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. Please confirm you want to block this member. The only Marie Wallin garment Ive knit, I adapted to be knit in the round and I steeked the armholes and front neck. 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. Theres a big difference between a knitted bag youll sew a lining into and a pair of mittens or socks. Enjoy! Enjoy! If theres one thing Ive learned from my students, its that knitters are all over the map as far as which method works best for them. Please feel free to share your methods below! Unknown 4. 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. Stranded colorwork gets its name from these strands of yarn, commonly called floats, that travel through the back of the work. Improve Your Stranded Knitting | Interweave This is also part of why steeking is so common in these places - sticky wools are unlikely to unravel when the stitches are cut. I loved your tutorial on catching floats! The culprits are the strands, or floats, which are lengths of yarnnot being knitted and simply carried along the back of the fabric. The project is a scarf called the Ajiro Scarf. These cookies do not store any personal information. Now that weve covered when its a good idea to trap floats how do we actually do it? Cut off the excess yarn, leaving about a 1/2-inch tail. Thanks! Part Three: Decorative Techniques fromThe Principles of Knittingby June Hemmons Hiatt, particularly pp. After knitting this stitch, I have 7 stitches of my 21-stitch span knit. Kelley Hobart from Alpaca Direct shares tips for knitting colorwork inside out to see if it improves the tension of your floats + new Free Giveaways! AboutPressCopyrightContact. A Free Bracelet Beading Pattern for Valentines Day. The project that that strikes my fancy for todays post is from Vintage Modern Knits by Courtney Kelley and Kate Gagnon Osborn. The only issue might be tension of the floats. Don. Catching Floats - For Fair Isle or Stranded Knitting - YouTube 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. How to keep yarn from tangling with stranded colorwork? 3. 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. 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 more likely to keep them long, and it also keeps them visible, so you can constantly check your tension as youre working. Then move on to the section beside it. Typical stranded colorwork motifs are worked with two different colors per round, with the colors changes happening often (this keeps the floats short). 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. If you want to knit more than 4-5 stitches in a single color, you will have to catch floats. We just dont get along. CraftyGarden: N. 62 Condor's Croft and Garden 22K views 3. The pattern can have a million different colors included, but only two are used within a single row. 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. Please confirm you want to block this member. We just don't get along. Tips, Tricks and Treatsfrom Eunny Jang, On gauge: Please confirm you want to block this member. Picking Both Colours with One Hand. Personally, I dont like this approach. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Archived. Learn to keep perfect colorwork tension - every time, Learn how to adapt any pattern to use the strandless method, Learn how to read charts with strandless knitting in mind, Start with the basics and practice as you learn, Take your skills to the next level with progressive lessons that make it easy to apply what you learn, Practice right along with me as we knit a strandless project together - step by step, Learn from the comfort of home - on your favorite device, Your lessons never expire - you'll have ongoing access to the workshop if you need a refresher. Sue Blacker on Woollen vs Worsted mill spinning, how the knitter is holding/carrying the yarns, how much space the knitter leaves between stitches, whether the knitter is working on DPNs or circular needles. This always affects the knitted fabric youre creating, but it affects colorwork even more. Now I'm making adult totoro mittens with a more complicated pattern. 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. too short? (Don't know what the proper terminology is). These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. 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. Knitting Colorwork Inside Out | Technique Tuesday - YouTube I have done very little colorwork but am working on a hat with some simple(ish) colorwork. 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. It is an in-depth tutorial perfect for anyone who has no experience knitting colorwork and would like to learn how. You want to have the right side facing you at all times rather than messing with purling on the wrong side. If you do come to a spot where its necessary to carry your yarn across more than 5 stitches, remember to catch your floats every so often. Catching Floats in Stranded Knitting Knitting with Suzanne Bryan Knitting Stranded Colorwork or Fair Isle Colorwork Continental! How often to catch floats when working colorwork comes down to personal preference. I LOVE stranded colorwork, but sometimes it can be PAINFUL with all the pinching and pulling strands across the back! The outside of the circle has a larger circumference than theinside, which forces you to make your floats a bit longer. Even if you get gauge for the stockinette portions of a sock pattern,you may have trouble maintaining it in colorwork areas. 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. Privacy Policy. How to Knitting: Colorwork Rescue - Yarn Vibes 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. Read morehere. The wrong side of the sockwith the floats will be outside (Photo 3 below). Knitting inside out. Posted by 3 years ago. Thegreatest benefit of working this way is you cant inadvertently cutthe corner between needles. Remember that the gauge can change over the course of yourknitting. 2. Happy Monday, everyone! Fortunately, there are tricks to create a moreelastic fabric and a successful sock fit. Some patterns, such as the Ajiro Scarf, require that the non-working yarn is carried farther7 stitches in this case (see chart at right). ), Ondifferent yarn types: 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! Someday I may get to this, but as of now Ive never really purled colorwork (beyond a small swatch with short floats). If youve tried this out and you still think your colorwork is coming out too tight, roll up your sleeves and get ready to try a few different methods, keeping in mind that some things may work for you and some may not; theres a lot of trial and error in knitting! You can always try going up a needle size, as well many people need to adjust needle size between stockinette sections and colorwork sections when using the same yarn. This pulling can also really tighten your gauge and make garments too small. I get this question a lot, and its a tricky one to answer. You can clip off a little more after you block the piece. Many folks swear by the two-handed method while others prefer to carry both yarns in one hand (with or without a stranding guide). Great tutorial. Stretch your damp sock gently in severaldirections to even out stitches and floats. 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. Cutting the corner pulls the floatshorter than the span of the stitches it should relax against on thebackside. A yarn like Quince & Co. Chickadee is smooth and springy, because its worsted spun with three plies. This helps increase the elasticity. 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. 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. Go ahead and knit the next stitch normally. Colorwork without stranded floats? This is a very secure way to trap the float. 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) stranded knitting without floats? : r/knitting - Reddit Ifyouretense, your knitting often shows it. Below is a video demonstrating my method for knitting colorwork sans floats. 2.) Please, for the sake of your sanity, choose a pattern thats knit in the round! How to Crochet with Two (or More) Colors - Jo to the World Creations 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. Some wools are grabby or sticky and some are much smoother (the method used to spin the yarn also affects this worsted spunyarns are much smoother thanwoolen spunyarns). 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. 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. So what do I do? This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. 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 reason for this is that the outer circumference of a tube is larger than the inner circumference perhaps not by much, but with the thickness of colorwork fabric, youd be surprised and turning your work inside out positions the floats on the outside of the tube (i.e. . You can read aboutcolor dominance here.). Tension will be easiest to tackle if you choose a pattern that doesn't require long floats. *Membership cannot be purchased with Gift Cards. 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. Then work the first stitch of the new colorthis is the yarn that creates the float. There is enough of the contrast grey []. Tension is the most difficult aspect to master in color work knitting. Giving the stranded section a slightly larger gauge thanthe rest of the sock can help avoid a too-tight sock. The color that isn't being worked is carried at the back, making a float, before being worked again. Knitting Color Work: Tips & Tricks - Brown Sheep Company, Inc. How often to catch floats when working colorwork comesdown to personal preference. Catching Floats As You Go - YouTube Slide your right-hand needleunderneaththe floating strand (blue), then wrap the working yarn (charcoal) around your needle to knit the stitch. 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. 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 is a very secure way to trap the float. CraftGossipAbout CraftGossipContact Us | Privacy and affiliate policy, Grab a Deal on Knitting Designs through 11/29, This Colorwork Cowl is a Great Way to Play with Color, Make Your Own Knit Cardigan, Block by Block, Book Review Cozy White Cottage: 100 Ways to Love the Feeling of Being Home, Teacher Appreciation Themes for Your School, Big Book of Scarves: Corner to Corner Crochet Patterns. 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. That being said, theres a great deal of variation in how stretchy colorwork fabric is from knitter to knitter. Stranded color knitting is the knitters versionof painting by numberand just assimple. Weve got some handy tips on making this dream a reality. 22:34 Jessica McDonald 3.6K. This distinguishes it from other colorwork methods like mosaic knitting or intarsia. 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 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. We use cookies to optimize our website and our service. Most socks are knitted a tad smaller in circumferencethan the actual measurements of your calf and foot; theelasticity of the knitted fabric generally allows them to stretch. Once you have gone over all the puckered fabric in this manner, repeat from the start - until the floats have stretched sufficiently. 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. The two colours can be held on the same finger or two different fingers (say, index . Knit.fm episode 1: Gauge[podcast] Let's talk about STRANDED COLORWORK | Knitting Q&A | PAPER TIGER Magic Loop Colorwork Knitting Help - Carrying Fair Isle Floats Skeindeer Knits Ep. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. In this example, the dominant color, carried in my left hand, is the contrasting color (blue), while the background color, carried in my right hand, is the main color (charcoal). Now Introducing: Brown Sheep Fiber Arts Schoolhouse, Choose the Perfect Yarn and Needles for Any Pattern, Contains spam, fake content or potential malware, 9+ Colorful Patterns to Brighten Winter Knitting. 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). *Membership cannot be purchased with Gift Cards or PayPal. (Side note: its always better to have floats that are a little long than a little short you can always draw in the slack when youre weaving in ends, but you cant make a short float longer.). Over the manyyears of operation, the group produced hundreds of knit andcrochet patterns for the 3,000+ members. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. This tutorial will be all about the standard double knitting technique to created reversible colorwork. This tutorial shows you how to knit colorwork. Fair Isle knitting, also known as stranded colorwork knitting, is a technique for working two (or more) colors of yarn in the same row. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Colorwork can be stressful worrying about having the right tension and this new method takes all of that away! combatting tight colorwork - Paper Tiger 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). Decreasethese four stitches at the ankle before working the heel. Contains spam, fake content or potential malware, just two different-colored yarns per round, trouble maintaining it in colorwork areas, How to Sew Crochet Motifs to Your Clothes, 5 Things That Made Our Yarn-y Hearts Happy at Yarn Fest Loveland 2023, Floral Beaded Jewelry Patterns for Mothers Day, Unique Ways to Have Quality Yarn-Time with Mom. Since different colors of yarn are used throughout thepatterned areas of socks (sometimes for only one round! Pull it through the two loops on your hook. My blue floating yarn is trapped on either side of the 6th stitch. 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. 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. If you havent tried more than one method, you may not have found your perfect match yet! Gently stretch out the stitches on your right needle as youstrand the unused yarn across the back of these stitches(Photo 1 below). ),there are more yarn ends to weave in when finishing a stranded-colorsock. According to designer Courtney Kelley, This scarf was inspired by a picture in Handschuhe, a vintage knitting book from Germany by Eva Maria Leszner. A float should look like a flattened U rather than an arrow-straightline (Photo 2 below). For more information, please see our Strandless colorwork eliminates so many of the headaches that some knitters experience with traditional methods. Locking Floats - YouTube Needle material(e.g. Float is a common term for the strand of yarn that runs across the back of colorwork fabric the strand that makes colorworkstranded. For more information, please see our In this example, the dominant yarn is the floating yarn, while the background yarn is the working yarn. This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. I work the cuff, heel, and toe ofmy socks at a smaller gauge, using a smaller needle, then changeto a larger needle to work the stranded portions. Wool will naturally relax into a smooth, even surface after blocking to improve any tight or loose spots in your knitting. Three-Color Stranded Knitting - YouTube Ive made it pretty clear to the knitting world that when it comes to colorwork, floats and I are incompatible. 32K views 4 years ago Color Work Knitting Series This video is part of my Colorwork Series. Whats the process for trapping non-dominant float? It may take some trial and error to get the hang of it, but Ive seen this method yield results for several people. 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. I am sort of figuring it out as I go but it is a little wonky. I am starting my second color work project. My first project was baby mittens with totoro on them. Tryfollowing the pattern for the next size up, decreasing stitch countsfor the cuff and heel to fit. Tacking Long Floats. Try out some of these techniques in the evening with a glass of wine or whatever else relaxes you. Youll be better able to adjust your tension as you go along, and youll catch things that need fixing without having to work backwards too far. the larger circumference). I find myself hating colorwork and dreading it because of how tangled it's been getting. 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. Fair Isle Knitting Tutorial for beginners - Nimble Needles 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.