Multi-color knitting, one color at time: multiple-pass color knitting

This TECHknitting series on color knitting (color knitting is also called "stranded knitting") is now taking a 180 degree turn: leaving behind the perhaps slightly intimidating techniques covered in the most recent color-series posts (link 1, link 2) for a much EASIER technique.

With this trick ANY knitter, regardless of skill level, can lay down any number of colors with no skills other than ordinary knitting--yes, any color pattern, regardless how complicated. All that is required is a basic knowledge of knitting and PATIENCE.

This trick is called...

Multi color knitting, one color at a time

There are two kinds of multi-color knitting, created one color at a time. The first kind is called multiple pass color knitting, and it is the subject of today's post. The second kind is called slipped stitch color patterns--those are tackled here.

MULTIPLE PASS KNITTING

Multiple pass knitting creates "ordinary" color patterns. By "ordinary" color patterns, I mean patterns which do not have any slipped stitches in the final result--as in the opening photo. Just to confuse you, though, creating "ordinary" patterns in multiple-pass knitting requires you to slip stitches during the construction phase. However, no slipped stitches remain in the finished fabric.

The upside of this trick is that it is nothing other than regular knitting (and perhaps, purling)--however you prefer to do it (continental or English). Beginners can use this trick to do two- (or more!) color knitting without tension problems. In the simplest form of this technique, multi-color effects are created by multiple passes through each row--two passes (once with each color) for two color knitting, three passes for three color knitting, etc. This opens a whole world of color patterns without having to learn any new technique at all. With all this upside, you know there is a downside, and the fact is that multiple pass knitting is S-L-O-W.

The explanation and illustration of this trick, below, shows a simple two-color, one-row pattern, but once you understand the example, multi-colors spread over multiple rows (as in the opening photo) are worked the same way.

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At heart, this trick is very simple. In this example two color knitting is accomplished in two passes through row 4--the only multi-colored row of this particular pattern. In other words, row 4 will be constructed in two passes--The first pass will lay down row 4's blue stitches, the second pass will lay down row 4's pink stitches.

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(Above) multiple-pass knitting must be done on some sort of two-pointed needle: a circular or double pointed needle. This is one trick where needles with knobs simply will not work. For right now, we'll always knit on the face of the fabric (the "right" or "knit" side) as illustrated above.

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(Above--step 1) On the first pass-through, you KNIT every stitch of the first color (in this example, the blue stitches) and SLIP up from row 3, every stitch which is to be knitted in the second color (pink). ("Slip up from row 3," means that when you get to a stitch which is not supposed to be a blue stitch, you simply slip that stitch from your left needle to your right needle, without knitting it, AND without twisting it--you slip it "open" or purlwise.) At the end of this first pass-through, the row is only half-knitted.

For the second pass-through: if you are working flat (back and forth) on double pointed needles (dpn's) or back and forth on circular needles, you then push the whole work back along the needle and start again with the right side facing you--no need to purl back. If you are working a tube with dpn's or circular needles, you simply go around on the face of the fabric again, this time using the other color.

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(Above--step 2) On this second step (the second pass through row 4) you use the second color (pink) to KNIT every stitch you slipped on step 1, and SLIP every stitch of the first color (blue) which you knitted on step 1. At the end of steps 1 and 2 you will have knit an entire row with two colors, using only one color at a time. In other words, after step 1, the blue stitches will have been knitted, then slipped; after step 2, the pink stitches will have been slipped, then knitted.

At the end of two passes, this 2-color pattern is done. NO stitch will remain in the slipped position--if any stitch remains in the slipped position, you haven't done this technique right (although you have, perhaps, independently discovered 2-color slipped stitch patterns!)

Circular knitting, flat knitting and out-of-phase yarns.

For your first project, you will find it easier to work a tube on circular needles or dpn's. This is because a tube made in multiple-pass color knitting, like all tubes, requires you to work only on the knit face of the fabric--you never have to turn the fabric and purl back. The second pass through the same row in multiple-pass knitting requires only that you switch to the next color of yarn and work your way around the tube again to the starting point (which you surely have marked with a stitch marker!)

If you ARE making a tube (circular knitting), you get to skip all the green paragraphs--skip down to "tension." If you want to knit flat, though, you have to slog though further explanation.

If you are creating flat knitting (working back-and forth on double pointed needles or circular needles), a strange situation will arise--your yarns will get "out of phase," they will wind up on opposite edges of the fabric.

To explain: In the color pattern of the example (first illustration above) there are 4 rows of knitting. Rows 1, 2 and 3 are all pink, row 4 is the color-knitting row. At the end of one repetition of our 4 row pattern, both the yarns (pink and blue) are at the left, "ready-to-purl" edge of the fabric.

In flat (back and forth) knitting, the second set of 4 rows will go like this: Row 1 is all pink--and you'll purl back. Row 2 is all pink, and you'll knit. Row 3 is all pink and you'll purl, Row 4 is color knitting, and is a little confusing as to whether you knit or purl, because your blue yarn is on the left edge of the fabric where you parked it after the first repetition of the pattern--it is on the "ready to purl" side. However, the pink yarn, which has been worked an additional three rows, is on the right edge of the fabric--the "ready to knit side." In other words, the yarns are at opposite edges of the fabric! They are out of phase with one another.

However, as odd as this is, this is more of a mental challenge than anything to actually worry about. Multiple-pass color knitting lets you lay down the two colors independent of one another. Therefore, on this first half of row 4, you are first going to PURL in blue, and you are going to SLIP every non-blue stitch from the purl side. Be sure to hold the float yarn (the "tail" loops connecting the blue stitches) on the purl side of the fabric--the side facing you, and be sure to slip the loops of the slipped stitches "open" (untwisted--purlwise). When you finish the row, your yarns will be at the same edge, and you'll now create the second half of row 4 by KNITTING the just-slipped stitches in pink, while SLIPPING every blue stitch "open" (purlwise). You see-because the yarns are laid down independently, it does not matter if you have to create the passes of knitting from opposite edges of the fabric--it's just a little test to keep you on your toes!

Tension and floats

As with any other kind of two-color knitting, you must stretch out the floats (strands behind) far enough so that the fabric will not pucker. However, this is easier with this sort of color knitting than with any other technique--just be sure to S-T-R-E-T-C-H the slipped stitches all the way out along the right needle before knitting (or purling) the new color--if you bunch up the slipped stitches on the right needle, the float will be too short when the formerly bunched-up stitches come off the right needle and spread out. Also, as with any other kind of color knitting, it is best to avoid floats which exceed 5-6 stitches. (For more background information on color knitting, click here.)

Addendum, November 2015:  Poking around on the internet, I found a You-Tube video from a lady named Eliza, who evidently independently "unvented" multiple-pass knitting.  (Unventing, a great word coined by the great knitter, Elizabeth Zimmermann, arises when you have a new knitting thought which is really not new, but comes to you in the night, floating down from the ether to land in your head.) Anyhow, the point is, the you-tube has a good solution for the tension issue, and that is, to use yarn overs to put slack where you need it. So, if stretching the slipped stitches isn't giving you the slack you need, have a look at this video, and see if you like the YO idea.

A note to advanced knitters: Although this usually thought of as a beginner's trick, even advanced knitters can use this trick to advantage. I have never been able to efficiently knit any more than three colors on any row. Any time there are more than three colors in a row, this trick gets trotted out. On two go-throughs, you can get up to 6 colors of a fancy pattern--laying down up to three colors the first go through, then up to three again on the second pass. (If you get past 6 colors on one row, I suppose you could always take a third pass through, although if you're writing patterns like that, you should take a job as a choreographer--your local dance company needs you.)

Some rows in the fabric of the opening illustration were knit in one or two passes per row, two colors on the first pass, two colors on the second--but such is the flexibility of this trick that other rows were knitted regulation style with one pass per color.

Final note: The color pattern in the opening illustration was adapted from the book "Knitted Tams" by Mary Rowe.

--TECHknitter

An easier way to Kitchener Stitch (also called "grafting seams" or "weaving seams")

includes a how-to
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Lord Kitchener, a British general, was concerned about the state of his men's feet--their sock seams rubbed their toes bloody. Accordingly, he invented (or more likely, IMHO, he had an expert knitter invent, and then took the credit for) a way to finish off socks smoothly. This toe-ending maneuver is now called the Kitchener stitch. Other names for this maneuver are: "weaving" or "grafting" seams.

Kitchener stitch makes a very lovely ending--a sort of optical illusion that the knitting just kept going "around the corner." Without the red yarn picking out the weaving for you to follow (little picture) the seam in this sock toe would be completely invisible (big picture). Kitchener stitching is most often used for sock toes, but is sometimes used to graft other "live edges" together.   Have a look at this high-fashion garment which uses large amounts to Kitchener stitching to close the long seams at the top of dolman sleeves.

Now, the thing about Kitchener stitch is that it is usually done with a tapestry needle and a length of yarn, and typically terrifies knitters, being considered an "expert" skill. The needle goes in and out of the live stitches, following the complicated path that a row of knitting would take, and this accounts for the invisibility of the seam--the fabric is actually grafted together with a seam which is structurally identical to the fabric--in fact, Kitchener stitch is a form of duplicate stitch, when you get right down to it.

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MAKING IT EASIER

For some time, I have been nursing the theory that maybe the reason why some knitters avoid Kitchener stitch is because it is actually a species of sewing. It is my theory that if it you didn't have to dig out a tapestry needle -- if it could be done with knitting needles -- Kitchener-o-phobic knitters might find it more attractive.

After a bit of messing around, this new unvention has emerged--a way to graft seams shut with knitting needles. This TECH-unvention is now ready to spring upon the world.

This post asks you, dear readers, to fill the role of guinea pigs. My fellow blogger, kmkat, was the first guinea pig--she graciously volunteered to be a test-knitter before this post was ever published, and she found that the instructions worked for her. Now, perhaps you will try these instructions out for yourself and see whether you like this new method.

Like the traditional sewing method, this new way is still done with a length of yarn pulled through the loops, but the "stitches" are real knitting stitches (knit and purl) not sewing stitches, and the work is done only with knitting needles--you can leave the tapestry needle in the cross-stitch kit, where it belongs.

SET UP

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When you have finished the toe of a sock, you must set up your work as follows: arrange all the front (instep) stitches on one double pointed needle, and all the back (sole) stitches on another double pointed needle--in the instructions which follow, these two needles are called the left needles, both front and rear. The yarn should be coming out of the last stitch on the rear needle--in other words, by the right hand end of the rear left needle, as illustrated above.

For a typical sock toe, about 15 inches of yarn will be more than enough--cut the yarn to that length. This 15 inch length of yarn (illustrated in red, above) is the "working yarn." The work is actually done by manipulating this working yarn, using a third double pointed needle, the "right-" or "working needle." To complete your set-up, you must take this working needle into your right hand, while holding the two left needles in your left hand.

A final note before beginning: Although this method is done with knitting needles, it is different than knitting because it is done with a CUT LENGTH OF YARN--which we are calling the "working yarn." Instead of making endless loops, you are going to do something unusual with your knitting needle--you are going to use it to draw the working yarn ALL THE WAY THROUGH each loop each time. If you look at the illustrations below, you will see that the working yarn (red) passes AS A SINGLE STRAND, through the stitch being worked. In other words, with each of the 4 steps listed below, the working yarn is to be pulled all the way through the stitch until the end of the working yarn has popped free, as illustrated.

HOW TO KITCHENER STITCH with
KNITTING NEEDLES

Step 1:

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Wrap (bring) the working yarn around to the front of the work.  NOTE that the working yarn passes UNDER the two left needles, and UNDER the right working needle.  Insert the right working needle into the first stitch (green) on the left front needle, and use the working yarn to PURL this first stitch. Draw the working yarn backwards (away from you) all the way through this stitch until the end of the working yarn pops free. The loose end of the working yarn (red) will now be in the area between the left needles. The stitch (green) which you were working is now fully bound off.  Push this stitch off the left front needle.

Step 2:

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The working yarn should now be in the area between the left front and left rear needles. Insert the right working needle into the next stitch (purple)--which is the second stitch on the left front needle. Use the working yarn to KNIT this stitch. Draw the working yarn forward (towards you) all the way through this stitch until the end of the working yarn pops free of the stitch. The loose end of the working yarn (red) will now be in the front of the work. The stitch (purple) you were working on is only half bound off--you must leave this stitch on the left front needle.

Step 3:

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Wrap the working yarn around to the back of the work. NOTE that the working yarn again passes UNDER all the needles on its trip to the back of the work.  Insert the right working needle into first stitch on the left rear needle (blue) and use the working yarn to KNIT this stitch. Draw working yarn forward all the way through this stitch until the end of the working yarn pops free. The loose end of the working yarn (red) will now be in the area between the two left needles. The stitch (blue) you were working is fully bound off--push this stitch off the left rear needle.

Step 4:

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The working yarn should be in the area between the left front and left rear needles. Insert the right working needle into the second stitch on the left rear needle (teal) and use the working yarn to PURL this stitch. Draw the working yarn backwards all the way through this stitch until the end of the working yarn pops free. The loose end of the working yarn (red) will now be at the back of the work. The stitch (teal) you were working is only half bound off--you must leave this stitch on the left rear needle.

These four steps are repeated again and again to create a Kitchener stitched seam. If you want to chant the steps to yourself as you work, here is the mantra:

• Step 1: Purl front, push the stitch off
  
• Step 2: Knit front, leave the stitch on
  
• Step 3: Knit rear, push the stitch off
  
• Step 4: Purl rear, leave the stitch on
  

(When my kids hear me chanting like this, they know to stay away until the muttering ceases.)

TENSION and SPEED

Resist the temptation to give the yarn a good yank as you pull it through. Instead be mild in your adjustment--remember, as you're drawing the working yarn through the stitches, you don't have a knitting needle around which to form your loop. Therefore, if you want your Kitchener stitch to look like the rest of your fabric, you must leave enough extra slack to approximate the loop the working yarn would otherwise make around a knitting needle. Some instructions have you adjust the tension at the end, but that is really only possible with a smooth yarn over a short span. The hairier your yarn or the longer your span, the more it pays to learn to adjust the tension as you go.

This work goes MUCH slower than you expect, because each set of 4 steps only re-creates what amounts to 1 knit stitch. In other words, even if you could do this as fast as actual knitting, it would take four times as long. Since Kitchener stitch actually takes a good deal longer than actual knitting, progress seems glacial. Persevere, however, and you will have lovely toes (or at least, your socks will).

--TECHknitter You have been reading TECHknitting on: A new way to Kitchener stitch, also called "grafting seams" and "weaving seams."

Half a candle!

Little kids enjoy "half birthdays," and since my blog is still a little kid, today's that special day. TECHknitting is 6 months old!

Thank you readers

And, let me add: "Merci," "Danke," "Mange Tak," "Jolly good of you!" "Thanks, mate," "Gracias," "Dank u," "Grazie," "Obrigado."(For further messages in different languages, look at the bottom of this post.)

A recently commissioned survey found that you folks come from all over the world! Czech Republic, Singapore, Germany, France, Spain, Denmark, Japan, India, England, Brazil, Ireland, Holland, Chile, Turkey, Korea, Venezuela, Poland, Portugal, Belgium, South Africa, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Estonia, China, Italy, Hong-Kong, Scotland, Croatia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Israel, Sweden, Australia, Thailand, Egypt, Hungary, Ecuador, Romania, Norway, Honduras, Bermuda, Kazakhstan (I'm not kidding...) Iran, Mexico, Switzerland, Finland--more than 50 countries and counting...did I miss anyone?

And Canada (O Canada!) From Nova Scotia and St. John's to Vancouver, with many, many stops in between (hello Toronto, hello Montreal), and as far into the True North as the wilds of Alberta. Living in the "northern tier" in the state of Wisconsin, I never forget that Wisconsin is "down SOUTH" to you folks. Yowsa, you are tough.

Closer to home, hello to readers on both US coasts, from downeast in Maine, through Noo Yawk and Noo Joisey to islands off the coast of Washington state, and even Alaska, with many, many points in between--from thriving metropolises (metropoli?) to places I never heard of before. Surprising to me are the lots of readers from places I thought were too HOT for knitting (Georgia, Texas, Southern California, Alabama, Florida). Guess I don't know much...

Thanks to all of you guys for reading, and thanks also for all your lovely comments. When pounding Adobe Illustrator in the wee hours, I sometimes go back and read your comments to take heart.

I'll finish with big thanks for something else. Isela of Purling Sprite recently honored TECHknitting by nominating this blog for a "thinking blogger" award. In order to actually claim the award, I'd have to nominate another 5 blogs. I've tried to do it, I've made lists, I've gone back and read the archives of many blogs on the computer. However, in the weeks since Isela's lovely nomination, it's become apparent that it's impossible to parse it down to 5--there are too many great blogs. The finished garments, the lovely yarns, the inspirational stories, the countdown clocks, the jogging goals, the KAL's, the Dulaan knitters, the teaser pictures of "surprise" gifts on the needles, the goofy cat photos, the question boards, the heartbreak, the perseverance, the forums, the whole knitting blog-o-verse...it's just too difficult. You guys rock.

Thanks to Isela, and thanks to you all.

--TECHknitter

GERMAN: Ein herzliches Willkommen wird den deutschen Lesern angeboten -- meine Mutter war in Berlin geboren, und bis jetzt, sprechen wir immer noch Deutsches im Haus. Wenn Sie sich interessieren, dieses blog auf Deutsch zu lesen, können Sie den Service entweder von “Google Translate” oder AltaVista "BabelFish” verwenden. Sie müssen das URL dieses blog (TECHknitting.blogspot.com) in den korrekten Bereich einfach eintippen, und die Übersetzung wird schnell, (auch wenn nicht immer so genau) durchgeführt.

FRENCH: Bienvenue aux lecteurs français! Trois ans je suis allé à l'école dans la région française de la Suisse. Mon mari a étudié le français à l'université. Si nous voulons dire à des secrets ce que les enfants ne peuvent pas comprendre, nous parlons français (très mauvais). Si vous vous intéressez lire ce blog en français, vous pouvez employer le service de "GoogleTranslate" ou d' "AltaVista BabelFish." Vous devez saisir le URL de ce blog (TECHknitting.blogspot.com) dans le secteur correct, et la traduction sera effectuée rapidement (bien que peut-être non 100% exactement).

SPANISH: Hola a los lectores españoles! Si usted desea leer este blog en español, usted puede emplear los servicios de "GoogleTranslate" o de "AltaVista BabelFish." Escriba en el área correcta, el URL de este blog (TECHknitting.blogspot.com) y habrá una traducción (aunque quizás el no 100% exacto).

PORTUGESE: Boa vinda aos leitores de Portugese! Se você quiser ler este blog em Portugese, você pode empregar os serviços de "GoogleTranslate" ou de "AltaVista BabelFish." Escreva na área correta, o URL deste blog (TECHknitting.blogspot.com) e haverá uma tradução (embora talvez não 100% exato).

DUTCH: Onthaal aan Nederlandse lezers! Als u dit blog in het Nederlands wilt lezen, kunt u de dienst "GoogleTranslate" tewerkstellen of "AltaVistsa BabelFish" u kan URL van dit blog (TECHknitting.blogspot.com) in het correcte gebied schrijven, en blog zal snel vertaald worden (hoewel zeker niet nauwkeurige 100%).

Knitting with two colors on one hand AND three color knitting (part 3 of the color knitting series)

This post is the third in a TECHknitting series.  The others in the series are:
Part 1: How to knit with two or more colors: background information

Part 2: Color knitting, one color in each hand

Part 4: Multi color knitting, one color at a time, also called multiple pass knitting

Part 5: Color knitting, one color at a time, also called slipped stitch knitting
2016 addition: Taming super-long floats via the STUART method

This third post in the series covers how to knit with 2 colors on one hand, and
the (highly) related issue of how to knit with 3 colors. We'll also look at
various tricks to make 2 and 3 color knitting come out better.

As with everything else in knitting, there is more than one way to do a thing. This post is about knitting with two colors off the left hand--continental style and knitting three colors carrying two colors in the left hand, continental style, then adding a third color with the right hand knitting English-style. This is my method because I have never been able to work out how to carry more than one color on the English hand (right hand). If anyone is able to say how they knit two colors off the right hand at the same time, English style, oh please write: I'd love to hear about it.

TWO COLORS ON ONE (the left) HAND

There are two broad variations on carrying 2 colors of yarn on the left hand. One way is with gizmos, and the other way is by arrangement of the fingers. The gizmo category is dominated by two kinds of "strickfingerhut" (a Germanic word translated literally as: "knitting finger-hat", by which is meant "knitting thimble"). There is an excellent tutorial in how to use them here. I can't shed further light, I don't use them. I do know here are testimonials on the web about how these gizmos have made color knitting possible for many, so if finger arrangement isn't working for you, check these gizmos out.

The second method is to carry two colors on the left hand by separating them somehow--I use my thumb as in the picture below, but there are other methods--I have seen a knitter carrying one yarn over her forefinger, and the other color over her middle finger.

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By turning my thumb this way and that, I am able to "pluck" the correct yarn into the pick-up zone for the right (working) needle to grab.

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Whether with strickfingerhutten or with finger arrangement, the idea is the same: to separate the yarns so the correct one can be plucked, while also keeping the yarns under tension. This means that tricks which work for one method can also work for the other.

TRICKS

A great first step towards easier two color knitting is to find a pattern which uses about the same amount of each of the two colors of yarn. In other words, you want to be able to feed both colors of yarn at the same rate. If you are attempting to feed yarn at different rates, you'll keep having to stop and re-tension and this is going to slow you down.

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To explain: A pattern like "A" feeds yarn at two different rates: there are 2 stitches of blue color for each stitch of pink. Twice as much of the blue as of the pink must therefore pass through your left hand. The blue and the pink are held together in the hand--they are not separated until the very last part of the knitting process, when they pass on either side of a thumb, or through the loops of a strickfingerhut. This means that every stitch of blue is tugging along bit of pink and vice versa. But with twice as many blue stitches as pink ones, much more pink yarn is being tugged along than will be knit into the pattern.

In other words, knitting two yarns off one hand using a pattern with different feed rates has a tendency to bad tension. Correcting that tendency by pulling back on the pink yarn every few stitches overcomes the slackness problem, but that readjustment slows you down.

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A pattern such as "B" feeds the two colors at the same rate: There are 2 stitches of blue for each 2 stitches of pink. It is true that after the second blue stitch, the pink yarn will have been tugged along twice, which slackens it. However, this extra pink yarn will be speedily knit up in its turn--it won't be building up ever-greater slack around the left needle tip, and causing tension trouble, or requiring continual readjustment, as in pattern "A."

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As is evident, a pattern such as "C" is going to be harder to knit with proper tension than "B." It is true that pattern "C" feeds both yarns at the same rate BUT the pink has been tugged along 4 times by the time each blue repeat is completed (and vice versa). This is quite a bit of slack yarn to have built up, and the danger is that the first stitch of any color will be looser and slacker than the remaining three stitches, because there is more slack yarn hanging around during its formation than during the formation of the following three stitches. When you add to this danger, the the need to carry the yarn loosely in the float, it is obvious why carrying two colors on one hand goes faster and easier with a same-feed, short float pattern than otherwise.

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Even if you do pick a pattern with a short repeat, short float and even feed rate like pattern "B," above, you're still not home safe. So far, we've only considered the horizontal arrangement of color knitting -- the easiest way to lay stitches down next to one another in the same round. However, successful fabric construction, requires addressing the vertical aspect of multi-colored fabric, too.

A pattern which carries the same colors along the same lines for a considerable distance up the fabric isn't easy to knit at a proper tension. This is because the floats rise to the surface of the fabric between the same 2 columns of stitches, as in the middle diagram, opposite. The yarn consistently rising to the surface from the back between the same two columns forces the fabric to break into a ribbing-like texture pattern, and this is true even if the floats are perfectly tensioned and the basic pattern follows all the rules for a good horizontal pattern, such as pattern "B" from above.

The solution is to have the floats surface between different columns in every round, or nearly every round (my own rule is not to knit more than 4 rounds with the same color-break). The best fabric is when a good basic horizontal pattern like pattern "B," above, is worked into a pattern like one of the four bottom diagrams--a pattern which is also going to work vertically--by staggering the color changes across different columns.

* * *

What a lot of limitations there are on knitting 2 colors off one hand--short floats, even feed rates, repeats staggered across columns of stitches! When you compare this sort of rule-bound knitting to knitting one color off each hand, as shown in the previous post, you'll conclude (or at least, I'll conclude) that knitting one color off each hand is the more flexible method. With the two colors separated, different rates of feed are easy to accommodate--the yarn in the left hand does not tug along the yarn in the right hand because "never the twain shall meet." It is true that you still have to follow the rule of arranging to stagger your color breaks across different columns, but with different feed rates, the two colors of color knitting are less likely to wind up in the same columns to begin with. In other words, with "two-fisted" knitting comes the freedom to use vastly different feed rates, and far fewer restrictions in creating a viable, even-tensioned fabric.

So--with all these disadvantages, why would anyone want to learn to knit two colors off one hand?  That is a good question! Now we are slowly coming to the heart of today's post. The answer is, knitting two colors off one hand turns out to be particularly useful when we come to three-color knitting.

THREE COLOR KNITTING

Although common wisdom says it's best to stick to two colors at any one time, the fact is that a surprisingly small amount of a third color--a highlight color--really perks up a two-color pattern.

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IMHO, the very best and easiest sorts of 3-color patterns are those where the background color predominates, and the contrast and highlight colors appear in much smaller amounts. In this situation, the background color (main color) is laid down at an independent rate of feed with one hand (the right hand, English style). The contrast color and the highlight color are laid down with the other hand (left hand, continental style) at the same rate of feed as each other (and THIS is where 2-colors-off-one-hand knitting comes into its own--in laying down the contrast and highlight colors). The photo above shows two such patterns, and shows how surprisingly effective a very small amount of a third, highlight, color can be in setting off what is essentially a two-color pattern.

To clarify further: in both of the patterns in the above illustration, there is a great deal more of the background color, and that is laid down, at its own independent rate of feed, by the right hand, knitting English style. The two contrast colors--the usual contrast color, as well as the third "highlight" color, are laid down with the two-colors-on-one hand method, laid down at the same rate of feed as each other, and knitted off the left hand. The zing added by a third color in even moderate amounts make worthwhile the whole ordeal of learning to knit two colors off one hand.

BTW--The color patterns in the close-up illustration photo are adapted from a chart in a Dale of Norway booklet, #152, which has a pattern for a baby sweater using these colors and patterns worked in fingering weight yarn. If you are looking for a printed pattern to follow this would be a good one--I find color selections are intriguing, but if you don't, these could be changed--but the real point is that the construction of the color repeats make excellent mechanical sense. The little sweater in the pattern book is steeked, but if steeking is not on your to-do list, or if a baby sweater is not, this color knitting pattern can be adapted to a hat.

--TECHknitter

You have been reading TECHknitting on: How to knit with 2 colors on one hand AND how to do three-color knitting (Part 3 of the how to knit colors series)

How to knit with 2 or more colors-part 2: one color in each hand

I grew up in New York City--Manhattan, uptown, near Columbia University. Sometimes into our urban space, aliens would arrive. Their main distinction to me and the other little kids on my block was twofold: 1) they drove big cars; 2) they provided excellent street theater when parallel parking.

These aliens (or "college parents") were harmless. They smiled at people, held doors, we sort of liked them. They'd say "New York is a nice place to visit, but we wouldn't want to live here."

Our native drivers did it different--they could and did cram their cars into very small spaces with one hand on the wheel, a casual backwards glance, while maybe eating a sandwich, or having a shouting match with the guy they'd just jumped to claim the space. The aliens lost in comparison. Our attitude was "New York is OK to live in, but we wouldn't want to have to be visitors--"

Visiting the land of two-color knitting is like that. Dabbling at two color knitting is like trying to parallel park if you don't have a system--lurch forward, scootch backwards, drop one color to knit a few stitches with the next color, then drop again. Do you cut the wheel this way or that? Should the yarns should be twisted together? Do you line up with the bumper or the steering wheel? Should the new yarn be taken over or under the old yarn? Without a system, the whole thing can turn into a nightmare.

So--what's the difference between a driver carefully maneuvering into a space with assistance of a spouse at curbside and the driver blithely cruising backwards with one hand on the wheel and one eye on the mirror? It is nothing but practice, practice, and more practice until it turns into a system. It's no secret how to parallel park--it's laid out right there on page 43 of the Driver's License Handbook. But, until you do it a bunch of times, until you reduce it to a step-by-step procedure, you won't get it. Two-color knitting (heck--all knitting), like parallel parking, well, you have to practice if you want to slide into the spot on first try.

Ahem--just a minute while I climb down off this soapbox here.

OK, back to...

KNITTING with ONE COLOR in EACH HAND

A classic method of two-color knitting is the "two-fisted" approach popularized by Elizabeth Zimmerman. The idea is to knit one color off the left hand (continental knitting) and the other color off the right hand (English knitting). Keeping the yarns on separate hands means the yarns are kept apart, and so have less tendency to tangle.

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This is incredibly awkward at first-- the needles won't cooperate, and you'll tear your hair. But, if you persevere, you will succeed.

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Some tricks to make it easier:

*BEFORE YOU START your two color project--train your other hand in the unfamiliar technique. There are instructions for English and continental knitting here and here. Practice on something small, flat and gaugeless--a potholder?--where tension is immaterial.  As per the next point, there is no need to purl. Make this object in garter stitch--knit every row.

*WORK the two-color project WITH CIRCULAR NEEDLES around and around on the face of a large-ish TUBE--IMHO, a hat (about 20") would a good size for a first project.

• If you try color knitting back-and-forth, you're going to have to purl in two colors on every other row. This is not impossible, but it is more difficult that knitting in 2 colors--so leave 2-color purling until you've mastered the tension thing.
• If you try 2-color knitting on a small tube with dpn's, you'll not only have to watch the tension issue between your own two hands, you'll also have the additional issue of carrying floats across a right angle bend where the dpn's meet. A float will want to cut the shortest line--straight across this corner, making it much shorter than a float stretched out flat. A too-short float = puckers. Bottom line: leave the two-color socks until you have mastered float tension on a flattish piece of knitting.

*DON'T CHANGE HANDS--keep the same colors in the same hands. Your hands are going to tension the yarn differently, so being consistent about which hand holds which color will make the finished product nicer. Consistency also makes it possible to analyze your work--if one color is always looser, you'll know which hand ought to be knitting tighter. If you switch colors randomly, you'll really have no idea how to improve.

*USE WHICHEVER METHOD YOU'RE BETTER AT (continental or English) for whichever color there is the most of--this will give you the best overall tension. Use the unfamiliar hand to work the contrasting yarn. It is for this reason that the first post in this series recommended choosing a beginning pattern with one clearly dominant main color, and only a relatively small amount of the contrasting color.

To explain further: if most of the pattern is made of the main color, and that color is laid down the way you usually knit, you'll have a better chance of getting a good two-color result right away. If you've chosen your color pattern to keep the number of contrasting color stitches to a minimum, then even if your unfamiliar hand lays down the contrasting color with poor tension control, there won't be that much contrasting color to plague you. As stated previously, if you have to err, err on the side of TOO LOOSE. Then, if you have to, you can always go back and tighten those relatively few contrast color stitches, float by float and still obtain a wearable garment.

*DON'T WORRY ABOUT TWISTING THE YARNS TOGETHER--they will twist themselves all that is necessary if you are consistent about which yarn you hold in which hand. Further, it is only when you are trying to float a yarn across more than 5-6 stitches that you have to worry about pinning down that float somewhere along its too-long run. If you use a short float, there's no reason to ever actually twist anything at all... (but if anyone out there is just burning to make bunnies, or chickies, or some other pattern with a wildly long float, go to this post.)
* * *
This is part 2 of a five-part series on color knitting.

• Part 1: How to knit with two or more colors: background information
• Part 2: Color knitting, one color in each hand
• Part 3: Knitting with two colors on one hand AND three-color knitting
• Part 4: Multi color knitting, one color at a time, also called multiple pass knitting
• Part 5: Color knitting, one color at a time, also called slipped stitch knitting

  
  

  Addendum, 2016:
  

  Another post of interest is:

  Taming long floats via the STUART method for color-knitting.

--Good knitting, TK You have been reading TECHknitting on: Two-color knitting, with one color in each hand. (Stranded knitting).

How to knit with two or more colors-part 1: background information

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So far on this blog, we started with the idea there are only two stitches in all of knittingdom --knitting and purling. Next, we alternated these two stitches to create different textured fabrics: stockinette fabric, reverse stockinette fabric and garter stitch.

Now, we're going in a different direction. Using only plain, smooth stockinette, we're going after two (or more) color knitting.

Color knitting makes possible the children holding hands, the contrasting bands on hats, the beautiful Scandinavian designs, the spirals, the squares, the diamonds. All of these designs could be made in texture patterns yes, but color adds an undeniable dimension.

Series layout

This post, the first in a series about color knitting, lays out background. The second post covers the classic "one color in each hand" method popularized by Elizabeth Zimmerman. Part three shows the trick of two color knitting with two-colors-in-one-hand, then three-color knitting (two colors in one hand, one in the other). Parts four and five show two different tricks for working only one color at a time, yet still getting multi-color effects. A 2016 addition to this series shows how to strand super-long floats via the STUART method.

Part 1: BACKGROUND INFORMATION

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First project--For beginning color knitters, a swell first project would involve no purling because two-color knitting is far easier than two-color purling. Also good to avoid would be a lot of shaping. Good garments to start on might be a circular-knit muffler scarf or a Norwegian- style steeked sweater. Another good choice would be a raglan-sleeve sweater made with the yoke all-in-one-piece, either top-down, or bottom-up. Raglans with all-in-one-piece yokes are shown in the illustrations of color placement, below. If you use these garment shapes, you'll be learning to color-knit, around and around on a tube, which is the easiest way.

Needles--Best would be a pair of circular needles with a proportionate cable--not too long (sticks out of the fabric in a loop), not too short (stitches all scrunched up). Going around and around on the face of a tube means you can create stockinette fabric without ever purling, and creating such a fabric on circular needles is going to be easiest for intro color knitting. (If it puzzles you as to why all-knit can make stockinette fabric on circular needles, follow this link.)


Pattern placement--"all-over" OR on the chest and shoulders--Color knitting is heavier than most kinds of one-color knitting. The yarn not on the face of the fabric is generally carried behind, resulting in a thicker, doubled fabric. A garment with all-over color-knit patterns is going to feel balanced to wear--there will be the same weight of fabric throughout the sweater. A sweater pattern which has the color pattern only on the chest and shoulders will be OK to wear too--the sweater won't be balanced, but the heavier fabric will be centered on the body parts best able to benefit--the chest and shoulders will be kept warmer by the doubled fabric. In addition, the idealized image of body type for men and women emphasizes a heavier bust or chest, and a thinner waist and hips, so doubled fabric over the chest or bust and the shoulders help with appearances, also.

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Harder to justify are designs which feature color knitting over the hips and wrists, and nowhere else. These sweaters tend to feel unbalanced. The wrist design, a "bracelet" of doubled fabric, can get annoying as the day goes on. The lower design concentrates bulk where many people would prefer to avoid it--few body types are flattered by a thick roll of doubled fabric around the hips.

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A short note about hats--hats with color bands and single color tops have a satisfying thickness around the ears, which need to stay warm, but are thinner in the single color fabric over the crown. If these are knit in thin yarn, the crown will be thin enough to let excess body heat rise and escape. Bottom line: a color-band hat with a single color crown knit in thin yarn works especially well for activewear like ski hats.

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Floats--at least when learning, choose a color pattern which features short "floats." Carrying a yarn behind the fabric face for more than about 5 stitches is courting tension trouble. Color-knitting traditions (Scandinavian, Latvian, Turkish, Shetland Islands) rarely feature any float longer than 5-6 stitches, most floats are shorter, while some traditions call for constructing multi-colored knitting with no floats at all (Scottish argyle).

Color knitting originated with goatherds knitting socks on rocky hillsides, fishwives waiting for the boats to come in, young girls watching the geese, sailors at sea, mothers keeping children from the open fire. If all these industrious, clever knitters from different traditions have established that floats should be kept short, there's probably a good reason. Consider avoiding that pattern with the bunnies and L-O-N-G floats (but if you just have to have long floats, I have a trick for those, too, called STUART).

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A very good sort of geometric for a first pattern would have:

* one dominant color, called the main color (mc), and one contrast color (cc). Starting off color knitting with more than two colors is biting off more than you can maybe chew.

*the proportion of mc to cc is best when the main color unquestionably predominates.  Despite the predominance of the main color, however, the pattern should avoid isolated single cc stitches: isolated single cc stitches on the fabric surface don't have a lot of "oomph"--they lack the grabbing power necessary to stabilize all that yarn floating behind.

*a short float--for the reasons above

*A row or a couple of rows of plain knitting either in or between in each pattern repeat. This allows the fabric an area where the tension is less likely to be off-kilter--a "rest break." It also makes the fabric less dense (easier to knit) than having every single row in two-color pattern--you will see that the floats sag into the plain rows, so these aren't really noticeably thinner than the rest of the garment.

Type of yarn--For your first project, choose wool--old fashioned sheep's wool, preferably as rustic as you can stand to work with. Sheep's wool magnified is disgustingly organic--all scales and hooks and wooly hairs. But in color knitting, these organic properties are to your advantage--the projections entangle the floats and help control the fabric. Non-sheep wools, like alpaca and cashmere have some scales, but not nearly as many (which is why they're so soft...) and "slippery" yarns (acrylics, cottons, silks, bamboo, superwash wools, linen) lack the scales, hooks and hairs to hold the different colored yarns together--the result for a beginning project will be disappointment.

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Float tension: Getting the tension correct in color work is one of the toughest tricks in all of knitting, no joke. You are going to start off making messes, so resolve to err in the direction of too loose, rather than too tight.

A new knitter at my LYS was making a red-and-white baby cap destined to never to fit any human born--it would have been too tight for a baby monkey. The floats puckered the fabric so the pattern could hardly be seen. A too-loose cap could always have been tightened up (there will be more about this when we get to long floats) but that too-tight tragedy on the needles was destined to break everyone's heart--all that misspent hopeful energy, so sad.

The trick is, the floats should be long enough so that the fabric does not pucker when stretched. Therefore, spread your stitches out along the needle BEFORE you draw the float yarn over them to knit the next colored stitch. In other words, don't keep your stitches all scrunched up.  If you do, your float will be shorter than the width of the fabric. Then, once the scrunched-up stitches spread out naturally or stretch when wearing, any floats originally created over scrunched-up stitches will be too short to stretch along, and the fabric will pucker.

If you find that stretching the stitches along the needle still isn't creating a long-enough float, the next trick is to put a finger or two in the way, and draw the float yarn over the stretch AND the finger(s). However, floats so loose that they never come under tension even when the garment is worn are floats which have a hard time glomming on to the back of the fabric, even if you are knitting in the hairiest sheeps-wool going. Too-loose floats will catch in buttons and fingers and toes.

Somewhere around about the tail end of the second project, you'll find the float tension you are aiming for.

* * *

The entire series on color knitting:

Part 1: How to knit with two or more colors: background information

Part 2: Color knitting, one color in each hand 

Part 3: Knitting with two colors on one hand AND three-color knitting

Part 4: Multi color knitting, one color at a time, also called multiple pass knitting

Part 5: Color knitting, one color at a time, also called slipped stitch knitting

2016 addition: how to strand super-long floats via the STUART method

Good knitting, --TK
You have been reading TECHknitting on: the basics of color knitting--how to knit with two or more colors.

QUICKTIP: uncurling nylon cable circular needles

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If you knit with BOYE needles or SUSAN BATES needles, or any METAL circular needles which have a CLEAR NYLON cable, here's how to uncurl the cable and make it behave:

(drumroll please....)

Dip the cable into boiling water for a few seconds. When you dip, include that part of the needles where the cable attaches.

A WARNING--Deborah, a reader and a blogger, states that when she tried this with a *bamboo*-tipped circular, the steam removed the finish and made the grain stand out rough.

--TECHknitter
You have been reading TECHknitting on: uncurling circular cable needles--nylon cables

DPN's: READER'S FORUM

Marjorie, a reader (and a blogger) asks:
Q:
" I recently got some very short [needles] ... but I haven't tried them yet. Do you have any advice on the length of the dpns? I thought these short ones might be more comfortable on a thin sock."
A:
"De gustibus non est disputandum," "in matters of taste, there is no right and wrong." If you like them, and they work for you, go for it. BUT, I will say that the type of work being done doesn't influence the length of the needle as much as the interaction of your HAND and the needle--a very short dpn might be too short to get your hand on properly. If you look back at the illustrations in this blog, you'll see that every hand grasping a needle presses the needle between some fingers and the palm of the hand, or between the fingers and the heel of the thumb. In no case is any needle held in the fingers alone. Unfortunately, a very short needle might be too short to hold any way EXCEPT in the fingers alone--uncomfortable.

Long answer short: Make sure the dpn's are at least long enough to get a good grip on.

Polarbears, a reader, left this
COMMENT:
"I wonder if you will suggest my own "unvented" solution.

Those first few [rounds of dpn knitting] can be maddening. I'd recommend finding an experienced knitter to 'start' your initial experiments with double points. That way you can perfect your technique first and then move on to attempting those slippery first rows when you are more comfortable with the process."

RESPONSE: Polarbears, you're right! If you're learning, find someone to cast-on your first dpn project. Makes learning dpn's easier AND contributes to community... I'll bet anything that a new dpn-er at a guild meeting--ANY guild meeting anywhere, will have knitters falling over themselves to be the first to help out. If you're the shy type, the nice folks at your LYS (local yarn shop) will be happy to get you going with the needles and yarn you just bought from them. (If you like knitting, you'll be back for more supplies!)

Another advantage: Obviously, I (of all people) think a lot can be accomplished by sitting quietly and looking at illustrated instructions, BUT adding that real-life component--watching someone else do it--is invaluable.

Dear Readers: If you are feeling bold, and if you have anything to say or ask about dpn's, consider speaking out in the comments. If it's a question to you, it's probably a question to others.... If it is a neat trick which worked for you, others will be glad to know of it, too.

--TECHknitter

How to avoid ladders on DPNs (double pointed needles)

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Ladders happen when the tension of knitted fabric consistently changes between the same two column of stitches. The usual place for ladders is where dpn's come together, although this same problem can arise between the front and back stitch sets in Magic loop knitting as well. Another popular place for ladders is along a line where stitch markers are inserted.

Here are three solutions:

TIP #1:

PROBLEM: The tension change issue is more dramatic, and the ladders more obvious, when you are working on 4 needles (3 holding needles and a fourth working needle). This is because the rigid triangle formed by the 3 "holding needles," and the steep angle of the work make it harder to knit the first and last few stitches. Anytime you have a few stitches which are harder to work than their neighbors, you get a tension-change (and maybe a tension headache?).

SOLUTION: Double pointed work is easier on 5 needles (4 holding needles and a fifth working needle). The shallower angle of work possible with 4 holding needles means it isn't as hard to knit the first and last few stitches. In other words, the first and last few stitches aren't notably any harder to knit than the middle stitches, so there is less reason for the tension to change, and fewer excuses for ladders to form.

TIP #2:

PROBLEM: When you first learn to knit on dpn's, it's to hard make ladders go away by changing your tension. Sometimes a ladder occurs because the tension at the change point is too LOOSE, sometimes because the tension is too TIGHT. Trying to compensate by pulling tighter, or knitting looser can make your ladders go from one kind to another without ever solving the problem -- frustrating!

SOLUTION: Practice makes perfect. At some point, maybe on your eighth (or twentieth) pair of socks, you'll look down and surprise!--your hands will be knitting along without creating ladders.
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In the meantime, though, try this trick--

Because ladders occur where tension changes are stacked up in the same column, it is possible to avoid ladders by un-stacking the tension changes.

Stated otherwise, if on every round, you move the point at which the tension changes -- the change point for the dpn's-- there simply cannot be any ladders.

There are two ways of shifting the change point: forward (leftward) switching and backwards (rightward) switching. The illustration shows forward switching which was created by carrying two stitches forward every round. Backwards switching would look very similar, but the dots would recede rightward on each new row, instead of proceeding leftwards, as shown.

Instructions for both kinds of switching (carrying) are below.

Forward (leftward) switching

(also called "carrying stitches forward")

If you'd like to keep track of where your round begins, place a stitch marker (see tip #3 for more about stitch markers). Next, follow these 8 steps:

1. Work until the next left needle in rotation (blue) pops free. (Illustration A.)

2. Leave the right needle (green) currently in your right hand just where it is--this now becomes the old right working needle.

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3. Lay the newly freed left needle (blue) down on the table, or maybe park it behind your ear, carpenter-style. (Illustration B). This parked needle was the old left needle, is now the empty needle and will soon become the new right working needle. (Your left hand is now free.)

4. With your free left hand, grasp the next dpn (holder-needle) to the left--this becomes the new left working needle (purple).

5. Knit another few stitches (orange) off the new left working needle with the old right working needle. (Illustration C.) (How many stitches you knit is up to you. The illustration shows 2 stitches carried forward, but you can carry forward some other number: 5 stitches? 7 stitches? 13 stitches?--amuse yourself by varying the number--it relieves some of the monotony of endlessly going around and around. The only real rule is to not let the stitches get wildly unbalanced between the needles for too long.)

6. When you've knitted the chosen number of stitches you want to carry forward, simply stop knitting with the old right needle. (Right hand is now free.)

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7. With your free right hand, take the empty needle from behind your ear, or from the table where you parked it. This needle now becomes the new right working needle. Using the new right working needle, work all the stitches off the left working needle, until the left needle is popped loose. (Illustration D).

8. Repeat steps 2-7.

As you "carry stitches forward," you've not only eliminated all possibility of ladders, but you've gained other advantages, too.

By freeing your left and right hands at different times, you maintain one hand on the work at all times. This maintains a better tension, is quicker than re-arranging both hands on two new needles at every needle change, and makes it easier to get back into rhythm at each switch--only one hand has to get re-organized at a time.

Backwards switching
also called ("carrying stitches backwards")

Backwards switching is the same idea as forwards switching, but instead of knitting additional stitches onto a needle, several already-knitted stitches are slipped backwards, onto an empty needle. The empty needle thus becomes the new right working needle, and the direction of slip moves the point where the dpn's come together rightwards by several stitches.

1. Use the right needle (green) to knit to the end of the left needle (blue) in the usual way. Illustration A.) The left needle is the empty needle and will soon become the new right working needle. (Illustration B.) Retain the empty needle in your left hand.

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2. The right needle is finished knitting and has now become a right holder needle, holding all the stitches you just finished knitting. Retain this holder needle in your right hand.

3.Holding the empty needle in your left hand, and the right holder needle in your right hand, use both hands together to slip the last 2 (or 3, or 4) stitches (orange) you knit PURLWISE (open--not twisted) from the right holder needle onto the left tip of the empty needle. (Illustration C.) By this act, the empty needle has become the new working right needle.

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4. Let go of the right holder needle, and switch the new working right needle into your right hand, then slide that needle rightwards so the newly slipped stitches are at the left tip and the new right needle is in position to knit further. (Illustration D.)

5. With your free left hand, grasp the next dpn (holder-needle) to the left--this becomes the new left working needle.

6. Repeat steps 1-5.

As you can see, backwards switching requires both hands to have to be re-arranged at every needle change. Also, the act of slipping the stitches from the right holder-needle to the new right working needle adds a step. For these two reasons, backwards switching is slower and less efficient than forwards switching. However, there are times you need to be able to switch backwards, such as for...

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Combination backwards and forwards switching

Sometimes you might find that progressive switching, either forward or backwards, would mess up the needle placement by interfering with shaping--such as at sock toes. In this illustration, the shaping stitches (in red circles) cannot be switched or the shaping will be hard to keep track of.

But what about the center stitches of the toe where 2 dpn's come together on a smooth piece of non-shaped fabric? (In this illustration, the center stitches are those inside the bracket.) It is not uncommon to see a big ladder running right down these toe center stitches.

In a case like this, you can use combination forwards and backwards switching on the center stitches. Combination switching lets you change where the dpn's come together at one end of the needles, but keeps the other end of the needles in the same place--so you don't mess up your shaping.

Here's how: Where the dpn's for the toe centers (front and back) come together, carry 2 stitches forward between these two dpn's for a few rounds, then on the next several rounds, carry 2 stitches backwards. If you keep alternating between forward and backwards switching on the center stitches you'll avoid ladders on the toe centers, but you won't disturb the shaping at the toe edges.

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TIP #3:

PROBLEM: A ladder develops where stitch markers are inserted.

SOLUTION: Use yarn scraps for stitch markers. Do not allow the marker yarn to become entangled in the fabric--keep it free. The tail between stitches does not have to stretch as far around a scrap of yarn as around a metal or plastic marker, so the tension does not change where the marker lies.

This is rather a sad solution, because there are many creative, beautiful jewel-like stitch markers on the market today, and it's more fun to use these pretty markers than to have your work bristling with odd scraps of yarn. However, perhaps you will consider the absence of ladders a consolation.

--TECHknitter
You have been reading TECHknitting on: Avoiding ladders on dpn's (double pointed needles).