I definitely feel more confident. 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. Hi Lisa Yep, lots of folks find going up a needle size very helpful! 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. Weve got an opinion (or three) on this topic! 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. Firstly:what is a float, and why would I need to trap it? These cookies do not store any personal information. 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. Focus on one section of the fabric at a time and knead it. A long float would be considered more than 5 stitches in a row of one color before changing. Personally, I dont like this approach. Simply open the latch, lay each strand in its own channel in the Yarn Guide, snap the top shut, and The method you use to strand your working yarns may also have different effects on your tension. You want the design to appear as if its laid over the top of the background color, rather than trying The only color you knit to create a new stitch is the one from your left hand. 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. While you Colorwork motifs are often presented in charts, as this is an intuitive and shorthand way of showing how the motif builds round by round. Your videos have inspired and taught me so much. What Im gathering is that the ease of the floats comes with practice. Enjoy! Because you have floats making a straight line across the back of the work, the fabric formed by stranded colourwork is much less stretchy than that formed with a regular knitted fabric. in your left or right hand, its important to keep the strands separate enough that you dont floats (with three stitches or less) alone, but floats of five or more stitches may benefit from document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Fervent fiber nerd and frequent baker living in Norway. Are there any other pages/videos showing this technique? To help shorten the floats while maintaining good tension, "tack" these long floats to the wrong side of the work. This method leaves floats, which are lengths of yarn carried across the back of the work that can be easily snagged. often, it is not uncommon for knitters to knit stranded colorwork with a tighter than usual tension, due to the mechanics of alternating between multiple working yarns. The basic idea is simple: knit each stitch in the correct colour according to the pattern, carrying the unused colour behind and across the back of the work. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Insert your right needle into the next stitch like normal. There are other ways to trap floats, but in my experience, this is the most common (and its a pretty simple way to trap floats as youre working, so theres less finishing after the fact). September 29, 2021 @ Simply follow the colourwork chart, and the pattern appears! Please confirm you want to block this member. Yarn floats, the strands of yarn you carry behind your knitting for some colorwork, are perhaps the trickiest part of knitting colorwork for beginners. Then move on to the section beside it. For stranded colorwork knitting in particular, swatching may be even more invaluable, as it allows for the opportunity to practice stranding techniques, get acquainted with the mechanics of working with multiple strands of yarn, and test color combinations before committing to a larger project. (Ask me how I know! There is enough of the contrast grey []. Omit them, of course! . wrapping. 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. January 22, 2022 @ needle. September 24, 2021 @ What are your thoughts on this? Maureen Murley 1:35 pm. knittingissofun Back-knitting is just as easy with two strands of yarn as a single strand. For just a few stitches, this is fine and tidy! One tip is to spread out the sts on the right hand needle before carrying your yarn across in a long float. thistheyre twice as thick! When knittingstranded colorwork, the unworked yarn color "floats" behind the worked stitches in the back of the work. If you dont, its a good bet that youll pull the non-working yarn a little too tight, causing puckering problems. . Theres no wrong way to knit, and theres no wrong way to knit colourwork. Im assuming you are right handed. This past week I was thinking, Maybe if I had someone really break it down for me . 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. 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. To accompany the colorwork charts in our patterns, we provide a key showing which colors should be held as the Dominant Color and the Background Color. So what do I do? These cookies do not store any personal information. 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 . Your email address will not be published. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Now that weve covered when its a good idea to trap floats how do we actually do it? 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. Okay, excellent, so do I! Unknown 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! Go ahead and knit the next stitch normally. pattern), the first stitch is worked in C1, the next in C2, and the following two stitches are worked in C1. To help shorten the floats while maintaining good tension, tack these long floats to the wrong side of the work. and sheep. These patterns are particularly well-suited for practicing stranded colorwork as they're smaller projects, worked in the round, and feature motifs that don't require working with more than two strands or colors of yarn in the same round. When you come to the stitch you want to wrap, put your working needle into the stitch on the 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. When flipped to be a Background Color (right), these Hammock stitches become smaller and less distinct. 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. 1. your contrast color (CC). They work under their artist name ARNE \u0026 CARLOS, which they established in 2002.We publish a weekly, new tutorial every Sunday on both our YouTube channel and our Facebook page. used to, so try each method and then spend some time practicing (preferably on a small project or even a tutorials Andrea Rangel July 26, . Then you knit a stitch (or several) in another colour - let's call it the contrast colour (CC). Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. 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 is a very secure way to trap the float. Contains spam, fake content or potential malware, https://www.interweave.com/store/vintage-modern-knits-ebook, Free Resin Jewelry Video: Yupo Paper, Alcohol Inks, and Resin, Knitting-Themed Artists We Love: Inspiration from Fiber & Needles, Celebrating Beadwork Artists on International Womens Day. Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete. conscious of carrying the unused colors at the back of the work loosely. In this video I demonstrate a couple of ways to carry floats in fair isle knitting. Finally, spread out your sweater and leave it to air-dry. Some patterns, such as the Ajiro Scarf, require that the non-working yarn is carried farther7 stitches in this case (see chart at right). Im all about creativity. Read More. floats, by wrapping the two yarns while youre knitting. The hat used almost one full skein of the main colour yarn. the other, as is the case when just carrying two yarns in one hand without the Yarn Guide. holding one strand in each hand is the easiest way to knit colorwork. 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. too loosely can make the fabric look messy. 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). 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 (pictured below), Completethestitch withyour working yarn. swatch) the one you prefer. Great tutorial. How to Make Stranded Colorwork Knitting Go Smoothly The biggest problem most people new to stranded knitting have is pulling the yarns too tightly when changing between yarns. Their work is highly influenced by their Scandinavian background and their everyday life in rural Norway. If you stop here and look at your float, youll see that its caught in the space between the stitch you just knit and the previous stitch. (Wondering what the dominant yarn is? Use this method when your WORKING yarn is in your RIGHT hand and your FLOAT yarn is in your LEFT hand. ARNE \u0026 CARLOSHow to catch floats when knitting stranded colour work by ARNE \u0026 CARLOS__Hi and welcome to our channel! I get this question a lot, and its a tricky one to answer. 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! 10:53 am. Check out our posts about: You sure you really wanna open that can of worms? Laurie Rickward 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. Float is a common term for the strand of yarn that runs across the back of colorwork fabric the strand that makes colorworkstranded. Follow the instructions in the. Color in the boxes with two or more colors. The only Marie Wallin garment Ive knit, I adapted to be knit in the round and I steeked the armholes and front neck. To keep the back of your work tidy, you may want to consider securing the longer loose strands, or 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. Now that weve covered when its a good idea to trap floats how do we actually do it? Colorwork garments are extremely warm because of December 2, 2021 @ September 28, 2021 @ Of course, which color you want to be the dominant one is entirely up to youand since its My blue floating yarn is trapped on either side of the 6th stitch. The basketweave pattern is reminiscent of fishing nets, so I chose blue and natural colors to accentuate the ideas of sea and shore. Nothing wrong with that, but it would slow you down a bit. 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. Bringyour working yarn betweenthe needles as though you are going to knit but don't complete the stitch. What is the best method for making sure your floats are loose enough when knitting. dominant color in a pattern is not necessarily the same as your MCin fact, it usually should be tangled, then, is key to working with multiple colors. trapping long floats while using the two-handed stranded colorwork methodfromDiannaonVimeo. This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. If youve been too intimidated to give colourwork a try, this tutorial will demystify the process and take you through it step by step. 4:42 pm. Ive taught countless colourwork classes and literally NEVER had a student who couldnt learn to do colourwork using this method but they did find it difficult it at first (theres always a bit of cursing). 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? Tension is the most difficult aspect to master in color work knitting. Nervous about your first colorwork project? It maysoundprecise at first, but when you think about it, gauge makes this an incredibly imprecise way to go about it. 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. Stranded colorwork knitting is referred to as such because of these, One thing that is important to keep in mind in stranded colorwork knitting is, There are a number of ways to manage the tension of your floats. colorwhether on one finger, in a Yarn Guide, or in your left hand while the other strand is in your This pulling can also really tighten your gauge and make garments too small. Wrapping floats can help, but even if youre wrapping stitches frequently, you still want to be Hi Elizabeth Thanks so much for your kind words! Your explanations and videos are so helpful (as always). Blocking colourwork isnt really different from any other kind of blocking, but it is CRITICAL! knit with US 6 needles, for instance. 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). 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. There are a multitude of techniques used to carry two strands of yarn across a row of knitting. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. (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. UFO to WIP: Can This Crochet or Knitting Project Be Saved? left-hand You can see in the photo abovethat Ive worked the first 5 stitches of my 21-stitch span. We just dont get along. Alexa Ludeman 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). knitting your multi-color project. There are several ways knitters do this, and the right choice is the one that feels most comfortable 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.
