trapping long floats in stranded colorwork. A Free Bracelet Beading Pattern for Valentines Day. Needle material(e.g. Color Knitting: How to Lock Your Floats | Interweave Are there any other pages/videos showing this technique? I hope it helps you or at least entertains you. Lopi, on the other hand, is typically woolen spun and a single ply, which means it just wont stretch as much. Strandless Colorwork Colorwork without stranded floats? 9 Tips for Knitting Stranded Colorwork Socks | Interweave It is fun to knit and easy once you get the hang of it. My blue floating yarn is trapped on either side of the 6th stitch. Someday I may get to this, but as of now Ive never really purled colorwork (beyond a small swatch with short floats). How to knit colorwork - YouTube Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. 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. I don't want to have long strands of floats inside the hat, nor do I want it to be too tight. Its better to stagger the tension so you dont end up with one column of stitches pulling towards the inside of the project. Here are some things to consider: Smoother yarns are closer to the top of the list, while stickier wools are towards the bottom. Yarn choice. Back-knitting is just as easy with two strands of yarn as a single strand. If you find that your sock is still too tight, another trick isto add more stitches, especially to the leg portion. Theres a big difference between a knitted bag youll sew a lining into and a pair of mittens or socks. Colorwork Without Interlocking Floats - Technique Tuesday This method is great for Continental and Combined knitters who tension the yarn by holding it with the left hand, and use the needles to "pick" the working yarn and draw it through the stitch. This is due to the strands being carried across the back of the work (the floats) unlike knit stitches, these strands dont really stretch that much, so the stretch of the overall fabric youre creating is much less. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Making mistakes in any technique is inevitable, because were all human! 2. My UPS gal surprised me again the other day with several new Interweave books full of wonderful, inventive projects. I share two methods: 1.) Required fields are marked *. Remember that there are no rules here and experimentation is key trying a new method often feels awkward at first, and your gauge may shift as you settle into it, but until youve given it a shot, how can you say it wont work? Let the socks dry onsock blockers to help them keep their shape (Photo 7 below). The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user. Basically, this is multi-colored knitting thats done by carrying two colors at a time across a row. If you havent tried more than one method, you may not have found your perfect match yet! It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. This always affects the knitted fabric youre creating, but it affects colorwork even more. We just don't get along. The long float pictured at the bottom of the swatch isnt trapped at all, so its floating across all twelve stitches. 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. 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. This tutorial will be all about the standard double knitting technique to created reversible colorwork. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. 3. 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. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. 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. UFO to WIP: Can This Crochet or Knitting Project Be Saved? (Don't know what the proper terminology is). Go ahead and knit the next stitch normally. Stretch your damp sock gently in severaldirections to even out stitches and floats. A yarn like Quince & Co. Chickadee is smooth and springy, because its worsted spun with three plies. 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. Archived post. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. So what do I do? I get this question a lot, and its a tricky one to answer. Knit.fm episode 1: Gauge[podcast] Aim to space the stitches across the needle more widelythan your goal gaugeremember that you will stretch the sockwhen you put it on. Stranded colorwork gets its name from these strands of yarn, commonly called floats, that travel through the back of the work. Knitting on an Airplane and Other Travel Tips for Makers, Why You Shouldn't Buy a Knitter Yarn as a Gift. Gently stretch out the stitches on your right needle as youstrand the unused yarn across the back of these stitches(Photo 1 below). 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. The culprits are the strands, or floats, which are lengths of yarnnot being knitted and simply carried along the back of the fabric. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Fervent fiber nerd and frequent baker living in Norway. 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. Privacy Policy. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But knitting colorwork can be a challenge. This is more likely to keep them long, and it also keeps them visible, so you can constantly check your tension as youre working. The most important thing is to consider what kind of item youre knitting, and whos going to be wearing/using it. An inelastic fabric will not stretch to allow your heel to passthrough or pull in to gently hug your leg. Whats the process for trapping non-dominant float? You can seein the photo abovethat Ive worked the first 5 stitches of my 21-stitch span. CraftyGarden: N. 62 Condor's Croft and Garden 22K views 3. Some wools that areknownfor colorwork are very sticky wools, like Shetland wool or Lopi. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. Managing long floats in Fair Isle knitting | Interweave The color that isn't being worked is carried at the back, making a float, before being worked again. There are a multitude of techniques used to carry two strands of yarn across a row of knitting. Tension is the most difficult aspect to master in color work knitting. I am sort of figuring it out as I go but it is a little wonky. circular needles, double pointed needles) can make a great difference in colorwork wood, metal, and plastic all have different levels of resistance, and gauge often differs between circular needles and double pointed needles (in general, knitters tend to end up with a tighter gauge on DPNs). In this vid, I will demonstrate how to use TWO hands do two-colored knitting,. 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. The Japanese word ajiro describes a herringbone pattern in basketry, which seems fitting for a country known for its long fishing traditions and bold graphic representations of natural elements. Make sure that youre not pullingtoo tightly, which would cut off the corner where the twoneedles meet. That said, it is important to remember to catch those floats overlong stretches of more than six stitches where a color isnt used(Photo 4 above). Im all about creativity. 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. Let's talk about STRANDED COLORWORK | Knitting Q&A | PAPER TIGER Magic Loop Colorwork Knitting Help - Carrying Fair Isle Floats Skeindeer Knits Ep. . *Membership cannot be purchased with Gift Cards or PayPal. Slide your right-hand needleunderneaththe floating strand (blue), then wrap the working yarn (charcoal) around your needle to knit the stitch. Over the manyyears of operation, the group produced hundreds of knit andcrochet patterns for the 3,000+ members. Some wools that are known for colorwork are very sticky wools, like Shetland wool or Lopi. My blue floating yarn is trapped on either side of the 6th stitch. You can see where the working yarns meet the needles: The biggestthing to remember is to be patient with yourself! Lately I've been on a colourwork-knitting kick, and thought I'd share my favorite methods for catching floats. The amount of elasticity you can achieve will also depend on how the yarn was spun and how many plies it has. AboutPressCopyrightContact. Archived. This pulling can also really tighten your gauge and make garments too small. The project that that strikes my fancy for todays post is from Vintage Modern Knits by Courtney Kelley and Kate Gagnon Osborn. The most important thing is to consider what kind of item youre knitting, and whos going to be wearing/using it. But knitting colorwork can be a challenge. Carrying yarn. There is enough of the contrast grey []. Although you also dont want loose, wobblystitches, remember that even if some stitches look large when youfirst try it, youll be able to wear the socks. Crafty Confessions: Do You Make a Gauge Swatch? 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. "Float" is a common term for the strand of yarn that runs across the back of colorwork fabric - the strand that makes colorwork stranded. If youre working on DPNs, you can do this at the end of each needle; if youre working with circs (or over a large circumference, like a sweater yoke) you may want to check it at even intervals: every 8 stitches or so (or 6 stitches, or 10 stitches; whatever works for you!). Please confirm you want to block this member. Wool will naturally relax into a smooth, even surface after blocking to improve any tight or loose spots in your knitting. (Ask me how I know! This was only in two colours, and I caught the floats every other stitch because I like having a neat back to my work and less things to catch on when [], Your email address will not be published. This is a very secure way to trap the float. Conversely, depending on the knitter, a very smooth yarncan also cause less elastic knitting because it will be easy to pull your stitches tight without meaning to as the smooth yarn fibers slide right past each other. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. too short? This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Pull it through the two loops on your hook. This will ensure that the unused yarn strandwill later relax against the back of the work. Now my tension is perfect every time! With two hands, color work is both addictive and soothing. This gives you a chance to check your floats are they too long? 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. How to Measure Your Gauge in Knittingfrom Craftsy.com, Your email address will not be published. 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. There are a few reasons for this, but the big one is thatcolorwork fabric by its very nature is less elastic than normal stockinette. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete. Archived post. Floats are the yarn thats carried behind the stitches across a row. To use Marie's words, it is a game changer! 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? 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. making sure no floats are longer than 1 or something similar). 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). The hat used almost one full skein of the main colour yarn. Go ahead and knit the next stitch normally. "Floats" are the yarn that's carried behind the stitches across a row. stranded knitting without floats? : r/knitting - Reddit This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Tension will be easiest to tackle if you choose a pattern that doesn't require long floats. 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! Tryfollowing the pattern for the next size up, decreasing stitch countsfor the cuff and heel to fit. Like Alex I am interested in tidy float catching, working on a sock flat heel (stranded patterning a feature on it) ..so purling involved. Enjoy! Leave the color that is not on the hook hanging (keep it attached to ball of yarn or bobbin, don't cut) The knitted loops create the elasticity of knitted fabrics, while thesestraight sections of yarn do not have much stretch capacity. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Found the internet! This is also part of why steeking is so common in these places sticky wools are unlikely to unravel when the stitches are cut. 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. 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. Knit.fm episode 5: Yarn[podcast] 4. 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. How to Knitting: Colorwork Rescue - Yarn Vibes Catching Floats in Stranded Knitting Knitting with Suzanne Bryan Knitting Stranded Colorwork or Fair Isle Colorwork Continental! You want there to be just as much space between stitches of twodifferentcolors as there is between stitches of thesamecolor. That being said, theres a great deal of variation in how stretchy colorwork fabric is from knitter to knitter. Colorwork without stranded floats? Then work the first stitch of the new colorthis is the yarn that creates the float. 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. 256-266 (2012 edition) The wrong side of the sockwith the floats will be outside (Photo 3 below). Origins & Inspiration for Strandless Knitting, Part 1: Knit with Me - Step by Step Using the Strandless Method, Part 2: Knit with Me - Step by Step Using the Strandless Method, Part 3: Knit with Me - Step by Step Using the Strandless Method. To create a float that is the right length, spread out the stitches on your right needle just before you change colors. Not following a pattern, just my rough one I made. Please note: 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. Giving the stranded section a slightly larger gauge thanthe rest of the sock can help avoid a too-tight sock. trapping long floats in stranded colorwork - Paper Tiger Please confirm you want to block this member. If you happen to know both styles of knitting (I do know both because I learned to knit English-style and then converted to Continental-style), work one strand in your right hand to throw and one strand in your left hand to pick. Firstly:what is a float, and why would I need to trap it? Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete. 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. 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. If you've been wishing for a better way, this is it. Remember that the gauge can change over the course of yourknitting. This method leaves floats, which are lengths of yarn carried across the back of the work that can be easily snagged. 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. Catching Floats As You Go - YouTube Locking the unused (floating) yarn in stranded knitting every other stitch creates a gorgeous back that almost appears woven. Im off to knit all the yoked colorwork sweaters now! document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Fervent fiber nerd and frequent baker living in Norway. 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. A baby sweater or a pair of mittens, however, will provide ample opportunity for fingers to catch on floats, so trapping those floats is a good idea. All Rights Reserved. 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. Weve got some handy tips on making this dream a reality. Enjoy! googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('interstitial-ad');}); Save patterns, share updates, and connect with your community. Holding the main colour in my right hand (English) and the contrasting colour in my left hand (Continental). 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. The only issue might be tension of the floats. Let the unused yarn relax on the back side and be carefulnot to tug on it when making the first stitch of the newcolor. Any other tricks? 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. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Sue Blacker on Woollen vs Worsted mill spinningon wovember.com 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). This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. 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. This post took a little bit longer to put together than I wanted, but its finally ready to go! I LOVE stranded colorwork, but sometimes it can be PAINFUL with all the pinching and pulling strands across the back! 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 (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.). 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. This tutorial video demonstrate. Knitting Colorwork Inside Out | Technique Tuesday - YouTube To maintain the elasticity of the fabric, use the duplicate-stitchmethod to weave in your ends on the inside of the sock(Figure 1). I found this page which shows a technique for capturing the floats & providing a nice stretch. This distinguishes it from other colorwork methods like mosaic knitting or intarsia. 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. 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? But because sticky wools are more likely to stay in place and the yarn is less likely to slide smoothly past other strands, the finished fabric is generally less elastic than it would be with smooth wools (and it can be tricky for colorwork beginners to achieve smooth results without puckering). I tried holding one color on each hand, but my tension is awful that way. I loved your tutorial on catching floats! The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. Please note: Tryusing needles one to two sizes larger than normal to increase thegauge for the stranded areas of the sock, especially on the legportion. Im all about creativity. 5: My stranded knitting history Easy Trick. And you can see these steps in action here: trapping long floats carrying both yarns in your left handfromDiannaonVimeo. True Fair Isle knitting is more specific originating from the island of its namesake in Shetland, northern Scotland but generally can be used interchangeably with the term colorwork. So what do I do? 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. With this weather were all having, doesnt this scarf sound tempting? We use cookies to optimize our website and our service. 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. You won't have to struggle with dominant colors, floats, multiple strands or wonky tension - watch your knitting transform almost immediately! The outside of the circle has a larger circumference than theinside, which forces you to make your floats a bit longer. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Hats or mittens are also great choices. Thank you!! Read morehere. *Membership cannot be purchased with Gift Cards. The background color/main color is also my working yarn here, while the dominant/contrasting color is being carried across the wrong side of the work. This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. Socks fit our legs and feet through a combination of shapingand negative ease. the larger circumference). This means you can get gauge for a pattern likeHearth Slippersbut still have trouble with the fit if your fabric is too inelastic. trapping long floats while using the two-handed stranded colorwork methodfromDiannaonVimeo. Fair Isle/Stranded Knitting Tutorial - The Spruce Crafts Thoroughly soakyour socks in water, then roll them up in a towel to squeezeout any excess moisture. Whether you're brand new to colorwork knitting or have years of experience under your belt, this innovative new way to knit colorwork will transform your knitting! Not following a pattern, just my rough one I made. With two hands, color work is both addictive and soothing. Enjoy! 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. So, dont let the fear of making mistakes stop you from trying a new technique. Typical stranded colorwork motifs are worked with two different colors per round, with the colors changes happening often (this keeps the floats short). 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. Oneof the questions I get most often from students or knitters working from my patterns is how to trap floats in stranded colorwork. The basketweave pattern is reminiscent of fishing nets, so I chose blue and natural colors to accentuate the ideas of sea and shore. 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.

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