seriously the natural barbs in wool fiber will cling together, helping the stitches to stay in place. Next, start to knit from the yarn in your left hand. October 28, 2021 @ There are other ways to trap floats, but in my experience, this is the most common (and its a pretty simple way to trap floats as youre working, so theres less finishing after the fact). Some patterns, such as the Ajiro Scarf, require that the non-working yarn is carried farther7 stitches in this case (see chart at right). You want it to be loose, so the floats dont cause puckering, but not so loose that you get distorted stitches. Hi Lisa Yep, lots of folks find going up a needle size very helpful! The relevant part starts at 23:15 so you can skip to that to see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Sex1qLRd_I&t=7s, [] started knitting the colourwork chart using the dark orange and the black. Videos. If you're unsure about what patterns to start with, we recommend the following form our Pattern Database (from left to right): Customer accounts enabled in your Store Admin. Ive taught countless colourwork classes and literally NEVER had a student who couldnt learn to do colourwork using this method but they did find it difficult it at first (theres always a bit of cursing). starkly different results in colorwork knitting; this concept is known as color dominance. The We believeswatchingis an important part of the process of beginning any project. free download when you sign up for our newsletter! Use your best judgment and go with what youre comfortable with! This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. knitter), then you may want to hold both strands of yarn in the same hand. can try both out on a colorwork swatch before you cast on to see which you prefer. dominant color in a pattern is not necessarily the same as your MCin fact, it usually should be We recommend starting with a hat and only two colours just dive in and enjoy the learning process! :). left-hand A Super Clever Way to Deal with Long Floats in Colorwork - Knitting 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. Floats can get in the way in the finished project because they can snag - and, they can mess with the tension of the knit stitches around them. For just a few stitches, this is fine and tidy! thistheyre twice as thick! Get your copy of Vintage Modern Knits today and queue up your version of the Ajiro scarfor one of the other 25 designs in this fab booktoday! But, as crafters, we have, The new year is a fantastic time to reflect on last year's accomplishments. The floats across the back of the work need to be flexible enough to allow the front of the work to lie flat. 1) Holding the yarn. Here's a video from Tiara the Unicorn explaining three different ways to catch floats, followed by written directions below that. Knit Picks and KnitPicks.com are registered trademarks of Crafts Americana Group, Inc. Managing long floats in Fair Isle knitting | Interweave Ive heard of some people switching to a larger needle for the color work. If the floats are too tight, they will draw your fabric in, causing puckering which will change the look and fit of your finished item. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Go ahead and knit the next stitch normally. Im going to queue it up today and start looking through my stash for appropriate yarn (or I may just have to spring for the luscious Fibre Company Road to China Light thats used in the book!). What's a Knitter To Do? Ive always been intimidated to try anything with more than one color. December 2, 2021 @ tutorials Andrea Rangel July 26, . If a pattern row has you knit two white stitches, then two black stitches and repeat that to the end of the row, you could literally knit the two white stitches, drop the yarn, pick up the black yarn and knit two stitches, drop it, etc. Im all about creativity. Ive completed a few stranded colorwork projects in which I had to switch position of the yarn balls every time I trapped a float: trapping a float without taking my hands off the needles was a revelation and a relief! (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. Colourwork Knitting: An Introduction - tin can knits 8:53 am, This is fantastic! Excellent timing as I start a pair of colorwork advent socks. How can one get a copy of the pattern? One way is to go up a needle size when working colorwork (but doswatchto make sure your gauge remains accurate to the pattern youre following!) 9:47 am, Anna Buchholtz 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. Thank you for the information I feel more confident about trying colorwork . If you are able to take a class on this technique, or self-learn the opposite knitting style from your current preference, I highly recommend giving it a try. If youmustuse a general rule, going by length in inches or cm is a better way to go (e.g. November 1, 2021 @ Typically, stranded colourwork is knit in the round, rather than back and forth in rows. If youre ready to take the plunge, click here to sign up for our newsletter & well send you a free PDF download of the Jeanette Hat & Scarf Pattern, a lovely colorwork ensemble in which both pieces are knit in the round! New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. So Im sorry Im not the most helpful person for that! Some knitters like to wrap floats frequently and regularly, while others do so when the floats feel too One thing that is important to keep in mind in stranded colorwork knitting ismaintaining even float tension. They are best known for their craft books and their original, colourful and visually striking designs. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. For keeping those floats nice and loose I recommend trying a longer cord to your circular needle (this spreads out the stitches and forces those floats to be nice and long) and spreading out your stitches on the right hand needle after a long stretch of one colour. Your videos have inspired and taught me so much. left-hand Colorwork Without Interlocking Floats - Technique Tuesday - YouTube Kelley Hobart from Alpaca Direct shares tips on how to knit colorwork without the need for interlocking floats as. I get this question a lot, and its a tricky one to answer. Alexa Ludeman I am a knitting chicken. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. According to designer Courtney Kelley, This scarf was inspired by a picture in Handschuhe, a vintage knitting book from Germany by Eva Maria Leszner. Alexa Ludeman click here to sign up for our newsletter & well send you a free PDF download of the Jeanette Hat & Scarf Pattern, Guide to Subbing Brown Sheep Yarns in Knit & Crochet Patterns. Now that weve covered when its a good idea to trap floats how do we actually do it? This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. This method leaves floats, which are lengths of yarn carried across the back of the work that can be easily snagged. If youve been too intimidated to give colourwork a try, this tutorial will demystify the process and take you through it step by step. One way is to go up a needle size when working colorwork (but do, When working stranded fabric with two or more colors, one color (the Dominant Color) will always be more prominent on the right side (RS) while the other (the Background Color) recedes to the background. There is enough of the contrast grey []. Insertyour right needle into the next stitch, making sure to go BEHIND your float yarn. Yarn floats, the strands of yarn you carry behind your knitting for some colorwork, are perhaps the trickiest part of knitting colorwork for beginners. 1999-2023 Crafts Americana Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Colorwork without stranded floats? : knitting - reddit.com Because you have floats making a straight line across the back of the work, the fabric formed by stranded colourwork is much less stretchy than that formed with a regular knitted fabric. How To Make Intarsia Knitting Patterns Use some graph paper for your chart. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Twist your float yarn around your working yarn. This pulling can also really tighten your gauge and make garments too small. Back-knitting is just as easy with two strands of yarn as a single strand. I That being said, if a rule doesnt jive with your personal preferences, thats perfectly fine! We just dont get along. Keep in mind that wrapped floats may sometimes be visible from the front of the work, so test I was introduced to your helpful tutorials when knitting the Grumpy Grandpa Cardigan. Youll weave in the ends later. September 29, 2021 @ Ive made it pretty clear to the knitting world that when it comes to colorwork, floats and I are incompatible. 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. Insertyour right needle intothe nextstitch like normal. Bringyour working yarn betweenthe needles as though you are going to knit but don't complete the stitch. Add a dot to the boxes that are purl, and leave the knit stitches blank. September 28, 2021 @ For me, lifes too short to purl in colorwork! When doing more than 4 stitches in a row, just flip the unwanted color over the correct color. Privacy Policy. The yarn thats not currently being used is drawn across the back of the work, and those strands are called floats. I have a question on color dominance. 9:28 am. Even if you dont struggle with tension or gauge when knitting with one color, knitting colorwork with Some motifs, however, involve longer floats and long floats are exceptionally good at catching on fingers, jewelry, or other things that can work their way between the knitted fabric and the float. making sure no floats are longer than 1 or something similar). This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. The mechanics are REALLY that simple, and if you know how to follow a chart, then you can stop reading, grab one of our free colourwork patterns (like the Anthology hat and cowl or the Clayoquot toque), and start knitting right now. Colorwork patterns for first-timers - KT's Slow Closet You want to have the right side facing you at all times rather than messing with purling on the wrong side. Tears. There are a multitude of techniques used to carry two strands of yarn across a row of knitting. If you do want to trap your floats, its as simple as twisting your two yarns together. I'd start with something where there's only a few stitches between colors so you don't have really long floats. Your great presenation has take the fear out of at lease trying colorwork. This means picking up the float in the back of a stitch to hold it in place and keep some tension in the floating yarn so it doesnt pull too tight or loosen up. Laurie Rickward The Knitting Man's Tiny Shorts, How to knit stranded colorwork NO FLOATS METHOD - in just 3 minutes - colourwork fairisle techniques tutorial Teaching and g. ), Heres the tutorial for you! So, dont let the fear of making mistakes stop you from trying a new technique. In this example, the dominant yarn is the floating yarn, while the background yarn is the working yarn. Guides, Stitches & Technique 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. If you only feel comfortable as either a picker (Continental knitter) or a thrower (English As you work following the chart, the fabric grows to create the pattern shown, so you can look at the colourwork chart and make a fair guess at what the finished product will look like theyre closely related. Tension is my struggle-any tips or videos on how to tension properly to avoid floats? But after a couple of hours of practice, everybody manages to get the hang of it. Below is a video demonstrating my method for knitting colorwork sans floats. Read More. All Rights Reserved. Okay, excellent, so do I! Im assuming you are right handed. What exactly is color work? 5:56 am. Just starting a colour work sweater. Thank you for the idea of tying ends and letting them felt themselves over time. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. often, it is not uncommon for knitters to knit stranded colorwork with a tighter than usual tension, due to the mechanics of alternating between multiple working yarns. Hats or even can koozies can be excellent There are two commonly used techniques for wrapping the unused color behind your work while you are 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). 4:42 pm. In this video I demonstrate a couple of ways to carry floats in fair isle knitting. Cookie Notice Hold your float yarn away from your working yarn as you knit your next stitch. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. The most important thing is to consider what kind of item youre knitting, and whos going to be wearing/using it. knittingissofun each yarn strand in its own pathway. These non-traditional colorwork charts are perfect for the creative knitter . it both ways before getting too far into a project. If you're unsure about what patterns to start with, we recommend the following form our Pattern Database (from left to right): Lucerne, Morse, Seeds, and Sommers. A colourwork chart is typically read right to left, starting from round 1 at the bottom of the chart and working your way up to the top, one round at a time. The charcoal grey isthe working yarnfor that length, while the light blue yarn is being carried across the back (the floating yarn). Switching which strand is held to the left or right of the other creates Thank you so much! January 22, 2022 @ Completethestitch withyour working yarn. 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. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. This was so helpful! Colorwork garments are extremely warm because of exactly the opposite. Whale woman, Lindy Van Fleet colorwhether on one finger, in a Yarn Guide, or in your left hand while the other strand is in your A float carried across five stitches in fingering weight is a much shorter float than one carried across five stitches in bulky yarn. conscious of carrying the unused colors at the back of the work loosely. This scarf will keep you warm even on the coldest windswept shore.. All of them take some getting (Don't know what the proper terminology is). Bring your float yarn behind your working yarn. We use cookies to optimize our website and our service. multiple strands requires some adjustments. Of course, which color you want to be the dominant one is entirely up to youand since its Our Jeanette Scarf is a nice choice because its knit in a small tube in the round (its also available as a free download when you sign up for our newsletter!). become indispensable in working with color patterns. Its better to stagger the tension so you dont end up with one column of stitches pulling towards the inside of the project. A critical thing to keep in mind when knitting colorwork is where you're holding your main color (MC) vs. I recently completed a color work sweater and the yoke is snugger than the body. (Wondering what the dominant yarn is? in your left or right hand, its important to keep the strands separate enough that you dont Colorwork Sans Floats I've made it pretty clear to the knitting world that when it comes to colorwork, floats and I are incompatible. December 2, 2021 @ Traditional Fair Isle (or stranded knitting) color knitting specifies no more than two colors per row and sequences of no more than six stitches of one color. Nothing wrong with that, but it would slow you down a bit. Its possible to trap those long floats as youre weaving in ends after the fact (and if there isnt a long end to weave in where you need to trap a float, you can take a spare bit of leftover yarn and just weave it into the wrong side of the fabric as if it were an end, trapping the floats as you go). Start small! Stranded colorwork knitting is referred to as such because of these, One thing that is important to keep in mind in stranded colorwork knitting is, There are a number of ways to manage the tension of your floats. So for knitted fabric thats likely to come into things that may catch on floats, like fingers and toes, we musttraporcatchlong floats to anchor them to the fabric. In the swatch pictured above, there are two long floats where the blue yarn is stranding across twelve stitches on the wrong side of the fabric.
