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. Some knitters find that it is easier for them to achieve an even tension when they hold the different yarns in either hand (C1 on the right and C2 on the left, for example), while some find it easier when they hold both yarns in the same hand. Your email address will not be published. A float carried across five stitches in fingering weight is a much shorter float than one carried across five stitches in bulky yarn. You can work any increase or decrease stitch in the colour shown. 6:19 am. Then you knit a stitch (or several) in another colour - let's call it the contrast colour (CC). pattern), the first stitch is worked in C1, the next in C2, and the following two stitches are worked in C1. But since youre here and maybe youre in the mood lets talk about some of those details. How to catch floats in stranded colorwork knitting on purl and knit rows, including videos of how I knit colourwork with two hands. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('interstitial-ad');}); Save patterns, share updates, and connect with your community. This positions your float yarn in betweenyour needles. Cotton or acrylic blend yarns are not ideal because they are too smooth to cling together properly and dont have the memory that wool does to hold its shape. Colourwork Knitting: An Introduction - tin can knits conscious of carrying the unused colors at the back of the work loosely. September 24, 2021 @ One of the many reasons we love this technique is that it creates a visually intricate fabric, but is deceivingly simple to work. 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. Wool will naturally relax into a smooth, even surface after blocking to improve any tight or loose spots in your knitting. 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. Insert your right-hand needle into the next stitch, but dont wrap your working yarn around the needle yet. 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! This was so helpful! Alexa Ludeman I have done very little colorwork but am working on a hat with some simple(ish) colorwork. 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. Don. left-hand Thank you. Remember, loose stitches or 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. Colorwork motifs are often presented in charts, as this is an intuitive and shorthand way of showing how the motif builds round by round. Heres a closer look at what that looks like from the wrong side of the fabric: You can see how the float is trapped at the sixth charcoal grey stitch. 10:49 am. I hope it helps you or at least entertains you. This past week I was thinking, Maybe if I had someone really break it down for me . Slide your right-hand needleunderneaththe floating strand (blue), then wrap the working yarn (charcoal) around your needle to knit the stitch. Just starting a colour work sweater. How To: Stranded Colorwork 101 | Knitting Tutorial - Brooklyn Tweed Enjoy! The project is a scarf called the Ajiro Scarf. The only color you knit to create a new stitch is the one from your left hand. It might sound daunting, but once you get the hang of it you'll be sailing in no time. For more information, please see our Colorwork Sans Floats - Knitosophy Designs In reality, there are a few different methods, but Ill be demonstrating what I think is the most common below. September 27, 2021 @ September 27, 2021 @ Many knitters like to wrap each strand around a different finger and knit all stitches English style (throwing) or Continental style (picking). Enjoy! After steaming, the scarf is so cozy and warm! With two hands, color work is both addictive and soothing. needle and wrap the yarn from your right hand around the working needle as if to knit itbut layers to the fabric as there are strands of yarn. 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. Thank you for your generosity in sharing your knowledge. (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. 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. I can see improvement. There are several ways knitters do this, and the right choice is the one that feels most comfortable Typical stranded colorwork motifs are worked with two different colors per round, with the colors changes happening often (this keeps the floats short). September 30, 2021 @ Now that weve covered when its a good idea to trap floats how do we actually do it? 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. colourwork, techniques colourwork, tutorial. Tension will be easiest to tackle if you choose a pattern that doesnt require long floats. Ive heard of some people switching to a larger needle for the color work. strands can be tightened, but its virtually impossible to loosen stitches that are too tight. All Rights Reserved. Colorwork patterns for first-timers - KT's Slow Closet 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!). Likely because I need to work on the tension of my floats. over your finger like a ring, halting at or near your first knuckle, with a multi-channel top that keeps Use this method when your WORKING yarn is in your LEFT hand and your FLOAT yarn is in your RIGHT hand. Here they are in order of relative usefulness (just my opinion! One thing that is important to keep in mind in stranded colorwork knitting ismaintaining even float tension. In this video I demonstrate a couple of ways to carry floats in fair isle knitting. But I got big Vs in knitting color pattern stitches, then stockinette stitches. If your stitches are twisted, then you are bringing the yarn through the wrong way. Nervous about your first colorwork project? Yarn floats, the strands of yarn you carry behind your knitting for some colorwork, are perhaps the trickiest part of knitting colorwork for beginners. Lisas List: 10 Reasons Knitting Is Better Than Dating, Spurned Gifts: When Knit & Crochet Gifts Went Wrong. So what do I do? Tacking Long Floats. 8:59 pm. I know its a slow work in progress. 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. Typically, stranded colourwork is knit in the round, rather than back and forth in rows. floats, by wrapping the two yarns while youre knitting. 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. Making mistakes in any technique is inevitable, because were all human! You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. I have some puckering snowmen on a hat right now, but Ill live with it. 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. Colorwork without stranded floats? : knitting - reddit.com KnitChats - Tip to Keep Loose Floats in Stranded Knitting KnitChats 473 subscribers Subscribe 54 Share 5.6K views 3 years ago Here's a demonstration of one way to keep your "floats" loose when. Theres only what you prefer. January 22, 2022 @ Its not as slow as you might think (though its also not fast ). Foreground color nearest the fingertip, background further down. We recommend a tool called a Yarn Guide that slips In the words ofJune Hemmons Hiatt, the most successful method is as much a matter of anatomy as it is of dexterity, so keep swatching, experimenting, and practicing to find what works best for you. These cookies do not store any personal information. Katherine Hill Youve effectively trapped the float already! Regardless of how you hold your yarns when working stranded colorwork,the float of the Dominant Color should always be stranded below the Background Color. A long float would be considered more than 5 stitches in a row of one color before changing. ARNE \u0026 CARLOSHow to catch floats when knitting stranded colour work by ARNE \u0026 CARLOS__Hi and welcome to our channel! Youll definitely want to block your colourwork piece after you complete it, and regular wet blocking works just fine. What's a Knitter To Do? Thank you so much! 8:01 am. When knittingstranded colorwork, the unworked yarn color "floats" behind the worked stitches in the back of the work. Carrying Fair Isle Floats - v e r y p i n k . c o m - knitting patterns arlene j shipper Insertyour right needle intothe nextstitch like normal. In typical fair isle knitting, as you switch from one color to another, the inactive color drops to the back of the work. Just perfect. 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). This is a very secure way to trap the float. Bringyour float yarn (right hand) behind and aroundthe right needle as though you are going to knit but don'tcomplete the stitch. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. 5:52 am. How to catch floats when knitting stranded colour work by - YouTube holding one strand in each hand is the easiest way to knit colorwork. 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. Knitting Colorwork: Tips & Tricks - Ms. Cleaver If you hold your yarns in each hand, check out this video for a slightly fancier way of trapping: To join a new yarn, just leave a yarn tail and then get started with the new yarn from the beginning of the next round. This method (pictured below), Omit them, of course! Knitosophy Designs uses cookies on our site to improve your experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. 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. My blue floating yarn is trapped on either side of the 6th stitch. 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 . No need to trap floats there. in your left or right hand, its important to keep the strands separate enough that you dont Most knitters would probably leave shorter can make the fabric look strange. Color Knitting: How to Lock Your Floats | Interweave 1999-2023 Crafts Americana Group, Inc. All rights reserved. 4:42 pm. The two-handed method is great because the two yarns do not get tangled. Hi Elizabeth Thanks so much for your kind words! September 28, 2021 @ The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. One of the challenging things about colorwork is working with two (or more!) Some knitters like to wrap floats frequently and regularly, while others do so when the floats feel too accidentally pick or throw the wrong one. strands in In reality, there are a few different methods, but Ill be demonstrating what I think is the most common below. The basketweave pattern is reminiscent of fishing nets, so I chose blue and natural colors to accentuate the ideas of sea and shore. 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. I don't want to have long strands of floats inside the hat, nor do I want it to be too tight. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. The only Marie Wallin garment Ive knit, I adapted to be knit in the round and I steeked the armholes and front neck. Are there any other pages/videos showing this technique? Stranded colorwork without floats in 3 minutes - THE KNITTING - YouTube 10:33 am. Blocking colourwork isnt really different from any other kind of blocking, but it is CRITICAL! Think of the dominant color as the one creating the design rather than the one creating the background. Hi Lisa Yep, lots of folks find going up a needle size very helpful! All of them take some getting This will work for any way you knit colorwork (one-handed or two, English or Continental). Knitting Tutorials Andrea Rangel 10:06 am. Nothing wrong with that, but it would slow you down a bit. When you have a pattern that calls for long floats (the strand of yarn that you carry behind the color youre knitting with at any one time), its a good idea to tack them, or trap them. 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. 10:53 am. (Photo 1) Keep the stitches on your right needle stretched out as you bring the unused color behind them. a fabric they like. This scarf is knitted in the round, which simplifies the Fair Isle patterning (no wrong-side rows) and creates an insulating double layer of fabric. Method 2 - Working Yarn in Left Hand Use this method when your WORKING yarn is in your LEFT hand and your FLOAT yarn is in your RIGHT hand. dont. To accomplish this, you need to invisibly tack down or "catch" the float on the wrong side of your work as you knit with the working yarn. To counteract that natural tightness, we need to add more slack to the float so they act more like regular knit stitches. Thank you again for all your beautiful patterns and knitting lessons. 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. Keep in mind that wrapped floats may sometimes be visible from the front of the work, so test colorwork with 200 new motifs. 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. The most important thing is to consider what kind of item youre knitting, and whos going to be wearing/using it. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. 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. Check out the pics below for a little inspiration and click your favourite to get the pattern! Of course, which color you want to be the dominant one is entirely up to youand since its September 28, 2021 @ Colorwork motifs are often presented in charts, as this is an intuitive and shorthand way of showing how the motif builds round by round. 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. I have a question, how loose should I knit when changing colors ? My blue floating yarn is trapped on either side of the 6th stitch. I am sort of figuring it out as I go but it is a little wonky. Below is a video demonstrating my method for knitting colorwork sans floats. Its important to draw this yarn LOOSELY across the back of the work. Ive made it pretty clear to the knitting world that when it comes to colorwork, floats and I are incompatible. Neisha Dahlstrom Because Im a continental knitter and I carry both yarns in my left hand, that series of photos is first, but if you scroll down youll also find a series of photos demonstrating the same technique in the two-handed method, with one yarn carried in each hand. This is a great email, which I just found because it went to spam. Notice how in thePeerieswatch above (left), the Dominant Color stitches in Hammock are bigger and stand out amidst the Background Color stitches in Nori. This creates floats, where yarns pass across the back for several stitches. Thanks! How can one get a copy of the pattern? Guides, Stitches & Technique 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. The long float pictured at the top of the swatch is trapped twice so that the blue float never carries across more than fourstitches (it looks like three shorter floats instead). How to Knitting: Colorwork Rescue - Yarn Vibes 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. If youmustuse a general rule, going by length in inches or cm is a better way to go (e.g. 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. October 4, 2021 @ But after a couple of hours of practice, everybody manages to get the hang of it. No matter what you decide, the dominant color should always be held to the left of the non-dominant 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. Great videos. The rest is just details! Thank you for the idea of tying ends and letting them felt themselves over time. Step 1. When you knit colourwork, the stitches sit a little differently than in regular stockinette. Tension is the most difficult aspect to master in color work knitting. Some patterns, such as the Ajiro Scarf, require that the non-working yarn is carried farther7 stitches in this case (see chart at right). Simply follow the colourwork chart, and the pattern appears! 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. Ive done a couple colorwork projects and I appreciate all of this good info in one place! Alexa Ludeman This effect is referred to as. The hat used almost one full skein of the main colour yarn. So glad I found you. I have a question on color dominance. Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete. Sometimes the toughest bit is casting on :), askcarolynwarren 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. The pattern can be found in Vintage Modern Knits, heres a direct link to the book: https://www.interweave.com/store/vintage-modern-knits-ebook. I love your blog and all your instructions along with perfectly placed videos! Keeping your Dominant Color and Background Color consistent will ensure that your colorwork motifs pop rather than recede into the background. According to designer Courtney Kelley, This scarf was inspired by a picture in Handschuhe, a vintage knitting book from Germany by Eva Maria Leszner. Read More. 8:53 am, This is fantastic! Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. There are about as many ways to knit colourwork as there are ways to knit, so feel free to experiment and find the technique that works for you. Wanting to try stranded color work or Fair Isle knitting, but feeling a little intimidated? You can clip off a little more after you block the piece. A Super Clever Way to Deal with Long Floats in Colorwork - Knitting . This is convenient because youre always looking at the knit side of the work and thus can ensure that the pattern is forming correctly. Below is a video demonstrating my method for knitting colorwork sans floats. 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. My blue floating yarn is trapped on either side of the 6th stitch. The only color you knit to create a new stitch is the one from your right hand. I get this question a lot, and its a tricky one to answer. Insert your right needle into the next stitch like normal. Whats the process for trapping non-dominant float? When doing more than 4 stitches in a row, just flip the unwanted color over the correct color. knit with US 6 needles, for instance. Theres a big difference between a knitted bag youll sew a lining into and a pair of mittens or socks. 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. 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. The long float pictured at the bottom of the swatch isnt trapped at all, so its floating across all twelve stitches. And before embarking on a sweater-sized project, its wise to do a swatch first. Fair Isle Knitting Tutorial for beginners - Nimble Needles This pulling can also really tighten your gauge and make garments too small. 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. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. knittingissofun Theres no wrong way to knit, and theres no wrong way to knit colourwork. 1:35 pm. Knit Picks and KnitPicks.com are registered trademarks of Crafts Americana Group, Inc. youre ready to go. 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). Use your best judgment and go with what youre comfortable with! Tension will be easiest to tackle if you choose a pattern that doesn't require long floats. The unused yarn ends up floating behind the pattern. Eva making sure no floats are longer than 1 or something similar). Stitches & Technique Ideally, as a rule of thumb, you want your floats (those unworked strands that end up behind your work) to be less than 1"/2.5 cm. Unknown Stranded colorwork knitting is referred to as such because of thesestrands(orfloats) left on the inside of your work. So what do I do? September 27, 2021 @ beginning projects for stranded colorwork. knitting your multi-color project. These cookies do not store any personal information. They are best known for their craft books and their original, colourful and visually striking designs. Im all about creativity. Simply follow the colourwork chart, and the pattern appears! September 26, 2021 @ But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Copyright2023Golden Peak Media. Guide to Fair Isle / Standard Knitting | KnitPicks.com Thank you! Next, start to knit from the yarn in your left hand. Why would the shape be different from the color dominance? 6:17 pm. 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.