Stranded Colourwork Knitting

Welcome to the wonderful world of stranded colourwork knitting! On this page you will find all the information you need in order to start knitting your first colourwork pattern.

How to hold your yarns

The first thing you need to know about knitting stranded colourwork is how to hold your yarns. You will usually knit with two colours, and there are multiple different ways to hold them. In this video I’m showing you four different ways, try them out and see which one you like best.

For stranded colourwork knitting we often call our colours the Background Colour and the Pattern Colour. For the pattern to show up clearly, the best thing you can do is to hold your pattern colour to the left, and the background colour to the right.

How to Catch Your Floats

When you’re knitting with two colours, the colour you’re not using is stranded along the back of the work. The more stitches you knit in a single colour, the longer the other colour needs to be carried at the back. Sometimes it can be helpful to trap those strands – called ‘floats’ – so that they’re not quite as long.

For beginner colourwork knitters I recommend wrapping the unused colour whenever you are knitting 5 stitches of one colour at a time. It’s best to wrap your yarns halfway through, so on the third stitch in this case. As you get more experienced in stranded knitting you will feel less inclined to wrap your yarns, which is absolutely fine. It’s best not to wrap your floats too often, such as every three stitches, as it will make your knitting quite stiff.

Another time you might want to catch your floats is when you’re knitting magic loop, and you’re going from one side of your work to the other. I recommend wrapping the unused yarn on the second stitch of the next side, or on the second to last stitch of the previous side.

Tip: Don’t wrap your yarns at the same spot every round, this will be visible on the outside.