Before I start I want to say again that ANY way you hold the yarns is a good method if you aren't twisting the two yarns. Some new color knitters use the pick up and drop method which involves knitting and holding only one color at a time and letting the other color hang. Unfortunately the pick up and drop method is really really slow so do try out one of these methods this week to see if it will click with you.
I think the shape of knitter's hands really dictates which method will feel the best. I'm going to show four different methods this week - five if I can find my strickfingerhut - but there are even more methods than that.
TWO COLORS IN YOUR RIGHT HAND
I've read that most knitters in the U.S. knit using the English/American/throwing method. When I first began knitting with two colors, I used this method of holding both colors in my right hand.
Here's how you start. One color over the index finger in the right hand and one color over the middle finger.
To knit with the red yarn, simply flick your index finger UP and grab the yarn and wrap around the right hand needle.
To knit with the black yarn make sure your index finger returns to being between the red yarn above and the black yarn below as is shown in the first photo here. Then move your index finger DOWN and UNDER the black yarn.
Pull the black yarn around the right hand needle. It is hard to see in this photo but the red yarn is ABOVE the black yarn.
Voila! You've now knit with both the red and the black yarns. Your right index finger does the bulk of the work. Return to the position shown in the first photo after each color change.
With this particular method the black yarn is held ABOVE the red yarn on the back of the work. This means that the red yarn will be dominant; i.e., the red stitches will be a bit larger and more noticeable in your design. Generally I use the dominant color for the design or foreground color and the other color for the background.
11 comments:
Ooh -- I'm looking forward to this series, Nanette! I've tried (impatiently and therefore unsuccessfully) to hold both colors in my left hand, but usually just hold one in each hand.
I was trying to show this to someone and just wasn't very clear. Thanks for your good directions, I will send them here. I am hoping you will do long floats in color knitting soon. I would love to see how you handle them. I think it is a big knitterly secret how people handle their floats.
i do the one handed thing when i am doing latvian braids ( see what you started???)
but other then that......two hands for me
i taught myself to knit with the left hand just so i was ready for two handed two color knitting
(again.......... cause of you and Lou in france)
and i love every minute of it
vi
Hey! I just talked about this in my last post ... I have managed to hold both strands on my right hand. I also managed to throw one colour with my index finger and the other with my middle finger ... my rhythm gets better this way. Great post! Thanks.
I'm looking forward to this series. I haven't done much two-color knitting before, and I'm planning to try it again soon, so it will be nice to have some idea of how to manage the yarn! Thanks!
handknitter, I am planning on trying to learn to use two colors in my left hand better this week. I am still pretty klutzy with it.
fibergal, I generally do nothing with long floats because I'm terribly lazy! Some do weave them in and some weave them in on subsequent rows. Once I knitted a pattern with really long floats and I tacked them down later on the back of the work.
Vi, I love two-handed knitting as well. I'm quite the speed monster that way whereas all the other methods involve me slowing down quite a bit.
Agnes, great minds think alike! I need to try two yarns in my right hand the next time I have a three color row. Normally I put two yarns in my left hand and one in the right but that is a very slow process.
Thanks egunn! I hope you find a way that works perfectly for your hands.
Woo hoo!!! It really can be done!! I'm an English knitter who wants to learn stranded knitting - but was terrified at the thought of having to relearn to knit. This is fantastic! Thanks again!
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