But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. It can be tricky tovisualize, but with the work turned inside out, youre working on the far side of the tube, rather than the near side. After knitting this stitch, I have 7 stitches of my 21-stitch span knit. For more information, please see our Knit.fm episode 1: Gauge[podcast] Colorwork without stranded floats? WHAT I'M KNITTING:Sunset Highway Pullover by Caitlin Hunterhttps://www.ravelry.com/patterns/librWHAT YARN AM I USING?Asylum Fiber - \"House Coat\" (mauve)Woolen Boon - \"Truffle Shuffle\" (white)Machete Shoppe - \"Aqua Aura\" (teal) The basics of colourwork knitting How to read a colourwork chart How to hold two yarns at the same time Floats and tension Joining a new colour Increases and decreases Yarn dominance Blocking Tangled yarns Weaving in ends Yarn choices in colourwork Choosing a colourwork palette The basics of colourwork knitting User account menu. *Membership cannot be purchased with Gift Cards. I have done very little colorwork but am working on a hat with some simple(ish) colorwork. Needle type and needle material. Knitting In the Round 3 Ways: DPNs, Two Circulars, or Magic Loop? Great tutorial. A yarn like Quince & Co. Chickadee is smooth and springy, because its worsted spun with three plies. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. If youre having trouble with tight colorwork you may want to try working with a different type of yarn or wool than youve used before to see if that makes a difference. But, as crafters, we have, Knitting Instructions & AbbreviationsGuide to Subbing Brown Sheep Yarns in Knit & Crochet PatternsGuide to Weaving With Brown Sheep Yarns. Really enjoyed your Q & A youtube video, very useful as a newbie to stranded knitting making the most of lockdowns in UK to experiment! This is also part of why steeking is so common in these places sticky wools are unlikely to unravel when the stitches are cut. The two colours can be held on the same finger or two different fingers (say, index . Knittersgenerally find that their gauge is tighter, with more stitches perinch, over stranded areas than plain stockinette stitch. Copyright2023Golden Peak Media. The only issue might be tension of the floats. So what do I do? Overly loose stranding and a bigger gauge are preferableto short floats and tight knitting. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. To do this, start by turning your sock insideout on the needles so that you can see the right side of the workinside on the needle farthest from you. Many knitters like to wrap each strand around a different finger and knit all stitches English style (throwing) or Continental style (picking). Problem is, my yarn gets tangled every time I twist my stitches to weave in the floats in the back so I don't have long lines of floating yarn for fingers to snag on. 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). Slide your right-hand needleunderneaththe floating strand (blue), then wrap the working yarn (charcoal) around your needle to knit the stitch. Here are some things to consider: Smoother yarns are closer to the top of the list, while stickier wools are towards the bottom. I don't want to have long strands of floats inside the hat, nor do I want it to be too tight. *Membership cannot be purchased with Gift Cards or PayPal. Feel free to post questions in the comments, orshare other tips or methods you know of! Discussion. My UPS gal surprised me again the other day with several new Interweave books full of wonderful, inventive projects. Colorwork and fairisle knitting offer a range of beautiful, unique patterns. Colorwork knitting inside out for socksfrom Melissa B 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. Basically, this is multi-colored knitting thats done by carrying two colors at a time across a row. The two-handed method is great because the two yarns do not get tangled. Play around with different needle types if youre not sure which category you fit into. CraftyGarden: N. 62 Condor's Croft and Garden 22K views 3. The outside of the circle has a larger circumference than theinside, which forces you to make your floats a bit longer. Once you have gone over all the puckered fabric in this manner, repeat from the start - until the floats have stretched sufficiently. This was so helpful! Tension will be easiest to tackle if you choose a pattern that doesn't require long floats. The duplicate-stitch weaving closely mimics the pathof the yarn and will stretch almost the same amount as the originalstitches. The color changes in Fair Isle are close together. and our For more information, please see our 22:34 Jessica McDonald 3.6K. This means you can get gauge for a pattern likeHearth Slippersbut still have trouble with the fit if your fabric is too inelastic. This distinguishes it from other colorwork methods like mosaic knitting or intarsia. Giving the stranded section a slightly larger gauge thanthe rest of the sock can help avoid a too-tight sock. Archived. Thank you. Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete. Tension is the most difficult aspect to master in color work knitting. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Some wools that areknownfor colorwork are very sticky wools, like Shetland wool or Lopi. I am doing two mittens at a time on magic loop and each of the four balls of yarn is placed in it's own ziplock bag to keep them all apart but after every line, I find myself having to untangle them, which makes for very tedious, cumbersome knitting. Some wools that are known for colorwork are very sticky wools, like Shetland wool or Lopi. Colorwork Sans Floats - Knitosophy Designs Make sure that youre not pullingtoo tightly, which would cut off the corner where the twoneedles meet. Fair Isle Knitting Tutorial for beginners - Nimble Needles The swatch on top was knit onbamboo DPNs, while the swatch on the bottom was worked ontwo metal circular needles. Im off to knit all the yoked colorwork sweaters now! A Free Bracelet Beading Pattern for Valentines Day. I tried holding one color on each hand, but my tension is awful that way. The culprits are the strands, or floats, which are lengths of yarnnot being knitted and simply carried along the back of the fabric. and it also allows you to evenly space out your stitches. Use your best judgment and go with what youre comfortable with! How to Measure Your Gauge in Knittingfrom Craftsy.com, Your email address will not be published. All Rights Reserved. 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. Tips, Tricks and Treatsfrom Eunny Jang, On gauge: In this vid, I will demonstrate how to use TWO hands do two-colored knitting,. Personally, I dont like this approach. The last step is towet-blockyour socks. Knitosophy Designs uses cookies on our site to improve your experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. This post took a little bit longer to put together than I wanted, but its finally ready to go! The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. 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? The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes. Wrap a tapemeasure around your heel (or your intended recipients heel) andup and over your instep, which is the widest point of your foot,where the sock will need to stretch the most. Because of the physical nature of wool, wool fibers like to grab other wool fibers (this is what causes felting when wool is exposed to heat/agitation). The Knitters Book of YarnandThe Knitters Book of Woolby Clara Parkes All Rights Reserved. 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! If you struggle with gauge, keeping your floats consistent, or find it frustrating trying to keep multiple strands from getting tangled - you will LOVE this innovative new approach that will transform your knitting. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. In this example, the dominant yarn is the floating yarn, while the background yarn is the working yarn. my first fair isle project , last project and I'm making another rainbow one with variegated ribbing. 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. 2. Next: choose a natural, non-superwash wool yarn. This is a very secure way to trap the float. Since different colors of yarn are used throughout thepatterned areas of socks (sometimes for only one round! The pattern can have a million different colors included, but only two are used within a single row. Required fields are marked *. 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! If you struggle with gauge, keeping your floats consistent, or find it frustrating trying to keep multiple strands from getting tangled - you will LOVE this innovative new approach that will transform your knitting. 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 thanthreestitches. How to Crochet with Two (or More) Colors - Jo to the World Creations Cutting the corner pulls the floatshorter than the span of the stitches it should relax against on thebackside. Then move on to the section beside it. CARRYING YARNS WITH THE TWO-HANDED METHOD. If you want to explore this issue in further depth, I recommend checking out some of the following links to blog posts, videos, and books. An inelastic fabric will not stretch to allow your heel to passthrough or pull in to gently hug your leg. That being said, theres a great deal of variation in how stretchy colorwork fabric is from knitter to knitter. (Ask me how I know! Firstly:what is a float, and why would I need to trap it? 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. Colorwork can be stressful worrying about having the right tension and this new method takes all of that away! Colorwork without stranded floats? : knitting - Reddit You can clip off a little more after you block the piece. You initially catch the floating yarn by changing its position as you knit, then you go back and make the floats ladder up themselves, in a technique that is somewhat similar in look to the ladderback jacquard technique used in commercial knitting. This method leaves floats, which are lengths of yarn carried across the back of the work that can be easily snagged. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. You won't have to struggle with dominant colors, floats, multiple strands or wonky tension - watch your knitting transform almost immediately! This scarf will keep you warm even on the coldest windswept shore.. I loved your tutorial on catching floats! This will ensure that the unused yarn strandwill later relax against the back of the work. Holding the main colour in my right hand (English) and the contrasting colour in my left hand (Continental). Many folks swear by the two-handed method while others prefer to carry both yarns in one hand (with or without a stranding guide). Enjoy! 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 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. We use cookies to optimize our website and our service. Please note: There are more than 2 ways to catch a float. If you dont feel like measuring, you can also tryslipping on your sock at this point, taking care not to break yourknitting needles. If you've been wishing for a better way, this is it. I've tried twisting the yarn less often too. A float should look like a flattened U rather than an arrow-straightline (Photo 2 below). The charcoal grey isthe working yarnfor that length, while the light blue yarn is being carried across the back (the floating yarn). Origins & Inspiration for Strandless Knitting, Part 1: Knit with Me - Step by Step Using the Strandless Method, Part 2: Knit with Me - Step by Step Using the Strandless Method, Part 3: Knit with Me - Step by Step Using the Strandless Method. I hope it helps you or at least entertains you. I find myself hating colorwork and dreading it because of how tangled it's been getting. Ive made it pretty clear to the knitting world that when it comes to colorwork, floats and I are incompatible. Next, measure the circumference of your knitting while stretchingit out as much as possible. The bottom swatch will definitely block out to the 8 circumference Im aiming for, but the top swatch will likely be too small. If you find that your sock is still too tight, another trick isto add more stitches, especially to the leg portion. Whats the process for trapping non-dominant float? Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete. To use Marie's words, it is a game changer! You want to have the right side facing you at all times rather than messing with purling on the wrong side. We'll start at the very beginning - with foundational principles of the strandless method, then take it further with intermediate and advanced techniques. 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. My first tip to help knitters keep their colorwork tension easy and even is always to stretch out the stitches that were just workedalong the right needle as youre working on your project. 2. and our Not to mention how much faster it seems to be and no fussing about trying to hold and knit with 2 yarns at the same time. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. "Floats" are the yarn that's carried behind the stitches across a row. 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! Fortunately, there are tricks to create a moreelastic fabric and a successful sock fit. The colorwork pattern for the Ajio scarf calls for a 7-stitch float. I have done very little colorwork but am working on a hat with some simple(ish) colorwork. Stitches just knit spaced out along the right needle. This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. After youve worked a few inches of the stranded colorworkareas on your sock (either on the leg, if working cuff-down,or on the foot for toe-up socks), its time to measure. If youve tried working colorwork on DPNs and found it to be too tight, try knitting a swatch on circular needles (eithertwo circsor with themagic loopmethod) to see if that changes your gauge or elasticity. Ifyouretense, your knitting often shows it. So Im sorry Im not the most helpful person for that! Catching Floats in Stranded Knitting Knitting with Suzanne Bryan Knitting Stranded Colorwork or Fair Isle Colorwork Continental! Locking Floats - YouTube Decreasethese four stitches at the ankle before working the heel. One of the most common problems knitters encounter when starting to knit in stranded colorwork is tight knitting. It maysoundprecise at first, but when you think about it, gauge makes this an incredibly imprecise way to go about it. What exactly is color work? 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. Thank you! Please confirm you want to block this member. I watched the video but would like more information & can't seem to find it.
colorwork without floats