Two-Handed Stranded Colorwork Tutorial
http://carolynkernknits.blogspot.com/2013/08/two-handed-stranded-colorwork-tutorial.html#comment-form
I have taught more classes on "Two-Handed Stranded Colorwork" than on any other kind of knitting. As I mentioned in my preface post, most stranded colorwork (also referred to by some as "Fair Isle") involves working rows with two, and no more than two, colors at a time. The non-active color is carried along behind the work until it is used again.
It is quite possible to knit a stranded colorwork project using only the one hand that you normally use to carry your knitting yarn -- you would have to drop one color and pick up the other each time the color changes. After a while, you might come up with a way to hold both yarns in the same hand (I did this when I was young knitter), but it does get complicated when there are long stretches of one of the colors, and you have to drop both yarns to wrap one around the other. It is very easy to have your yarns get tangled together.
This is why most stranded colorwork knitters eventually learn a two handed approach.
PART 1 -- YOU ALREADY KNOW ONE OF THESE TWO THINGS VERY WELL.
1. Holding the light and dark colored yarns with my right and left hands, allows me to knit the light color stitches with my right hand (using what is called the English method).
1.a. 1.b.
2. And knit the dark colored stitches with my left hand (which is called the continental method).
2.a.
One of these methods is actually the way that you normally knit now. The other is one that you may need to practice a bit. I recommend that you work a swatch knitting with the opposite hand from that which you normally use, and then use both hands together for a fairly simple colorwork pattern like the herringbone section of my Equilibrium cowl.
When knitting this herringbone pattern, the longest number of stitches in one color is three. The unused color is carried along as a "float" behind the active knitting color. It is fairly easy to mange these relatively short floats.
Some pointers:
1) Always carry the unused color loosely in the back. Though it is possible after knitting to tighten an overly loose float, it is truly impossible to fix floats that are too tight. They can cause puckering on the right side. I pause briefly (mindlessly, and almost instinctively) after every few stitches to actually spread the most recently knit stitches out a bit on my right needle... this stretches out any floats behind them to an appropriate length. Practice this in the beginning; and you will find that before too long, you hardly have to think about it.
2) When working two-handed stranded colorwork, try placing the ball of yarn that you are working with your right hand to your right. And place the ball of yarn to your left that you are using with your left hand. Surprisingly, even when you do need to use the methods that I will describe below to twist the strands together, the two yarns will never tangle. Stranded colorwork is best worked in the round.
PART 2 -- TWO MORE TECHNIQUES TO LEARN AND YOU WILL HAVE MASTERED TWO-HANDED STRANDED COLORWORK.
When you work a design where there are more than three or four stitches in one color -- where the floats would be an inch or more long -- you can use the next two techniques to "catch" or "trap" or "wrap" or "weave" your floats. I have heard each of these terms used. The methods themselves are fairly easy, you can learn them in no time with a bit of practice.
Hold the work and two strands of yarn as you practiced above. Notice that for each of the following, the first step is always to stick the right needle tip into the stitch to be worked.
To trap the color held by the LEFT HAND when you have an inch or more of stitches in the color worked with the RIGHT HAND:
A. Stick the right needle tip into the next stitch to be worked. Then lay the yarn being held with your left hand across the top of the right needle tip, so that it lays between the needles.
B. Now wrap the yarn in your right hand around the right needle tip as you normally would do when knitting with your right hand.
C. Then complete the knitted stitch. Note: the actual "trapping" actually happens when you knit the next stitch with the right hand.
To trap the color held by the RIGHT HAND when you have an inch or more of stitches in the color worked with the LEFT HAND:
A. Stick the right needle tip into the next stitch to be worked. Next take the color in your right hand and wrap it around the right needle tip as you would if you were to "pretend knit" with it.
B. Next wrap or "pick" the yarn in your left hand as you normally would to knit with it, but do not complete the stitch.
C. I usually call the next step "un-pretend" to knit with the color in your right hand. Simply unwrap it from the right hand needle tip. It will go around and back.
D. Complete the knitted stitch. Note: the actual "trapping" actually happens when you knit the next stitch with the left hand.
In the split chevron portion of my "Equilibrium" cowl, I would catch the opposite color yarn in the middle of any group of 5 or 6 stitches.
More pointers:
4) Avoid trapping a yarn when working a stitch directly above a stitch where you trapped the same color yarn in the row below. Trap it a stitch before or a stitch after. (Otherwise you will get what looks like a vertical float over two rows.)
5) Do not try to trap a color with the very last stitch knit with the other color. You do need to work at least one more ordinary stitch to actually complete the "trapping".
Tutorials such as this one have a lot of technical details. I hope that these techniques will help you with your stranded colorwork projects, but do give your self plenty of time to learn them. Enjoy your colors along the way!
Knitting tips: Fair Isle/stranded colourwork
http://littlecottonrabbits.typepad.co.uk/my_weblog/2013/05/knitting-tips-fairisle-colourwork.html
Through chatting with knitting friends it seems that stranded knitting is generally thought to be quite difficult. It really isn't though. It is a little bit fiddly and takes a little patience and practice to get right but it is perfectly achievable for anyone who can already knit and purl.
It is worth pointing out that I knit English style, with both colours in my right hand, so my notes below are written for that way of working. If you knit continental style with a colour in either hand then check out this video or try a search on You Tube as there are lots of other good ones. (Note to self: Video is nice but only shows knit side)
Colour dominance:
When you knit a design with two colours you are constantly switching between them and it is really important to be consistent with the order in which you use them. By this I mean which yarn is stranded over the top of the other at the back of the work when it is not the colour being knitted with at the time.
It is generally accepted that the yarn stranded beneath will be the more dominant colour in the design.
For example, the two samples below are knitted in the same colours and to the same pattern. The only difference is that in sample A the cream yarn is stranded below the red yarn and in sample B the red yarn is stranded below the cream.
Because of this difference I usually strand the accent colour below the main background colour (as in sample B above). You can choose either way but the most important thing is to be consistent if you want your finished piece to look neat and even. There is a lovely post here about the perils of ignoring yarn dominance!
Catching up the yarn at the back of the work:
When there are gaps between sections of a pattern worked in the same colour the strands of un-worked yarn that travel across the back of the work are called floats.
It is generally suggested that floats should not strand across more than 7 stitches but my preference is for no more than 4 stitches. If I have to strand yarn across 5 or more stitches I always catch up my floats and usually in the centre of the span.
Lots of people only catch up their floats with a single wrap but I have found that my knitting looks much neater with a double catch up.
How to do double catch ups:
In this sample the darker pink is the main colour and the lighter pink is the accent colour. Here I need to strand the accent yarn that I'm using for polka-dots across the back of 6 stitches of the main colour. Because it is the accent colour I am stranding it below the main colour (see above note on colour dominance).
To catch up a long float first bring the accent colour from underneath the main colour.
Then work the next stitch with the main colour, so catching the un-worked accent yarn up with the loop between the stitches worked in the main colour. Then take the accent colour over the top of the main colour before working the next stitch, so catching the un-worked accent yarn a second time in a downwards direction.
At this point it is good practice to gently tighten the main colour stitch you've just worked as it can become a little loose with the extra yarn caught through it. It is important not to tighten the accent colour strand as this will cause the work to pucker and become uneven. Keep the strands of accent colour caught up at the back loose enough to stretch with the work.
Here's how it looks from the back. You can see the floats of accent yarn are caught up each time by two loops of the main colour yarn.
This technique can be used on both a knit or purl row.
Other rules that I always apply to fair-isle/stranded colourwork
· Try not to catch up your floats in exactly the same place on consecutive rows as this can lead to banding on the front of the work.
· Always take any strands of un-worked colours right to the end of each row and catch them up on the edge by twisting them with the yarn currently being used. If you don't do this you will end up with gaps in your knitting where the stranded yarn pulls at the fabric.
· If you are working sections of a pattern that don't include one of the colours, run this un-worked colour up the side of the work by twisting it with the main colour at the end of rows rather than cutting and re-attaching it each time it is needed.
· If you are mattress seaming your piece try to sew through the strands of both yarns when they are both present on the same row rather than just the main colour as this will give a much neater and more robust seam.
· You can mix different brands of yarn but stick to the same weight category and yarn composition - for instance don't use a 4ply cotton yarn with a 4ply wool yarn as they will have different stretching properties.
These notes are not intended as an exhaustive guide but just a mention of the techniques that I like to use. A search on google or You Tube will give you many more tips and techniques if you want to know more.
ANOTHER PERSON’S VIEWPOINT (CONTINENTAL) This is one of my favorite patterns, but I can't wear the sweater without embarrassment, because I know that everybody can see that halfway through the body I learned a lesson. I didn't rip it out, because I really had no idea it would be so obvious.
You all have heard about how you always should keep the same color in front at all times. Or that you should always keep one color in the left and the other color in the right hand as you knit. This is where I learned it. Up until a little more than half way, I was keeping both colors in the left hand (I knit continental) and just picking one up at random. I did not pay any attention to the fact that sometimes the black was in front, other times the white. Then I realized (well, my mother showed me) that keeping the contrast color in the right hand, though slower, would make a much more even pattern. I started keeping the white always in my left and the black always in my right which automatically keeps the white always in front of the black.
Edited to add: I don't mean that my method is the only way, lots of knitters do this while holding both strands in the same hand. The main thing is that the yarns are always in the same position relative to each other. Usually I keep the color there is more of in the left, regardless of whether it's background or contrast. In this case, the white stitches will be more prominent than the black.
Edited to add: Note that with the way I knit, the white background color ends up being the more dominant/prominent color. Most knitters probably want the contrast color to be most prominent, but this works better for me.
Let's see the back of the sweater. See how half way up the diagonals go from fuzzy and irregular to crisp and even?
On the inside, it's also obvious: