accidentally pick or throw the wrong one. You can see how much easier it is to catch a finger (or a toe, or a hand) on the open, un-trapped float: So, if Im knitting a piece that has long floats, how often should I trap them? That being said, if a rule doesnt jive with your personal preferences, thats perfectly fine! Pick up the CC strand, knit with it, and then drop it. The project that that strikes my fancy for todays post is from Vintage Modern Knits by Courtney Kelley and Kate Gagnon Osborn. Katherine Hill Likely because I need to work on the tension of my floats. Maureen Murley Complete thestitch with your working yarn. Suck it up, buttercup those yarn tails arent gonna weave in themselves! I have done very little colorwork but am working on a hat with some simple(ish) colorwork. I get this question a lot, and its a tricky one to answer. I don't want to have long strands of floats inside the hat, nor do I want it to be too tight. Thank you. Excellent timing as I start a pair of colorwork advent socks. 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. Your great presenation has take the fear out of at lease trying colorwork. 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. Switching which strand is held to the left or right of the other creates knitting your multi-color project. Alexa Ludeman This positions your float yarn in betweenyour needles. wrapping. See our post on selecting color palettes for color inspiration. September 28, 2021 @ 12:24 pm. In typical fair isle knitting, as you switch from one color to another, the inactive color drops to the back of the work. Weve got an opinion (or three) on this topic! No need to trap floats there. Think of the dominant color as the one creating the design rather than the one creating the background. Youll see the left-hand yarn strand is wrapped behind that stitch, keeping it tame. Next: choose a natural, non-superwash wool yarn. 1) Holding the yarn. Wrapyour working yarn (left hand) around the right needle as though to knit but don't complete the stitch yet. If you are (or can get) comfortable with either left-hand or right-hand knitting, you may find that This is a great email, which I just found because it went to spam. September 27, 2021 @ Please confirm you want to block this member. colorwhether on one finger, in a Yarn Guide, or in your left hand while the other strand is in your Here is a nice tutorial from Jimmy Beans Wool on how to catch floats. These cookies do not store any personal information. 10:33 am. This is perfect timing. I know: slow and steady, right? You want the design to appear as if its laid over the top of the background color, rather than trying Next, wrap the right-hand strand of yarn around the working needle to knit itbut before you pull it Required fields are marked *. It is also helpful to spread out the stitches just worked on the right needle each time you switch yarns or colors, so that when you draw the next working yarn (C1) behind the stitches just worked in the previous (C2), you can be sure that its float can span the full width of the stitches just worked. 11:20 am. Wrapping floats can help, but even if youre wrapping stitches frequently, you still want to be 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. Most knitters would probably leave shorter floats (with three stitches or less) alone, but floats of five or more stitches may benefit from wrapping. When you come to the stitch you want to wrap, put your working needle into the stitch on the What are your thoughts on this? Guides, Stitches & Technique 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). Im working on it and I realize no matter which method I use for trapping the longer floats, Ill sometimes have to loosen the yarn. The charcoal grey isthe working yarnfor that length, while the light blue yarn is being carried across the back (the floating yarn). But if you're not working one color for a longer bit, that float can get so long that it is at risk ofsnagging on things (like fingers or earrings) or pulling and stretching your work. I thought you said to put the red yarn in your left hand to make it dominant, but then I thought you said to make a diamond shape stand out, you would put the yarn in your right hand. 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. Holding them Weve got a long list of posts that are all about picking palettes and combining colours. floats, by wrapping the two yarns while youre knitting. Before you pull the left-hand yarn through, push the right-hand yarn strand back off the working My blue floating yarn is trapped on either side of the 6th stitch. Youve effectively trapped the float already! Typical stranded colorwork motifs are worked with two different colors per round, with the colors changes happening often (this keeps the floats short). For more information, please see our If you hold one color in each hand, the easiest way to manage color dominance is to hold the Dominant Color in your left hand and strand it below the Background Color on the WS of the fabric. Weve got some handy tips on making this dream a reality. We just dont get along. 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? When knitting colourwork patterns, you use two colours (sometimes more) in a single row or round. I dont enjoy trapping floats very much, as it slows down my knitting and can affect the look of my knitted fabric, and Ill avoid it if I can get away with it. Omit them, of course! Read More. Knitting colourwork (also known as stranded colourwork or Fair Isle knitting) may seem difficult, but its actually quite simple. Youll weave in the ends later. September 27, 2021 @ 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! Tension is the most difficult aspect to master in color work knitting. Enjoy! Hi Lisa Yep, lots of folks find going up a needle size very helpful! 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). 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. Enjoy! Learn how stranded colorwork can be used in design with five accompanying projects including mitts, cowls, and sweaters. September 28, 2021 @ The hat used almost one full skein of the main colour yarn. Twist your float yarn around your working yarn. starkly different results in colorwork knitting; this concept is known as color dominance. The 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. 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. 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. left-hand If you hold one color in each hand, the easiest way to manage color dominance is to hold the Dominant Color in your left hand and strand it below the Background Color on the WS of the fabric. And before embarking on a sweater-sized project, its wise to do a swatch first. I was introduced to your helpful tutorials when knitting the Grumpy Grandpa Cardigan. Thank you again for all your beautiful patterns and knitting lessons. [] used Dianna Wallas tutorials for dominant strands and trapping floats. I usually do colorwork with the two hand method any tips for how to add in that third color? Colorwork garments are extremely warm because of arlene j shipper 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. This distinguishes it from other colorwork methods like mosaic knitting or intarsia. Some folks will tell you to trap floats every 3, 5, 7, 10+ stitches, but we almost never do (mittens are the exception). Simply follow the colourwork chart, and the pattern appears! Go ahead and knit the next stitch normally. Hi Elizabeth Thanks so much for your kind words! Hi Anna For the odd 3 colour round I usually have one yarn in my right and two yarns in my left, but I drop and pick up with the two in my left hand. When you begin knitting stranded colourwork, you may find that your yarns get all tangled up around and around each other, which can be annoying, but this is simple to prevent. it both ways before getting too far into a project. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Fervent fiber nerd and frequent baker living in Norway. needle and wrap the yarn from your right hand around the working needle as if to knit itbut Check out our posts about: You sure you really wanna open that can of worms? To counteract that natural tightness, we need to add more slack to the float so they act more like regular knit stitches. Tension is my struggle-any tips or videos on how to tension properly to avoid floats? And you can see these steps in action here: trapping long floats carrying both yarns in your left handfromDiannaonVimeo. Working continental on left hand and throwing (english) on the right hand ..your Q & A video showed a way of simply holding up the work and turning it through 360 deggiving that a go if all else fails (thankfully its not a jumper size or such like. Back-knitting is just as easy with two strands of yarn as a single strand. Firstly:what is a float, and why would I need to trap it? The floats across the back of the work need to be flexible enough to allow the front of the work to lie flat. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. To help shorten the floats while maintaining good tension, "tack" these long floats to the wrong side of the work. 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. I hope it helps you or at least entertains you. Feel free to post questions in the comments, orshare other tips or methods you know of! September 29, 2021 @ Theres only what you prefer. Nothing wrong with that, but it would slow you down a bit. Simply open the latch, lay each strand in its own channel in the Yarn Guide, snap the top shut, and November 1, 2021 @ While you September 26, 2021 @ In this day and age, its extremely difficult to go for knitting lessons and I feel like Im sitting right there with you learning. Insert your right-hand needle into the next stitch, but dont wrap your working yarn around the needle yet. 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. Theres no wrong way to knit, and theres no wrong way to knit colourwork. Completethestitch withyour working yarn. Read More. you get. to you and that allows you to get the most even tension in your knitting. 9:47 am, Anna Buchholtz For some knitters, the difference is glaring, while others hardly notice it at all. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. (Ive ended up doing a not-so-sophisticatd continental CC and the drop and pick up method with the other two colors on my throwing hand), Alexa Ludeman tutorials Andrea Rangel January 15, 2020 video, tutorial, . Whale woman, Lindy Van Fleet Keep in mind that if the pattern youre working on has significantly more stitches with one color vs. Whether you hold the yarn December 2, 2021 @ through, push the left-hand yarn strand back off the working needle. I dont enjoy trapping floats very much, as it slows down my knitting and can affect the look of my knitted fabric, and Ill avoid it if I can get away with it. Tears. Ive found that this method of weaving in works best with worsted-weight and smaller yarns. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. The only color you knit to create a new stitch is the one from your left hand. Your email address will not be published. Without Ive never knitted a scarf in the round; it forms a tube and when youre done knitting the main part of the scarf, you knit the front and back together with a version of the three-needle bind-off without actually doing the bind-off part. First of all: choose the right pattern for learning to knit with two colors at a time. October 28, 2021 @ the other, as is the case when just carrying two yarns in one hand without the Yarn Guide. Alexa Ludeman 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. Emily Wessel 8:17 am, Ive been embarking on my first colorwork sweater and of course, accidentally chose one where a few times, there are three colors within the same row! With two hands, color work is both addictive and soothing. September 27, 2021 @ Please note: This was so helpful! Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you. Great tutorial. I get this question a lot, and its a tricky one to answer. Next, start to knit from the yarn in your left hand. You can seein the photo abovethat Ive worked the first 5 stitches of my 21-stitch span. 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. This creates floats, where yarns pass across the back for several stitches. After knitting this stitch, I have 7 stitches of my 21-stitch span knit. I was told it is never too loose when knitting multi colors . Hi. Alexa Ludeman Then you finish with 4 rows of garter stitch. Use your best judgment and go with what youre comfortable with! When knitting the MC with my right hand, I throw (English style), and when knitting the CC with my left hand, I pick (Continental style). jane Straut can try both out on a colorwork swatch before you cast on to see which you prefer. Focus on one section of the fabric at a time and knead it. Bringyour working yarn betweenthe needles as though you are going to knit but don't complete the stitch.