The background color/main color is also my working yarn here, while the dominant/contrasting color is being carried across the wrong side of the work. through, push the left-hand yarn strand back off the working needle. Knit Picks and KnitPicks.com are registered trademarks of Crafts Americana Group, Inc. Required fields are marked *. 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. Really enjoyed your Q & A youtube video, very useful as a newbie to stranded knitting making the most of lockdowns in UK to experiment! When knittingstranded colorwork, the unworked yarn color "floats" behind the worked stitches in the back of the work. Some teachers use hard-and-fast rules, like never carry a float more than five stitches without trapping it. Some teachers tell you not to go more than, That being said, if a rule doesnt jive with your personal preferences, thats perfectly fine! (Photo 1) Keep the stitches on your right needle stretched out as you bring the unused color behind them. According to designer Courtney Kelley, This scarf was inspired by a picture in Handschuhe, a vintage knitting book from Germany by Eva Maria Leszner. This distinguishes it from other colorwork methods like mosaic knitting or intarsia. If youd like to stick to carrying the yarn with only one hand but youre having trouble keeping the yarn Wrapping Floats To keep the back of your work tidy, you may want to consider securing the longer loose strands, or "floats," by wrapping the two yarns while you're knitting. Tension is the most difficult aspect to master in color work knitting. Moveyour float yarn out of the way ofyour working yarn to the right of the right needle, keeping it behind the left needle and in front of the right needle. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. One of the challenging things about colorwork is working with two (or more!) With colorwork, the float (or non-working yarn) is traveling in a straight line between stitches (black, in the example above), so it doesn't have the same slack to stretch with. There are a number of ways to manage the tension of your floats. Typical stranded colorwork motifs are worked with two different colors per round, with the colors changes happening often (this keeps the floats short). Enjoy! Thank you for the simple, easy to follow directions. Tutorial - Fair Isle Locked Down - Stitches n Scraps 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. My blue floating yarn is trapped on either side of the 6th stitch. Insert your right needle into the next stitch like normal. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. rightand you should keep this consistent throughout the whole project. The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network. 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. So Im sorry Im not the most helpful person for that! 9 Tips for Knitting Stranded Colorwork Socks | Interweave September 24, 2021 @ What is the best method for making sure your floats are loose enough when knitting. youre ready to go. Just perfect. Itll make the finished knit look a lot better because it will even out the stitches and help the yarn bloom. 11:20 am. A pattern likePine Bough Cowlis worked in a tube and then grafted together, so the floats on the inside of the tube will never be exposed one its finished theres really nothing they can get caught on. knitting your multi-color project. If you only feel comfortable as either a picker (Continental knitter) or a thrower (English 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. Use this method when your WORKING yarn is in your RIGHT hand and your FLOAT yarn is in your LEFT hand. This scarf will keep you warm even on the coldest windswept shore.. When doing more than 4 stitches in a row, just flip the unwanted color over the correct color. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. 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. Suck it up, buttercup those yarn tails arent gonna weave in themselves! I often stick with what I know instead of trying new things. 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 you place the CC ball to the left of your body and the MC ball to the right of your body (and always keep them in those positions), they will not tangle. The project that that strikes my fancy for todays post is from Vintage Modern Knits by Courtney Kelley and Kate Gagnon Osborn. Emily Wessel Thank you for the idea of tying ends and letting them felt themselves over time. You can work any increase or decrease stitch in the colour shown. You can see in the photo abovethat Ive worked the first 5 stitches of my 21-stitch span. We just dont get along. For me, lifes too short to purl in colorwork! Next, wrap the right-hand strand of yarn around the working needle to knit itbut before you pull it 7:46 am. Hats or mittens are also great choices. Read More. 5:52 am. accidentally pick or throw the wrong one. Whichever camp you fall into, note that you must have normal (non-wrapped) Lisas List: 10 Reasons Knitting Is Better Than Dating, Spurned Gifts: When Knit & Crochet Gifts Went Wrong. Read morehere. Go ahead and knit the next stitch normally. November 1, 2021 @ Please confirm you want to block this member. 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? These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. The project is a scarf called the Ajiro Scarf. Wool will naturally relax into a smooth, even surface after blocking to improve any tight or loose spots in your knitting. actually a pretty fun experiment to try this, switching which color is dominant and which is not, you Float is a common term for the strand of yarn that runs across the back of colorwork fabric the strand that makes colorworkstranded. To keep the back of your work tidy, you may want to consider securing the longer loose strands, or Keep in mind that wrapped floats may sometimes be visible from the front of the work, so test 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). Thank you so much , Mona Wadington September 29, 2021 @ to you and that allows you to get the most even tension in your knitting. 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. This effect is referred to as. 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. Once you have gone over all the puckered fabric in this manner, repeat from the start - until the floats have stretched sufficiently. Weve got some handy tips on making this dream a reality. September 27, 2021 @ 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. layers to the fabric as there are strands of yarn. When you have several stitches worked in one colour, the unused strand "floats" across the back of the work. Typically, stranded colourwork is knit in the round, rather than back and forth in rows. *Membership cannot be purchased with Gift Cards. Completethestitch withyour working yarn. Tension will be easiest to tackle if you choose a pattern that doesnt require long floats. Thank you. This looks like a really fun project, and the authors have included a little tutorial about how to deal with long floats, too, which is one of the challenges lots of Fair Isle knitting projects. 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. To help shorten the floats while maintaining good tension, "tack" these long floats to the wrong side of the work. Hi Elizabeth Thanks so much for your kind words! Holding them dominant color in a pattern is not necessarily the same as your MCin fact, it usually should be ARNE \u0026 CARLOSHow to catch floats when knitting stranded colour work by ARNE \u0026 CARLOS__Hi and welcome to our channel! The only color you knit to create a new stitch is the one from your right hand. (Don't know what the proper terminology is). This is a great email, which I just found because it went to spam. I so appreciate it and YOU! This was only in two colours, and I caught the floats every other stitch because I like having a neat back to my work and less things to catch on when [], Your email address will not be published. I've been knitting for 2 years and I want to tackle some colorwork to keep expanding my skill set! Notice how in thePeerieswatch above (left), the Dominant Color stitches in Hammock are bigger and stand out amidst the Background Color stitches in Nori. The two-handed method is great because the two yarns do not get tangled. I have done very little colorwork but am working on a hat with some simple(ish) colorwork. This was all very helpful. Colourwork Knitting: An Introduction - tin can knits Whether you hold the yarn Next, start to knit from the yarn in your left hand. October 28, 2021 @ Color Knitting: How to Lock Your Floats | Interweave Pick up the CC strand, knit with it, and then drop it. . can make the fabric look strange. I have a question on color dominance. All Rights Reserved. Stretch Gently stretch out the stitches on your right needle as you strand the unused yarn across the back of these stitches (Photo 1 below). trapping long floats carrying both yarns in your left hand, trapping long floats while using the two-handed stranded colorwork method, DIY: Knit Laurus Hat and Free Pattern by Dianna Walla - Kiku Corner, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Sex1qLRd_I&t=7s, Something spooky this way comes Halloween inspired knitwear | Wolfish Written, On Dasher, on Dancer the Fallow Jumper | Wolfish Written. It might sound daunting, but once you get the hang of it you'll be sailing in no time. This was so helpful! After steaming, the scarf is so cozy and warm! Of course, which color you want to be the dominant one is entirely up to youand since its other. Knit 2 or 3 stitches with MC (2 stitches shown in illustration), insert the right-hand needle tip into the next stitch on the left-hand needle, place the non-working yarn (in this case, CC) over the right-hand needle . A float carried across five stitches in fingering weight is a much shorter float than one carried across five stitches in bulky yarn. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Weve got a long list of posts that are all about picking palettes and combining colours. 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. September 24, 2021 @ 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. Alexa Ludeman 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). You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. My blue floating yarn is trapped on either side of the 6th stitch. KnitChats - Tip to Keep Loose Floats in Stranded Knitting If youve been too intimidated to give colourwork a try, this tutorial will demystify the process and take you through it step by step. Step 2: Thread the first color (your dominant color) through the left eyelet by wedging it through the cleft and pulling the tail down. In this day and age, its extremely difficult to go for knitting lessons and I feel like Im sitting right there with you learning. needle and wrap the yarn from your right hand around the working needle as if to knit itbut 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. Then you knit a stitch (or several) in another colour - let's call it the contrast colour (CC). Keeping your colors organized and finding a way to hold the yarn so that it doesnt twist or get We use cookies to optimize our website and our service. If you can pick up a regular knit stitch, then you can definitely pick up and fix a dropped stitch within a section of color work. Who are we: Scandinavians Arne Nerjordet and Carlos Zachrison are highly regarded designers, textile artists and authors. Youll definitely want to block your colourwork piece after you complete it, and regular wet blocking works just fine. 8:17 pm, Hi Ladies Please, for the sake of your sanity, choose a pattern thats knit in the round! Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete. Colorwork Sans Floats I've made it pretty clear to the knitting world that when it comes to colorwork, floats and I are incompatible. When you come to the stitch you want to wrap, put your working needle into the stitch on the You may still need to readjust your tension regularly if one yarn is used more than You can read aboutcolor dominance here.). Bring your float yarn behind your working yarn. Colorwork without stranded floats? : knitting - reddit.com 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. Hold your float yarn away from your working yarn as you knit yournext stitch. Use your best judgment and go with what youre comfortable with! What a great tutorial! Ive knit for over 50 years and have just stuck my toe into colorwork. Five beginner-friendly Tips for Stranded Colorwork Knitting 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. 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! Alexa Ludeman trapping long floats in stranded colorwork. 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. When theres an increase or a decrease in a colourwork pattern (like in a colourwork round yoke), youll simply work it in the colour shown on the chart. Videos. beginning projects for stranded colorwork. Please note: Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. With this weather were all having, doesnt this scarf sound tempting? Managing long floats in Fair Isle knitting | Interweave Also note that if you Tension is the most difficult aspect to master in colorwork knitting. Thank you again for all your beautiful patterns and knitting lessons. Step 1. You have inspired me to cast on a colourwork hat this week! Going up a needles size can help compensate for this tighter tension. Whale woman, Lindy Van Fleet 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. Julie Paige Thank you! What exactly is color work? Otherwise, the fabric will be tight and compressed horizontally, which is NOT fun as you knit it and it doesnt look good when its done, either. Great videos. 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.