colorwork without floats
In reality, there are a few different methods, but Ill be demonstrating what I think is the most common below. If you havent tried more than one method, you may not have found your perfect match yet! Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Knit.fm episode 1: Gauge[podcast] Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Stitches just knit spaced out along the right needle. It's one of our favorite yarns for year-round, Spring officially lands next week, and you know what that means it's the season for, Winter begins to feel interminable around this time of year. With two hands, color work is both addictive and soothing. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. What exactly is color work? Back-knitting is just as easy with two strands of yarn as a single strand. 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. Enjoy! In reality, there are a few different methods, but Ill be demonstrating what I think is the most common below. Make sure that youre not pullingtoo tightly, which would cut off the corner where the twoneedles meet. Basically, this is multi-colored knitting thats done by carrying two colors at a time across a row. 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. Although these tricks may sound intimidating, strandedcolorwork isreally funto knitand the results are incrediblyrewarding. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Thoroughly soakyour socks in water, then roll them up in a towel to squeezeout any excess moisture. This method leaves floats, which are lengths of yarn carried across the back of the work that can be easily snagged. (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.). Lisas List: 10 Reasons Knitting Is Better Than Dating, Spurned Gifts: When Knit & Crochet Gifts Went Wrong. 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. If you've been wishing for a better way, this is it. Floats are the yarn thats carried behind the stitches across a row. 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. The most important thing is to consider what kind of item youre knitting, and whos going to be wearing/using it. In order tokeep the tensionof your sock from getting too tight, you may want to considerletting your floats go a little longer without catching them thanyou normally would; catching floats too frequently can make thefabric less flexible. 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. Next, measure the circumference of your knitting while stretchingit out as much as possible. Your email address will not be published. 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. First of all: choose the right pattern for learning to knit with two colors at a time. All Rights Reserved. Wool will naturally relax into a smooth, even surface after blocking to improve any tight or loose spots in your knitting. 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! I found this page which shows a technique for capturing the floats & providing a nice stretch. "Floats" are the yarn that's carried behind the stitches across a row. Please confirm you want to block this member. 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). Omit them, of course! 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. 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. After knitting this stitch, I have 7 stitches of my 21-stitch span knit. Then you finish with 4 rows of garter stitch. Hats or mittens are also great choices. Please feel free to share your methods below! According to designer Courtney Kelley, This scarf was inspired by a picture in Handschuhe, a vintage knitting book from Germany by Eva Maria Leszner. They should be about as wide as the stitches in the previous rounds. Remember that the gauge can change over the course of yourknitting. Also, if you need to catch floats in a bunch of rows dont catch in the same place every row. Over the manyyears of operation, the group produced hundreds of knit andcrochet patterns for the 3,000+ members. Found the internet! . 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. The knitted loops create the elasticity of knitted fabrics, while thesestraight sections of yarn do not have much stretch capacity. 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. The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user. 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!). This helps increase the elasticity. 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. Ive made it pretty clear to the knitting world that when it comes to colorwork, floats and I are incompatible. wood, metal, plastic) andneedle type(e.g. UFO to WIP: Can This Crochet or Knitting Project Be Saved? Holding the main colour in my right hand (English) and the contrasting colour in my left hand (Continental). For more information, please see our 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. Because strandedcolorwork does not have the same stretch capacity as plain stockinetteknitting, you have a real problem. 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. To create a float that is the right length, spread out the stitches on your right needle just before you change colors. Then work the first stitch of the new colorthis is the yarn that creates the float. 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. Posted by 3 years ago. UFO to WIP: Can This Crochet or Knitting Project Be Saved? 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. Sue Blacker on Woollen vs Worsted mill spinningon wovember.com This is also part of why steeking is so common in these places - sticky wools are unlikely to unravel when the stitches are cut. After steaming, the scarf is so cozy and warm! There are several different ways to manage carrying multiple yarns for colorwork knitting carryingboth yarns in the left hand, carryingboth in the right hand, holdingone yarn in each hand, carryingone yarn at a time, usingastranding guide, and the list goes on! 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. *Membership cannot be purchased with Gift Cards. I thought it would be a good idea to finally address this issue! 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. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. 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. 3. Enjoy! Needle material(e.g. 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. Thank you! Next: choose a natural, non-superwash wool yarn. A float should look like a flattened U rather than an arrow-straightline (Photo 2 below). Cut off the excess yarn, leaving about a 1/2-inch tail. Someday I may get to this, but as of now Ive never really purled colorwork (beyond a small swatch with short floats). These cookies do not store any personal information. Thank you. 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. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. 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. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Colorwork and fairisle knitting offer a range of beautiful, unique patterns. To maintain the elasticity of the fabric, use the duplicate-stitchmethod to weave in your ends on the inside of the sock(Figure 1). Carrying yarn. It may sound crazy, but many folks solve the tight colorwork issue by working their colorwork tubes inside out! 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. 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. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. The color changes in Fair Isle are close together. Archived. The outside of the circle has a larger circumference than theinside, which forces you to make your floats a bit longer. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Happy Monday, everyone! I hope it helps you or at least entertains you. Gently stretch out the stitches on your right needle as youstrand the unused yarn across the back of these stitches(Photo 1 below). 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). While cruising full-time on her sailboat throughout CentralAmerica and the Caribbean islands, TERRY MORRIS foundedthe Holiday Mystery Gifts Yahoo Group. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Cutting the corner pulls the floatshorter than the span of the stitches it should relax against on thebackside. Part Seven: Materials fromThe Principles of Knittingby June Hemmons Hiatt, On working in stranded colorwork: 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. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Lately I've been on a colourwork-knitting kick, and thought I'd share my favorite methods for catching floats. I share two methods: 1.) This was so helpful! AKA Both strands on the left. Colorwork without stranded floats? Make a swatch topractice spacing your stitches on the needle until youve had somesuccess and know how much space is too much. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Here is a nice tutorial from Jimmy Beans Wool on how to catch floats. 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. 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. Leave the color that is not on the hook hanging (keep it attached to ball of yarn or bobbin, don't cut) And keep in mind thatmistakes are an important part of the process:we can learn from them. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. [] used Dianna Wallas tutorials for dominant strands and trapping floats. User account menu. 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. 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. Tips, Tricks and Treatsfrom Eunny Jang, On gauge: Knit.fm episode 5: Yarn[podcast] There are a multitude of techniques used to carry two strands of yarn across a row of knitting. 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. If you find that your sock is still too tight, another trick isto add more stitches, especially to the leg portion. How often to catch floats when working colorwork comesdown to personal preference. I watched the video but would like more information & can't seem to find it. The hat used almost one full skein of the main colour yarn. 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. Archived post. Socks fit our legs and feet through a combination of shapingand negative ease. Theres a big difference between a knitted bag youll sew a lining into and a pair of mittens or socks. Oneof the questions I get most often from students or knitters working from my patterns is how to trap floats in stranded colorwork. It may take some trial and error to get the hang of it, but Ive seen this method yield results for several people. Enjoy! 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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Fervent fiber nerd and frequent baker living in Norway. This allows you to carry the yarn you aren't knitting with across the back of the work as you go. If you finish knitting something and onlythenrealize that you should have trapped the long floats dont worry! The Knitters Book of YarnandThe Knitters Book of Woolby Clara Parkes By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. 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. Knit a few small swatches with different needle types/materials and see if it makes a difference for you! It maysoundprecise at first, but when you think about it, gauge makes this an incredibly imprecise way to go about it. This post took a little bit longer to put together than I wanted, but its finally ready to go! 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. If you dont, its a good bet that youll pull the non-working yarn a little too tight, causing puckering problems. This pulling can also really tighten your gauge and make garments too small. You can see how much easier it is to catch a finger (or a toe, or a hand) on the open, un-trapped float: So, if Im knitting a piece that has long floats, how often should I trap them? Fortunately, there are tricks to create a moreelastic fabric and a successful sock fit. *Membership cannot be purchased with Gift Cards or PayPal. Below is a video demonstrating my method for knitting colorwork sans floats. "Float" is a common term for the strand of yarn that runs across the back of colorwork fabric - the strand that makes colorwork stranded. Tryfollowing the pattern for the next size up, decreasing stitch countsfor the cuff and heel to fit. This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. This gives you a chance to check your floats are they too long? Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. 5: My stranded knitting history Easy Trick. All Rights Reserved. Stretch your damp sock gently in severaldirections to even out stitches and floats. See our post on selecting color palettes for color inspiration. This article was originally published inSockupiedSpring 2014 andhas been updated. 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. Close. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. The swatch on top was knit onbamboo DPNs, while the swatch on the bottom was worked ontwo metal circular needles. This scarf will keep you warm even on the coldest windswept shore.. You dont want to snarl your toes in floats when youput on your socks. 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. (Ask me how I know! Privacy Policy. ), Ondifferent yarn types: 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. My UPS gal surprised me again the other day with several new Interweave books full of wonderful, inventive projects. Are there any other pages/videos showing this technique? 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. Required fields are marked *. Marie has taught knitting courses at festivals, shops, and events around the world; her mix of best practices and renegade hacks, along with her charming personality, make her a highly sought-after instructor. Some wools that are known for colorwork are very sticky wools, like Shetland wool or Lopi. Crafty Confessions: Do You Make a Gauge Swatch? 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. 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. Now that weve covered when its a good idea to trap floats how do we actually do it? A long float would be considered more than 5 stitches in a row of one color before changing. 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. Make it a point to check the gaugeespecially on thecolorwork portionsthroughout yourproject, andmakeadjustmentsif you find yourself getting tighter. If youve listened toepisode one of the knit.fm podcast, you know that needle type can affect gauge. Cookie Notice 22:34 Jessica McDonald 3.6K. Really enjoyed your Q & A youtube video, very useful as a newbie to stranded knitting making the most of lockdowns in UK to experiment! The pattern can have a million different colors included, but only two are used within a single row.
