For those of us who like knitting stripes, look out
for Lisa Richardson’s “Woodbine” and “Abbotts”,
both textured knits but - due to their differences
in colour palette and finished size – result in
strikingly different garments. When working stripes
and joining in a new colour, we can help reduce
the number of ends needed to sew in, by weaving
in the new colour while working the old colour:
With the WS facing, work to (approximately) the
last eight stiches of the last row (page 40, Fig2a) and
take the new colour and lay it over the working
yarn, leaving a short tail, (Fig2b). Securing the
new yarn by holding it against the work with your
thumb, purl the next stitch using the old colour and
catching the new colour in the back of the work,
(Fig2c). Then insert the right hand needle into the
next stitch (ready to purl) and hold the new colour
up, over this needle (Fig2d), so as the working yarn
is wrapped around to form the new stitch, (Fig2e),
it catches the new colour into the back of the work,
(Fig2f). Continue to purl across the remainder of
the row, weaving in the new colour into every
stitch, (Fig2g). When you reach the end of the row,
start the next row in the new colour and work as
normal.
In striped patterns with repeating colours, try
not to cut the old colour every time that you’ve
finished working the stripe. Instead, carry the yarn
up the side of the work remembering to catch the
colour(s) on every alternate row as follows: Work as
normal until the beginning of the third row of the
same colour. Put your needle into the first stitch of
the third row and then lay the working end of old
colour over working end of the new colour, (Fig3a).
As you wrap the new yarn around the needle to
create the new stitch, it will catch the old colour
on the edge of the fabric. Repeat this process every
alternate row to prevent the formation of big loops
of carried yarn, (Fig3b).
If your striped pattern calls for an odd number
of rows, then try using double pointed needles
(dpns) or a circular needle to work back and forth.
When you need to change colour (on an odd row
number), slide your stitches back along the needle
to the right hand end. The working yarn in the new
colour will already be there – so turn the work and
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start working in the new colour, (Fig 4). (Similar
can be achieved on two, straight needles, although
it’s a rather more laborious affair requiring the
stitches to be slipped from one needle to the other
before being worked in the new colour.)
Slipping stitches from one needle to the other (as
opposed to knitting them) allows the colour from
a previous row to be included in the current row
of knitting, while still only using one colour per
row, and can be used to dramatic effect when
also changing the texture of fabric, as with Lisa
Richardson’s “Fowberry” and “Mayfield”. When
working these, it is vital to note the instruction
at the beginning of the patterns: That all slipped
stitches should be worked with the yarn held at the
WS of the work. To prevent twisting, all stitches
should be slipped purlwise. So, for example, when
working the first slipped stitch row of “Mayfield”
(Row 3), hold the working yarn (Yarn B) at the
back of the work, and slip the two designated
stitches – purlwise, one at a time - from the left
hand needle to the right, (Fig6a) and (Fig6b). To
knit the six proceeding stitches, the working yarn
remains at the back of the work. As it crosses the
slipped stitches, it forms a strand across the back,
(Fig6c), leaving an uninterrupted column in Yarn A
at the front, (Fig6d).
The next row of the pattern requires us to
slip stitches on the WS of the work and a little
more movement of the working yarn is needed:
Immediately before slipping the stitches, we’re
knitting so the working yarn is at the back of the
work. Bring the yarn forward (as if to purl), (Fig6e).
Keeping the working yarn at the front (WS), slip
the next two stitches – purlwise, one at a time –
onto the right hand needle, (Fig6f). Our next
instruction is to knit two stitches so we need to
move the yarn back, to the RS of the fabric before
knitting the next stitch, (Fig6g). By doing this, we
ensure that the carried yarn forms a strand on the
WS of the fabric, (Fig6h), again leaving the RS with
a continuous column of Yarn A. This movement of
the working yarn between the needles is similar to
when we’re working rib or moss stitch and need to
change its position as we move between the knit
and purl stitches.
ROWAN