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. You have done it again, Marie! 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. In fact, for a single knitter, theres variation in how stretchy their colorwork fabriccan be, depending on: Its important to consider theelasticityof your colorwork fabric, and to remember that it wont necessarily correspond with yourgauge since gauge is measured with the fabric resting (i.e. You cant seemuch of a difference between the gauges, but it makes a differencein the elasticity of the fabric. 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! ), Heres the tutorial for you! I am starting my second color work project. 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!). Colorwork without stranded floats? These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. 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! A Free Bracelet Beading Pattern for Valentines Day. Enjoy! (Don't know what the proper terminology is). CraftyGarden: N. 62 Condor's Croft and Garden 22K views 3. 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. Every knitter is different, so while some people knit tighter on wooden needles, others knit tighter on metal needles. Then work the first stitch of the new colorthis is the yarn that creates the float. But, as crafters, we have, Knitting Instructions & AbbreviationsGuide to Subbing Brown Sheep Yarns in Knit & Crochet PatternsGuide to Weaving With Brown Sheep Yarns. Its better to stagger the tension so you dont end up with one column of stitches pulling towards the inside of the project. Some wools that areknownfor colorwork are very sticky wools, like Shetland wool or Lopi. We'll start at the very beginning - with foundational principles of the strandless method, then take it further with intermediate and advanced techniques. Simply pick up loose bars of yarn in the order they belong (according to your chart), and youll be back in business. Tryusing needles one to two sizes larger than normal to increase thegauge for the stranded areas of the sock, especially on the legportion. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. 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. Then you finish with 4 rows of garter stitch. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Leave the color that is not on the hook hanging (keep it attached to ball of yarn or bobbin, don't cut) This always affects the knitted fabric youre creating, but it affects colorwork even more. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. 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. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. This tutorial shows you how to knit colorwork. Easy Trick To Catch Long Floats flynnknit 3.46K subscribers Subscribe 20K views 1 year ago This tutorial is designed to show you one easy trick for catching long floats when you're knitting. Colorwork and fairisle knitting offer a range of beautiful, unique patterns. The color changes in Fair Isle are close together. 2.) free download when you sign up for our newsletter! Longer stretches with more than one float tends to make the floats tight, but it's easy enough to pull a little. Knit.fm episode 5: Yarn[podcast] wood, metal, plastic) andneedle type(e.g. With the sock inside out, you can easily see both thecolor patterning from the previous rounds and the behavior ofyour floats at the same time. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Locking the unused (floating) yarn in stranded knitting every other stitch creates a gorgeous back that almost appears woven. Instead of carrying the yarn used for the colorwork all the way around, when you get to the point where you switch back to the main color, just let it hang until you need to start using it again, the pull it loosely back to the beginning of the colorwork section. 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. And keep in mind thatmistakes are an important part of the process:we can learn from them. My blue floating yarn is trapped on either side of the 6th stitch. Knit.fm episode 6: More Yarn[podcast] Needle material(e.g. (If youre on a budget, dont forget you can alwayscheck your local library for books. Fair Isle knitting, also known as stranded colorwork knitting, is a technique for working two (or more) colors of yarn in the same row. Knitting on an Airplane and Other Travel Tips for Makers, Why You Shouldn't Buy a Knitter Yarn as a Gift. Sue Blacker on Woollen vs Worsted mill spinningon wovember.com 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. Lately I've been on a colourwork-knitting kick, and thought I'd share my favorite methods for catching floats. Tension will be easiest to tackle if you choose a pattern that doesn't require long floats. A float should look like a flattened U rather than an arrow-straightline (Photo 2 below). Next: choose a natural, non-superwash wool yarn. 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. If you've been wishing for a better way, this is it. 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. That being said, theres a great deal of variation in how stretchy colorwork fabric is from knitter to knitter. For more information, please see our Ive found that this method of weaving in works best with worsted-weight and smaller yarns. This is a very secure way to trap the float. How often to catch floats when working colorwork comes down to personal preference. 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. Whether youre working on double-pointed needles or usingthe magic-loop method, you also need to be careful when workingthe first stitch on a new needle. Needle type and needle material. Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Fervent fiber nerd and frequent baker living in Norway. 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. Don. 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. You dont want to snarl your toes in floats when youput on your socks. Thank you. 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. Many knitters like to wrap each strand around a different finger and knit all stitches English style (throwing) or Continental style (picking). Making mistakes in any technique is inevitable, because were all human! I find myself hating colorwork and dreading it because of how tangled it's been getting. As a result, there are no limitations as to how many stitches a given color block can be wide (a common problem with stranded knitting). The bottom swatch will definitely block out to the 8 circumference Im aiming for, but the top swatch will likely be too small. 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). Tension will be easiest to tackle if you choose a pattern that doesnt require long floats. Many folks swear by the two-handed method while others prefer to carry both yarns in one hand (with or without a stranding guide). 3. This article was originally published inSockupiedSpring 2014 andhas been updated. 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. But knitting colorwork can be a challenge. Lopi, on the other hand, is typically woolen spun and a single ply, which means it just wont stretch as much. We'll also talk about how to apply this method to all your colorwork projects. Please note: But knitting colorwork can be a challenge. The long float pictured at the bottom of the swatch isnt trapped at all, so its floating across all twelve stitches. Some knitters will have an easier time with smooth wools while others will have an easier time with sticky ones. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. When you join a new ball of yarn, just weave it in for 1 1/2 to 2 inches using the tacking technique. So Im sorry Im not the most helpful person for that! This tutorial video demonstrate. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('interstitial-ad');}); Save patterns, share updates, and connect with your community. These cookies do not store any personal information. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. Knitting In the Round 3 Ways: DPNs, Two Circulars, or Magic Loop? Focus on one section of the fabric at a time and knead it. 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. 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. They should be about as wide as the stitches in the previous rounds. the larger circumference). You want to have the right side facing you at all times rather than messing with purling on the wrong side. 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. The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user. Fortunately, there are tricks to create a moreelastic fabric and a successful sock fit. 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. I get this question a lot, and its a tricky one to answer. 2. Catching Floats in Stranded Knitting Knitting with Suzanne Bryan 130K subscribers Subscribe 1.8K Share 181K views 9 years ago Stranded or Fair Isle Knitting There is an improved version of this. You can clip off a little more after you block the piece. I tried holding one color on each hand, but my tension is awful that way. If you find that your sock is still too tight, another trick isto add more stitches, especially to the leg portion. would you do one on catching floats in purl side?Im knitting a Marie Wallin pattern in pieces and Im trying to find the best way to trap the floats in purl. 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. Please confirm you want to block this member. Knittersgenerally find that their gauge is tighter, with more stitches perinch, over stranded areas than plain stockinette stitch. The last step is towet-blockyour socks. How often to catch floats when working colorwork comesdown to personal preference. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. The two-handed method is great because the two yarns do not get tangled. Part Seven: Materials fromThe Principles of Knittingby June Hemmons Hiatt, On working in stranded colorwork: Cookie Notice By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. The two colours can be held on the same finger or two different fingers (say, index . You can see in the photo abovethat Ive worked the first 5 stitches of my 21-stitch span. Unknown If youve listened toepisode one of the knit.fm podcast, you know that needle type can affect gauge. If the pattern repeat for your sock issmallfor example, a four-stitch repeatyou can simply increasefour stitches after the cuff and work an additional repeat. This pulling can also really tighten your gauge and make garments too small. With two hands, color work is both addictive and soothing. The standard double knitting technique with two colors also creates no floats on the backside. Colorwork Without Interlocking Floats - Technique Tuesday Alpaca Direct 8.4K subscribers Subscribe 1.1K views 1 year ago ALPACA DIRECT, LLC Kelley Hobart from Alpaca Direct shares tips on how. 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. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. To create a float that is the right length, spread out the stitches on your right needle just before you change colors. 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! The hat used almost one full skein of the main colour yarn. 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. Tips, Tricks and Treatsfrom Eunny Jang, On gauge: After knitting this stitch, I have 7 stitches of my 21-stitch span knit. This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. Happy Monday, everyone! Here are some things to consider: Smoother yarns are closer to the top of the list, while stickier wools are towards the bottom. This method leaves floats, which are lengths of yarn carried across the back of the work that can be easily snagged. 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. Play around with different needle types if youre not sure which category you fit into. Overly loose stranding and a bigger gauge are preferableto short floats and tight knitting. If you have any other tips foreasing up tight colorwork, Id love to hear themin the comments! I get this question a lot, and its a tricky one to answer. Wool will naturally relax into a smooth, even surface after blocking to improve any tight or loose spots in your knitting. Stretch your damp sock gently in severaldirections to even out stitches and floats. Not following a pattern, just my rough one I made. Cutting the corner pulls the floatshorter than the span of the stitches it should relax against on thebackside. Make sure that youre not pullingtoo tightly, which would cut off the corner where the twoneedles meet. With this weather were all having, doesnt this scarf sound tempting? You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. If youre working on DPNs, you can do this at the end of each needle; if youre working with circs (or over a large circumference, like a sweater yoke) you may want to check it at even intervals: every 8 stitches or so (or 6 stitches, or 10 stitches; whatever works for you!). This means you can get gauge for a pattern likeHearth Slippersbut still have trouble with the fit if your fabric is too inelastic. A new way to knit colorwork - without multiple strands! Next, measure the circumference of your knitting while stretchingit out as much as possible. This means you have to anchor the unused yarn by trapping it in between the needle and the working yarn on the backside so you don't end up with super long loops on the backside that my mess up your knitting. I LOVE stranded colorwork, but sometimes it can be PAINFUL with all the pinching and pulling strands across the back! 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. making sure no floats are longer than 1 or something similar). Privacy Policy. 22:34 Jessica McDonald 3.6K. The knitted loops create the elasticity of knitted fabrics, while thesestraight sections of yarn do not have much stretch capacity. Weve got some handy tips on making this dream a reality. We use cookies to optimize our website and our service. Any other tricks? I watched the video but would like more information & can't seem to find it. Holding the main colour in my right hand (English) and the contrasting colour in my left hand (Continental). 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. Tension is the most difficult aspect to master in color work knitting. Insert your right-hand needle into the next stitch, but dont wrap your working yarn around the needle yet. Please feel free to share your methods below! User account menu. And remember to alternate where you catchyour floatscatching them in the same place every round willmake a noticeable blip of color going up your sock (Photos 5 and 6 above). By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. I knit continental style, with two strand on left hand. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. You want there to be just as much space between stitches of twodifferentcolors as there is between stitches of thesamecolor. For me, lifes too short to purl in colorwork! I've tried twisting the yarn less often too. The most important thing is to consider what kind of item youre knitting, and whos going to be wearing/using it. Finally, spread out your sweater and leave it to air-dry. 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. Then move on to the section beside it. It is an in-depth tutorial perfect for anyone who has no experience knitting colorwork and would like to learn how. "Floats" are the yarn that's carried behind the stitches across a row. 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! To help shorten the floats while maintaining good tension, tack these long floats to the wrong side of the work. Colorwork Sans Floats I've made it pretty clear to the knitting world that when it comes to colorwork, floats and I are incompatible. Heres a trick I use for every round of stranded colorworkthat I knit on my socks: I flip the sock inside out, thenknit these rounds. 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. The good news is that picking up dropped stitches in color work is actually not hard! Floats are the yarn thats carried behind the stitches across a row. A pattern like. UFO to WIP: Can This Crochet or Knitting Project Be Saved? Slide your right-hand needleunderneaththe floating strand (blue), then wrap the working yarn (charcoal) around your needle to knit the stitch. Heres a birds eye view to help you visualize the difference between normal (right side out) circular knitting and inside out circular knitting. The duplicate-stitch weaving closely mimics the pathof the yarn and will stretch almost the same amount as the originalstitches. Compare the two measurements tomake sure your sockis able tostretch to match or exceed your footmeasurement. 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. not stretched out), theres no indication of whether or not your knitting will be stretchy. Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete. Make a swatch topractice spacing your stitches on the needle until youve had somesuccess and know how much space is too much. 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. In reality, there are a few different methods, but Ill be demonstrating what I think is the most common below. 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. The charcoal grey isthe working yarnfor that length, while the light blue yarn is being carried across the back (the floating yarn). UFO to WIP: Can This Crochet or Knitting Project Be Saved? This distinguishes it from other colorwork methods like mosaic knitting or intarsia. Now I'm making adult totoro mittens with a more complicated pattern. The basketweave pattern is reminiscent of fishing nets, so I chose blue and natural colors to accentuate the ideas of sea and shore. I found this page which shows a technique for capturing the floats & providing a nice stretch. The project is a scarf called the Ajiro Scarf. She is also the founder of Knit Camp, an online knitting resource community, and Olive Knits pattern design where she is known for her approachable, timeless style. Its a lot to read through, but I hope you find it helpful and please let me know if you still have questions about this topic by the end. Go ahead and knit the next stitch normally. To demonstrate the difference that needle type can make, I have two swatches that I knit: both are unblocked, but both were knit with the exact same yarn on the exact same needle sizes: While the difference isnt huge at first glance, and these measurements are pretty quick-and-dirty rather than precise, the swatch on top is noticeably narrower than the swatch on the bottom when both are measured flat. 1. Required fields are marked *. This is also part of why steeking is so common in these places - sticky wools are unlikely to unravel when the stitches are cut. Colorwork can be stressful worrying about having the right tension and this new method takes all of that away! 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. Aim to space the stitches across the needle more widelythan your goal gaugeremember that you will stretch the sockwhen you put it on. Now that weve covered when its a good idea to trap floats how do we actually do it? 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. One of the most common problems knitters encounter when starting to knit in stranded colorwork is tight knitting. Knitting inside out. There are a multitude of techniques used to carry two strands of yarn across a row of knitting. Even if you get gauge for the stockinette portions of a sock pattern,you may have trouble maintaining it in colorwork areas. Feel free to post questions in the comments, orshare other tips or methods you know of! 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. Please confirm you want to block this member. This scarf will keep you warm even on the coldest windswept shore.. In order to keep the tension of your sock from getting too tight, you may want to consider letting your floats go a little longer without catching them than you normally would; catching floats too frequently can make the fabric less flexible. A Free Bracelet Beading Pattern for Valentines Day. 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. 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. Posted by 3 years ago. 256-266 (2012 edition) Tacking Long Floats. Intro to Stranded Colorwork // Technique Tuesday Tutorials Catching / Trapping Floats Invisibly. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('interstitial-ad');}); Save patterns, share updates, and connect with your community. Lisas List: 10 Reasons Knitting Is Better Than Dating, Spurned Gifts: When Knit & Crochet Gifts Went Wrong. 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. A yarn like Quince & Co. Chickadee is smooth and springy, because its worsted spun with three plies. 32K views 4 years ago Color Work Knitting Series This video is part of my Colorwork Series. You won't have to struggle with dominant colors, floats, multiple strands or wonky tension - watch your knitting transform almost immediately! How to catch floats when knitting stranded colour work by ARNE & CARLOS ARNE & CARLOS 161K subscribers Subscribe 163K views 4 years ago This week we take a close look at the back of our knit wear.