Fair Isle technique

#1

I’m doing a baby sweater with color work that requires stranding/fair isle knitting.

I’ve done the back and it looks ok, but i was wondering if there was a better way to do it. So my question is this - is it best to break the colored, non-background yarn (CC) after each row and start new ones? Or can you carry the same yarn back and forth? If you do carry the CC yarn when you turn the work, does that inevitably make the ends of the pattern look kinda wonky at the sides?

Any ideas on what works for you?

-hh

#2

BTW, i found a pretty good site with another video that shows how to weave threads as you’re going when doing fair isle stuff.

http://www.philosopherswool.com/Pages/Streamingvideo.htm

I guess breaking yarn at the end of the row won’t look so bad if i weave every few stitches… :??

-hh

#3

The Philosopher’s Wool way of weaving in ends is excellent!

Do you mean that when you change the cc color? If it’s used from the same edge the next time you use it, you can carry it. If you’re only using one cc, I wouldn’t cut it at all.

I’ve done all my stranded knitting in the round, lately, so I guess I haven’t run into that problem. When I change colors in that, I carry it up if it’s only a few rows, but break it if it’s more than a few rows until I use it again.

#4

Yes, I was going to suggest doing the color work in the round and then steeking it. Much easier than purling with 2 colors, in my opinion.

#5

I am so with you on this one!! Some people are terrified of steeks, though, even though they don’t bite! :wink:

#6

You know…I keep wondering about knitting in the round then using steeks. Is there any rule about the gauge of the knitting? Seems like if it was looser/larger gauge knit the steeks might not hold as well?

#7

Umm…what’s a steek? sounds like some kind of weird alien…

#8

I think that if the steek is securly sewn, you could do them in any gauge.

Steeks are extra stitches that you knit where the front of a cardigan would be or in place of the armholes so you can knit all the way up a sweater in the round without having to separate it for front and back above the armpits.

After the knitting is done, you secure the stitches in the steek with a sewing machine or crochet hook and then cut them.

#9

I wanted to watch the video and was :?? …then realized I had to use IE to view it. :rollseyes: That looks so easy! I think I’ll try the little sampler purse and see if it is. :lol: Thanks for the link!