Enjoy! The most important thing is to consider what kind of item youre knitting, and whos going to be wearing/using it. Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete. Float is a common term for the strand of yarn that runs across the back of colorwork fabric the strand that makes colorworkstranded. Many knitters like to wrap each strand around a different finger and knit all stitches English style (throwing) or Continental style (picking). Knit.fm episode 6: More Yarn[podcast] AKA Both strands on the left. Knit a few small swatches with different needle types/materials and see if it makes a difference for you! Tips, Tricks and Treatsfrom Eunny Jang, On gauge: 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. Discussion. Gently stretch out the stitches on your right needle as youstrand the unused yarn across the back of these stitches(Photo 1 below). I tried holding one color on each hand, but my tension is awful that way. Please note: 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. (Don't know what the proper terminology is). The last step is towet-blockyour socks. It can elongate the stitches a little bit because youre adding bulk as youre knitting the stitch, which is especially noticeable when using larger-gauge yarns. Some patterns, such as the Ajiro Scarf, require that the non-working yarn is carried farther7 stitches in this case (see chart at right). Lisas List: 10 Reasons Knitting Is Better Than Dating, Spurned Gifts: When Knit & Crochet Gifts Went Wrong. But even knitters whohave successfully used this technique for othergarments may find that their finished colorwork socks simplydont stretch enough to fit over their heels. A long float would be considered more than 5 stitches in a row of one color before changing. 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. Weve got some handy tips on making this dream a reality. Try out some of these techniques in the evening with a glass of wine or whatever else relaxes you. Crafty Confessions: Do You Make a Gauge Swatch? The standard double knitting technique with two colors also creates no floats on the backside. CraftyGarden: N. 62 Condor's Croft and Garden 22K views 3. Overly loose stranding and a bigger gauge are preferableto short floats and tight knitting. Sue Blacker on Woollen vs Worsted mill spinningon wovember.com Giving the stranded section a slightly larger gauge thanthe rest of the sock can help avoid a too-tight sock. Tension is the most difficult aspect to master in color work knitting. 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. The culprits are the strands, or floats, which are lengths of yarnnot being knitted and simply carried along the back of the fabric. My blue floating yarn is trapped on either side of the 6th stitch. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. 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 am sort of figuring it out as I go but it is a little wonky. Omit them, of course! 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. 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). A Free Bracelet Beading Pattern for Valentines Day. We use cookies to optimize our website and our service. A Free Bracelet Beading Pattern for Valentines Day. Floats are the yarn thats carried behind the stitches across a row. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Omit them, of course! Socks fit our legs and feet through a combination of shapingand negative ease. This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. These cookies do not store any personal information. Unknown Oneof the questions I get most often from students or knitters working from my patterns is how to trap floats in stranded colorwork. Once you have gone over all the puckered fabric in this manner, repeat from the start - until the floats have stretched sufficiently. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. 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. 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. Tension will be easiest to tackle if you choose a pattern that doesnt require long floats. 22:34 Jessica McDonald 3.6K. Cutting the corner pulls the floatshorter than the span of the stitches it should relax against on thebackside. This distinguishes it from other colorwork methods like mosaic knitting or intarsia. 4. 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). After knitting this stitch, I have 7 stitches of my 21-stitch span knit. 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. The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user. 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. How often to catch floats when working colorwork comesdown to personal preference. 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. What exactly is color work? Colorwork and fairisle knitting offer a range of beautiful, unique patterns. 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. Archived post. For me, lifes too short to purl in colorwork! Knitting inside out. 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. You have done it again, Marie! 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. But knitting colorwork can be a challenge. ), Ondifferent yarn types: Stitches just knit spaced out along the right needle. Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete. 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 knitted loops create the elasticity of knitted fabrics, while thesestraight sections of yarn do not have much stretch capacity. Thank you!! The two-handed method is great because the two yarns do not get tangled. The project that that strikes my fancy for todays post is from Vintage Modern Knits by Courtney Kelley and Kate Gagnon Osborn. Feel free to post questions in the comments, orshare other tips or methods you know of! 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. This always affects the knitted fabric youre creating, but it affects colorwork even more. 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. 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! To help shorten the floats while maintaining good tension, tack these long floats to the wrong side of the work. The two colours can be held on the same finger or two different fingers (say, index . Below is a video demonstrating my method for knitting colorwork sans floats. The color that isn't being worked is carried at the back, making a float, before being worked again. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Also, if you need to catch floats in a bunch of rows dont catch in the same place every row. Longer stretches with more than one float tends to make the floats tight, but it's easy enough to pull a little. 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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Fervent fiber nerd and frequent baker living in Norway. Colorwork knitting inside out for socksfrom Melissa B If youre having trouble with tight colorwork you may want to try working with a different type of yarn or wool than youve used before to see if that makes a difference. Hats or mittens are also great choices. Thank you! the larger circumference). "Floats" are the yarn that's carried behind the stitches across a row. The Knitters Book of YarnandThe Knitters Book of Woolby Clara Parkes
