I bought a Wendy pattern (5739 Campervan Blanket and Cushion) and was wondering if anyone could help with the following:
When knitting the stripes for the back of the cushion, how are the new colours fed in? Is the wool cut off at the end of each colour and rejoined when that colour is used again or are the yarns kept attached and each time they are needed, they are pulled up over the knitting each time? I have read about intarsia but I am not sure how that would be done with four different colours - knitting two rows at a time in each - to create the stripes
How are the different colours introduced for the Campervan? Are the different colours left permanently attached and the strands pulled across the back of the knitting each time they are used? I am particulary unsure how to knit the light blue vertical stripe up the middle of the windscreen - it is one stitch wide. I don’t think intarsia will work with this
I hope this makes sense. If anyone is able to help me, it may help to look at the picture as shown in the link below
Add new yarn to the RS or front side and it wo t be a problem. It looks like it might be seamed rather than knit in the round? If so the way you join them matters less, but they still need to be secure.
Check out the video for intarsia. You will have a strand of color for each block of color for the van. For the windshield stripe, use a strand of the contrasting color but one strand of the window color.
Just make sure that you twist the stitches when you change colors to avoid holes. I find that the habit of holding the yarn you’re dropping over to the left when you bring the new yarn up from under it makes the ‘twist’ automatic and mindless.
When you start a color, start knitting with it and when you weave in the end, you just have to snug it up a little at the join.
Ingrid - can I just ask, please, whether I should cross the windscreen yarn once with the yarn for the strip down the middle of the windscreen (which is only one stitch) and then again when I take the same yarn for across to continue knitting the windscreen the other side of the strip down the middle?
Thank you
Jan - are you suggesting that when I knit the stripes on the back of the cushion (which are made up of two rows each of four different colours), that instead of interweaving the yarns up the side of the work, I should start a fresh ball of yarn for each set of two rows and then cut it off when the two rows are finished and then introduce a new ball of yarn for the next two rows, all the way throughout? This would then leave a lot of ends to darn in. You are right - it is not knitted in the round but as one long piece that is folded in half at the point where the stripes start and then sewn together.
Thank you
Thank you so much, Ingrid. I really appreciate everyone’s help. Sorry, but I have another question - when knitting the wheels, do I carry the white yarn across the back of the wheels and continue knitting with it or do I have three separate balls of yarn (one for the outside of each side of the two wheels and the third for the strip inbetween the wheels)? The same applies with the lights - do I continue the tan yarn round the back of the blue lights or do I have a separate ball of yarn for the oustide of each of the lights and inbetween them?). In short, what I really need to know is how many stitches can I pull the yarn across the back of? The lights are five stitches wide (at the maximum point) and the wheels are four stitches wide.
Thank you
It would make sense to carry the yarn across, and depending on the length of the float, “catching” it once across the back of the hub caps. If you Google “catching yarn floats” you can get a visual of this rather than me trying to explain.