Multi-color Knitting -- What I didn't Know // Casual Friday #15

[@RoxanneRichardson]

Many people have asked if I have seen Arne & Carlos's video regarding the lack of dominance in Norwegian knitting. Please read through the comments to see my responses to those comments/questions.

[@Hedgeaboutme]

Oh my goodness. I think I’m glad I didn’t see this video before I started my current project! I am knitting a toddler sweater (my first with inset sleeves, button band and neckband). The pattern I have is for a plain, stocking stitch sweater. I decided it would be fun to try to make it a Scandinavian-style sweater. I hadn’t knit with multiple colors before. I made a couple of swatches to make sure I could do it and then I dove in. I combined a couple of chart patterns I found on the Internet. The sweater starts off gray at the bottom, gradually becomes red, then I introduce white, where for 3 rows I carried the 3 colors, then I dropped the gray, the red was the background to a snowflake pattern. After the snowflake pattern I worked the color transition in reverse so that I have gray on the shoulders. I didn’t know that carrying the strands in the back was such complicated subject! My 2 color strands are more parallel and my 3 colors turned out twisted. I didn’t know about carrying the yarn in the left hand, so I would just lay the most recently worked stand down perpendicular to the needle, and picked up the next color and laid it over the top of the previous strand. And yes, I did a lot of untwisting my strands. Anyway, thank you for the video! I’ll investigate this subject further!

[@Clubkidknitter]

Two things: First, THANK YOU so much for doing this video as it was very helpful! I knit Latvian mittens and I use the technique of twisting in one direction for first half and then in the opposite direction second half. Ultimately, this untwists your working yarns - GENIUS! Second, three-color knitting: When I knit with two colors, I trap floats (by twisting) every four stitches. I keep my rotating floats that short to keep them from snagging on a ring until the floats eventually felt to one another. Now, three colors. Using this method of twisting when you pick up a new color, but ALSO twisting to trap a long float will ultimately braid your working yarns. Twisting in the opposite direction on needles three and four will not unbraid your yarns and you'll end up with a big old mess. What I do is change the "trapping by twisting" to every eight stitches. This accomplishes two things: because you are working with three yarns, extending your float length will keep this section a little more stretchy (less tight) as long as you are putting a tad more slack in those floats. Because those longer floats are up against two other yarns, they actually hide within them, ultimately. They'll also eventually felt with the other two yarns. How do I avoid the braiding? I work the section like I would intarsia. A lot of times - not always, but seems so with mittens - three or more colors are only used in a section. Rather than attaching a third color as an entire ball, I make a butterfly with the third color. This way, it's way easier to keep it untwisted from the other two colors as you go. Ultimately, you're back to only managing the twists of two yarns. You should then be able to go back to twisting the two yarns in one direction on needles one and two and then the opposite direction on needles three and four. Those two colors can remain attached as two full balls of yarn. This method also works with four colors. Simply join colors three and four as butterflies and untwist those as you go. The benefit to this method is it allows you to knit all colors as rotating foats, thus allowing for all stitches for all colors being equal and tidy in size and appearance. Trapping floats for a third or more colors using the "weave-in" method ends up creating wonky stitches because trapping via this method makes certain stitches larger or uneven. I hope this all makes sense. 😀 Again, thank you for this video and for the information about the Swedish man's thesis! Profoundly interesting!

[@jimmydoesknitting]

This is deep in the weeds stuff. I feel like I should have been bored, but I'm totally fascinated. Oldie but a goodie.

[@stephanieselb8329]

I’m binge watching your videos today! Your technical content makes me appreciate knitting so much more. Knitting is science and art, not just a simple craft. I’m preparing to do a simple color work project and this video is just what I needed to see. Thank you!

[@onwardbe]

Wow so much here .. I will be watching again to digest all the amazing information. thank you so much

[@robinmccamont]

Really fascinating discussion, Roxanne...! I love your enthusiasm for the subject, and I appreciate you taking us with you on your "learning journey"! I'm keen to hear more, and to watch any / all technique videos you may publish on this topic, too!!! Take care!

[@fitchery9315]

Thank you so much for sharing your discoveries with us! I have benefited immensely from every single video of your's I've watched. They are like straight shots of competence. You are the best teacher any growing knitter could ask for. This video in particular was just incredible. I cannot get over how much I learned and how the sense of wonder wasn't just palpable but totally infectious. Shortest 40 minutes of my life. I cannot wait to read that thesis and do some swatches!

[@robertmae3416]

"Casual" Friday??? This was pretty intense and very fascinating. Maybe "Fascinatingly Friday". I'm certainly motivated by your discovery. I have so few people to knit for now. So - I'm going to knit for myself and to be come better educated about this topic, for sure. Thanks so much.

[@sandygrogg1203]

Robert Mae I’ll vote for Fascinating Friday”.. I often watch more than once..To make sure I don’t miss anything!

[@anab570]

@@sandygrogg1203 Me too. It is so intense sometimes! And I am like a sponge, I want to get it all.

[@nadiarogo4511]

I feel like english-style knitters always overthink it :D If you knit continental with all fingers resting on your knitting (no stretched index finger), you would not even ask yourself how to knit stranded 3-color colorwork, because it would be obvious and very comfortable/intuitive to you. You keep all 3 strands on your left index finger (resting on the knitting), most dominant color closest to your heart (your finger tip being the most far away place from your heart). The yarn tales are separated between pinky, ring and middle finger, but lie next to each other on your index finger.Then you just pick the strangs as you go, nothing ever gets twisted and strands will never "pool" and catch on each other (they only do that if you stretch your finger). When you need to catch floats you go over-under and they never twist, because you twist-untwist them each time, twisting one way and then immediately the other way. And if you do eastern purling, you would not have any issue purling with 2 colors or doing 2-color ribbing. Latvia being in the east, that would have been the technique to look into, in order to know how it's done. In short: continental with resting fingers + eastern purling solve all tension issues. With 4 or more colors per row, I actually rather just knit the row twice, once with 2 colors and slipping "inactive" stitches and the second time with the other 2 colors, slipping stitches that were already knit. :) 2 cents from an eastern knitter

[@susans3976]

Thanks! I found this so valuable and affirming. I hate the concept of color dominance (for whatever reason lol) and this information was great!

[@sandygrogg1203]

Watching a second time, because even though it’s over my head, snd out if my league, I find the topic to be fascinating.. Probably because I am so in awe of knitters who do this complex work.. It’s almost like magic to me..

[@CassieDA17]

I'm with you, this is way over my head, but fascinating! I've made 2 striped hats which is the extent of my color work, lol.

[@ccpperrett7522]

@@CassieDA17 good for you!

[@CassieDA17]

@@ccpperrett7522 lol that was 3 years ago! I’m good on colorwork now

[@jpeood32]

Thanks!

[@DawnBurn]

I'm still so new to knitting but this is such a lovely discussion of knitting and learning and being open to ideas and researching and geekery. Love it.

[@MarlyBird]

I just learned so much from this video. I was able to follow along with you completely in your search for understanding. What an amazing and thought provoking topic of floats. So interesting! Thank you for sharing with us. Your videos are very well explained. Learning more from you is a delight. Thank you for sharing your work. #newsubscriber

[@okdubunf]

You're geeking out and I love watching it 😂

[@teslaandhumanity7383]

Brilliant isn’t it

[@healer1964]

I stumbled on this video at random, though I've watched other videos of yours in the past. This BLEW. MY. MIND. I'm in the TKGA Master Hand Knitter program (just submitted my Level 2 binder a couple weeks ago), and color work is my passion. The volume of information you've offered is amazing and I've had to save this video so I can watch it again. I'd love to see demonstration of the 'rotating floats' approach you talked about. I've downloaded Olle-Petter's thesis to read later, and I'd love to see more videos of this nature (the theoretical and technical approaches really get my motor going!). Fantastic and Fascinating!

[@RoxanneRichardson]

You might be interested in the Casual Friday video I posted the week after this one, where I compared working parallel floats with both strands in the left, both in the right, and one in each hand (to dispel the idea that parallel floats causes tension issues). Rotating floats might make for an interesting point in Level III, when you have to discuss two knitting traditions. As far as I know, TKGA only wants true Fair Isle knitting (parallel floats used with traditional motifs) in work submitted as a swatch or project. They certainly didn't accept bound (woven) colorwork. A lot of ground is covered in the MHK program, but there is plenty to learn outside of it!

[@mariaandharold]

so, so informative !! love the multiple angles to address one point of view; love the way to present that each way to knit multiple colors has its pros & cons. Knitters do profit from thinking "outside the floats"

[@kadritinn1332]

Great video! I have just finished knitting my first pair of Latvian mittens and was searching for exactly what you talked about in the video. I’m used to holding one color in one hand and the other color in the other hand, and I’ve only ever needed a third color in some Icelandic patterns but only for a few stitches every row. I tried different ways of holding and twisting the yarns while knitting mittens and when I was done with one glove and the second one was half done I noticed there were differences in stitch and motif sizes. Now I at least have ideas on how to go about holding the yarns on the next pair. Thanks!

[@tracemoriarty7010]

First video I've watched on this channel. I had to bow out 18 minutes in to go look up "yarn dominance," to figure out what you were talking about! Watched your other video, and AH-HA! I've been knitting for 18 years, and I do a lot of colorwork -- but I don't know the correct name for anything at all. I learned from my mom, who learned from her grandfather, and we don't know the right names of anything! I learned to do colorwork with rotating floats; I never knew there were other means of colorwork. I've always been bewildered by other knitters talking about yarn getting twisted when mine doesn't twist at all, and how could it? Now this opens my eyes, and there's a whole new world out there! Thank you for this!

[@Mitsuhurrican]

I just ran across this video and I love how you get as excited and obsessed as I do when I want to find information and get a answer! I have pulled books off the bookshelf and scoured the internet. My head hurts and my brain itches until I find the answer. I know about the happy brain buzz and I need to calm myself down to read all the information I was looking for. Thank you for giving your thoughts and insights into different issues and techniques. When I see one of your posts I know to clear my hour ( I like to rewind sometimes) because I am not stopping until I get to the end!! WOE BETIDE to the person who gets in my way!!! :)

[@Ynnsie]

You are a gifted communicator. I too followed what you laid out and it's been years since I did colourwork. IF I'm ever ambitious enough to do colourwork again (and there are so many great motifs out there that I'm tempted) and IF I'm crazy enough to attempt 3 colours .... I'll remember this. Thanks very much. Carry on.

[@noelleparris9451]

Although I am only now learning colorwork (and just today did my first Latvian braid 😊👍🏾), your thoughts and revelations were very interesting. I could have listened to you talk on the topic of yarn vs color dominance, the results of which hand you're holding yarn and methods for another hour.

[@skygreyo3]

Thank you so much for sharing all this information, I am very keen to color knitting. Your quest has been so deligthfull! I will enjoy that Thesis as well. Congratulations and I will have a deeper look on your channel soon.

[@robynkirk3144]

I enjoy your enthusiasm and I thank you for sharing all that you discover.

[@harrietyarmill2873]

I am fairly new to colour work having studiously avoided it for about 50 years. I have fallen in love with it and you cannot imagine how much I appreciate your coverage of the topic of handling multiple yarns ( Fair isle, move over) Without reading the thesis, and being a strictly parallel knitter, I have arrived at holding the dominant in the left and the 2 non dominant colours in my righthand. Keeping consistency in the right hand. I am planning to try the rotating colours at my earliest chance. Thank you so much!😊

[@conniehunt6738]

I watched the video day before yesterday. I’m working on test knitting for a project called Reindeer tracks (a cardigan). It has a 12 row 3 color section with long floats. This video gave me some terminology to google (managing yarn, long floats, etc,) and I started reading, Last evening saw a post on a Facebook group- stranded knits, about ladder back knitting, Never heard of it, Googled that and watched some videos, got up this morning and knitted a swatch using a combo, twisting floats on two of the colors and working ladder back on the third and mostly unused color. Although I need to do another test swatch, to tighten up my tension (I overcompensated keeping things loose), this method worked great and I’m super happy with how it turned out. I’m keeping some project notes on my ravelry project and will be posting more pictures of the swatches as I work them, This combination of videos really gave me a leg up on managing my yarn with 3 colors and extremely long (for me) floats.

[@117giltspur]

This is a really thorough, detailed and complex explanation. Roxanneis really great at explaining knitting techniques. Very interesting.

[@icherishcrochetandknit309]

Hi Roxanne, I am a newbie knitter and love the freedom it provides when designing your own garments. I have been crocheting for 40 yearsand Tunisian crocheting for about 6 years and knowing both of these skills made learning knitting easy for me. I never tried in the past but I decided to learn from a video tutorial on KZbin back in October last year and I can't believe I know how to knit now! Your videos are chock full of a lot of tidbits and glimpses in the knit world that I love learning about. Thank you for this invaluable information. I like how you think!! P.S. I also enjoyed your online article in Interweave magazine about how to knit a hat.

[@irenebiemann4413]

i'm basically a self-taught knitter, and got into knitting Icelandic sweaters in University (it was something of a craze in the 80's!) I distinctly remember the instruction to twist yarn when changing colours to prevent holes and have done so in colour work up until a few years ago when i first read about colour dominance in carrying yarn. I also learned at that point the twist wasn't necessary to prevent holes! Who knew? Anyway, the point is with twisting with each colour change there was never an issue of dominance the way there is in stranded method. When I first heard about "dominance" I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. So, my question (4 years later!) is have you ever tried twisting back and forth rather than in one direction only to avoid getting twisted up in the first place? Great videos! Thank you very much!

[@RoxanneRichardson]

The twist method does slightly affect the look of the st on the RS of the work, so what I will sometimes do is twist the first half of the round in one direction, and the second half in the other, so that all sts with strands twisted in one direction are on the same half of the round. You can get a little bit of a zig zag effect if the direction of the twist is different in a given column of sts from round to round. You may or may not be bothered by that (or find it noticeable). I would suggest working a swatch and trying various methods for twisting to see which approach you prefer.

[@MollarCZ]

This was very fascinating listening to your journey of floats management in stranded color work. I am at the beginning of project of socks with color work, which at the beginning I though will be easy project, but in the end due to complexity of a color work (a motorbike club logo) turned out to be very challenging. Thanks to your video (and other videos regarding color work) I have learned a lot of information how to approach this challenge and now I see, that due to the characteristics of the logo it might be manageable by multiple color work techniques, mostly stranded color work (due to 3 colors being used) and double knitted frame at the end (thin circle around the main theme). I can't wait to see the result already 🙂. Thank you very much for your work on these deeply explanatory and very technical videos you are making!

[@CricketsMa]

Wow! Just WOW! I really felt your excitement and was nearly bouncing up and down on the couch as you talked about this. I will work backwards in your videos to see what you have developed from your research!

[@AMOutdoor]

Thank you for providing your perspective and experiences for learning colorwork. I find that the methodology you use, where you find different options to determine what works best for your knitting style is the best way to go. I was not able to knit continental until very recently. It just clicked, after I had watched a few different videos. It was not one method or idea, but viewing several that helped me figure it out!! Thank you for your research and for defining your thought process! This is the way I learn best. :-)

[@RoxanneRichardson]

Knowing your options really makes a difference! There are techniques I don't/wont use in most situations, but which turn out to be perfect in specific situations. This is true whether it's knitting English or Continental, picking an increase or decrease, working cables, knitting top down vs bottom up, or using two circs vs Magic Loop vs dpns!

[@cathyb2204]

I love how you can get so excited even with your experience and knowledge! This is fantastic. A note: quilters use a dark red transparent filter (plexiglass) to determine color values. You can get them at most any quilt shop.

[@GrainneDhu]

My mama made up her own patterns and she looooooooved colour, so she knit a lot of multi-colour things. I started reading about knitting in the late 70s (the first knitting book I ever got was Barbara Walker's first Treasury) and I don't recall reading anything about yarn dominance until the 1990s. Maybe. It seems more like perhaps it was after the turn of the century. I know my mama never mentioned it to me and I never thought about it. I just checked the three sweaters from her that I still have. No detectable yarn dominance and no parallel floats, either. My mama was from Lancashire and learned knitting from her own mother and also in school. My mother's grandmother knitted on a piecework basis to help support the household and still be at home with her children (yeah, deciding whether or not to attempt to be a stay at home mum was a thing in Victorian England, it isn't solely a modern conundrum). In my own colourwork, I stick to the two colours per row rule but I hold both colours in my left hand and they naturally twist about as I pick each colour because I just run them both over my left index finger the same way I hold a single yarn. They twist whenever they slide over each other, so maybe every third or fourth float. It depends on the pattern to some extent, I think--I can see that there is a rhythm in individual rows but the rhythm changes when the pattern changes. Sometimes. Often enough so that it prevents apparent yarn dominance. I have this horrid fear that the next time I have a colourwork project, I'm going to be like the centipede who started to think about just how to coordinate his legs and suddenly not be able to do it anymore!

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I think you've hit on the key to making holding both strands over one finger easy. If you are constantly worried about *keeping* the floats parallel, so that the dominance doesn't *shift*, it's a somewhat arduous a task to work with both colors over one finger (for me, anyway), but if you don't concern yourself about keeping things parallel, then you have no dominance, because the sts will periodically twist around each other.

[@GrainneDhu]

I'm all about doing what's easy!

[@claudiahagel7931]

I just fell in love with you and your passion, so good to find people that are able to feel same ☺️❣️

[@ashleye-theOriginal]

Roxanne - You really must write an article about those different techniques for handling multiple yarns, the background of how just 1 technique has become dominant (ha!), and that only that 1 technique causes yarn dominance. And I love the masters thesis, too! I’m nerdy enough that I like reading stuff like that. 😊 And like another commenter said here, I think a better title would be “Fascinating Fridays.”

[@CricketsMa]

ashley e Fascinating Fridays is such a great title!!

[@bethclawson2573]

I love how excited you are about this topic. Thx for sharing with us.

[@Wolfgran10]

I found this very helpful. I recently bought a couple of Arne and Carlos books and have been practicing and attempting to learn more about color work. I, too have had a hard time finding answers to my questions, so I appreciate the specific references you shared. Thank you! The twisting yarn is hard to deal with!!

[@RoxanneRichardson]

With two colors, you can rotate floats in one direction for a while, then reverse for a while, which will untwist them. Or, you can do the parallel floats and not worry about twisting, but you will have to be mindful of which color is the background color and which is the foreground color. Choices! :-) I find it easy to rotate in one direction if both yarns are in my left hand, by just picking the new yarn from underneath the old one, but it's trickier to rotate them in the other direction. If I throw with my right hand, I let one hang while I knit with the other, and find it fairly easy to swap yarns, bringing the new yarn up from below or above by hooking with my middle finger. (I'm less adept at knitting with my right hand using circs, because my throwing method works best with a long, straight needle that I anchor. THis is what keeps knitting interesting!)

[@Wolfgran10]

Roxanne Richardson I did pay particular attention to that portion of the video(twisting in the opposite direction for the second half of the round)Thanks for the tips. I knit continental due to many years of crochet experience prior to really learning to knit. I have used a Norwegian thimble some, but am trying to develop the muscle memory in my right hand to be able to hold one color in each hand. I only recently learned about the color dominance issue and I think it set me back a bit, lol. I became much more critical of my technique, lol. Glad to know it can be avoided! Thanks again 💛

[@Cyndance]

Isn't it wonderful how people have been knitting away, doing what they do for hundreds (thousands?) of years, doing what they do, and now with internet and especially KZbin we all get to learn so many new things from people all around the globe? Thank you SOOO much for showing us so many tips today. So, yeah, who knew? Well you did and now I do.

[@JaninaM]

Such an interesting video. I really enjoyed it.

[@debracubitt6191]

Fascinating Friday indeed♡ Roxanne you answered so many questions for me today THANK YOU

[@matissahollister5059]

Thanks for the video, I just stumbled upon the master's thesis today myself and read it with a lot of interest! I've been working on designing a sweater for myself with pretty complex color work. I decided not to go above 3 colors per row, but have quite a few with three colors. Like you, I found shockingly little information on how to deal with more than two colors. As I've been testing out my pattern, I've been experimenting a lot with different options both for dealing with three colors as well as trapping long floats with only two colors. To some extent they are similar problems: a key challenge with 3+ colors is that it greatly increases the likelihood of long floats because you are doing stitches of several other colors in between. To some extent, though, there is actually an advantage to 3+ colors in that you can do rotating floats that are completely in the back of the work. One complaint about catching floats with two colors is that the caught color always peeks a tiny bit through in the front when the fabric is stretched, and can cause the fabric to pucker a bit. I've found that this is true with both twisting and weaving: since you are bringing the carried color in front of the knitted color, albeit slightly hidden because it is between stitches, it's inevitable. I prefer twisting the strands rather than the most commonly-recommended full weaving of the floats because then the caught yarn only passes in front of the knitted yarn once each time it is caught, while weaving pulls the caught yarn in front on both sides of the stitch, increasing both the peeking and the puckering. The other issue, as you raised, is the twisting of the yarn. I like the idea of twisting one direction for half and then other direction for the other half and will try it. The solution that I have been experimenting with, though, is twisting one direction on the first twist, and the other direction on the next one. The downside here is that it can bring yarn dominance back into play, but on the other hand makes the strands much more manageable. For particularly long floats, one can twist one way first, and the other way the next before the color is used again. This means I think that you will have color dominance, but at least in a consistent way. The pattern I am testing is too complicated to really see the effects clearly, I need to do some testing on simpler pieces. Finally, another option is "invisible stranding" (see the pattern It's Not About the Hat). I've tested it a bit and found that it makes the fabric thicker than stranding (it's in effect double-knitting), and I found that it also pulled on the stitches where the double-knitting started. I should probably give it another go, though, because I'm not positive that I was doing it correctly.

[@celiajean7093]

Well now 😳, most all of that went over my head! I've avoided color work because I haven't been able to wrap my head around it but some of this made sense. And thank you for sharing your wealth of resources. Learning curve here I come! 😅

[@nancyloveridge3250]

Very interesting, especially about Colour Value... Is there a LINK for that? It would would also useful for my patchwork quilts...

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I use a color value chart in my copy of Montsey Stanley's The Knitter's Handbook. I would imagine there would be any number of websites with information about color value.

[@juliegogo2941]

Very interesting. Norway's Vikings did alot of color work for sure. My favorite country of all are the singing singers that sang the russians out of their country, the knitters from Estonia, their color work and techniques are so so good too.. Are you going to do some visuals of knitting color work, examples.... Thanks

[@janedoe8983]

Roxanne I am an artist trying to learn to knit and trying tssue tips and tricks from art. You mentioned color value. It is easy to see darks and lights, but the mid range colors are difficult to assign how dark or light it is. One trickis to take a picture of your chosen yarns on your phone and then edit it to black and white. It really shows your pattern better. Love the logic of your videos. Thank you

[@RoxanneRichardson]

Yep, that's a great trick! I mentioned how I use that technique in a recent Casual Friday video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4jMcpyDi6iqmK8

[@jayering1343]

Ok, I know what I’ll be reading this weekend! Thanks for the link to Olle-Petter Melin’s research paper. And I sincerely hope you don’t keep us waiting for an update to what you see and learn in the final Latvian mitten class. I’m so grateful for your passion to delve into color work and bring us what you discover.

[@tammytibbles]

Roxi, thank you so much for turning us on to this information. Fascinating. This is information I can really use in my knitting.

[@Whistlewalk]

Really enjoyed this discussion. I'm in that 'kinda figured it out for myself' place as there were no women in my family who actually knit (and growing up in the mailitary I did not spent much time with extended family anyway), and certainly no men as far as I knew. It had never occurred to me that there were so many options of how to carry the different colours across the back of the work. I even sorted out a way to carry some of the colours across the front, not knowing any better. Hmmm. Thank you!

[@ecbiss8]

Wow, this was the ONLY thing I could find on the internet about how to manage three colors well. THANK YOU. :)

[@amandabroad6139]

I love (and stock!) West Yorkshire Spinners Blue Faced Leicester yarn! The also do 50g balls in lots of colours. Very pleased to have found your KZbin channel! Xx

[@Nina-hx5we]

AMAZING! THANK YOU ROXANNE!!!!! I LOVE THIS KIND OF NERDY DEEP DIVING DIGGING INTO THE BOTTOM.

[@kbenesch9526]

Wow! Thank you so much for all of this great information! I’ve always been annoyed with floats because they snag on every little thing when you take them on and off. I am excited to try alternate methods 🙂

[@bead9609]

Thank you so much for clarifying stranded way of knitting, its fascinating and so much work on your part. This is another fabulous video from you, thanks and thanks again... like it very much

[@Lena-fv5bh]

Superinteresting video! I’m from Sweden but was never tought multi-colored knitting so much of it came from the Internet (incl confusion and a big blend of methods). Never understood what yarn dominance meant but it seemed importent in US videos so I had to look it up. as I’m born -73 and have the yarn in my left hand whether it’s one or teo threads. Haven’t even tried more than two. Thank you for that history lesson about knitting in Swedish schools, I had no idea. :D Will check out Olle-Petters thesis too.

[@RoxanneRichardson]

You could even read the original Swedish version of Olle-Petter's thesis! :-)

[@annieoldfield1]

Excellent and informative podcast - really enjoyed it. Oh, I've downloaded the Olle Petter thesis so some quiet reading time will happen, thank you!

[@sudeshnabandyopadhyay4028]

Thank you for this post. It is very informative!

[@kathleencox4062]

What an eye opening video! Thank you so much. You have answered so many questions I have had. Brilliant.

[@RoxanneRichardson]

Glad it was helpful!

[@carolynpierson4434]

I really enjoyed this video. I do stranded knitted mittens and I am still learning.

[@Jo-Anne.Clarke]

So interesting! I learned so much and I did zero research! I'm am going to read the masters thesis. You are a very engaging presenter. Thanks for a great video.

[@judithtaylor6916]

Currently knitting stranded. Tried one yarn in left hand the other in right. Found the tension tightened up with this method. Which isnt good. As with stranded, recommemded to knit with one needle size up, due to the work pulling in with stranded work. If you hold and knit one colour in each hand, the 2 strands dont twist i.e. knitting the left hand norwegian knitting as demonstrated by Arne & Carlos videos. Knit the right hand as English throwing. What about if knitting with 3 colours, putting the third strand as per Turkish knitting which is attached to your chest??

[@elainebos]

I really enjoyed your video about multi-color knitting. I am familiar with knitting parallel floats, but I am wondering what the other 3 float methods look like and am not clear on how they are executed (guess I am more of a visual learner). Have you made further videos exploring this topic? The only method that I have used is stranding, holding one yarn in each hand. I would like to see a video of using more than two colors in one hand, if there is a good one available?

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I have two other Casual Friday videos where I talking about parallel vs rotating floats. (The video on Collective Knitter Intelligence, published the week following the Multi-COlor knitting video; and the video from this past Friday, on Reading Norwegian Sweaters). I'm about to start a series of technique videos on stranded colorwork, so I will talk more about the various techniques, and demonstrate various possibilities in the coming weeks.

[@elainebos]

Roxanne Richardson Thank you so much for your reply and reference to the other videos. I will watch them. I am happy to hear that you are starting a series of technique videos on stranded knitting. I have done some stranded knitting, but have a lot more to learn. I do stranded knitting using both hands. I have not done any stranded knitting using more than two colors. I have developed a interest in all the wonderful Norwegian/Scandinavian type mittens. Currently am working on a pattern called, Night Owl mittens from Jorid Linvik’s Big Book of Mittens. I’ve completed the hands of the mittens but am stuck at the thumb. The thumb stitches were put on waste yarn, and I removed the waste yarn. After doing so, the stitches on upper part of the thumb look wonky because of the color changes. The stitch count is correct but some of the stitches look like YO’s instead of complete stitches. I am thinking that it must have something to do with the stranding, but I am not sure how to proceed. I think it would be nice if you or someone else would make a tutorial on a Scandinavian type mitten pattern. I found your discussion about stranded knitting was really interesting. Guess I am a knitting nerd...LOL!

[@misse-jensen]

YES YES YES YES I knew I was rigth when I always had said that you have to know a little about the traditions of knitting to know how to knit the "right" way to get a Fair isle knitting or scandinavian or levtian knitting and sometimes you don't have yarn dominans and I was thought that scandinavian knitting there is No dominans but there is in fair isle an the latvian knitting is a different way and all of the knitters I have meet in Denmark had said to me you are wrong.... Hmmmmm and know I'm so happy that you had made the great work so that you can explain the different ways to do colour work knitting... Thank you so much...

[@shirleyncesar]

I’m looking forward to seeing your technique videos on this subject. Sounds exciting!

[@mannabee240]

I would like to see a demo of rotating floats. I am new to multi knitting. I just taught myself how to knit two handed (parallel floats), but I've only been knitting for a few months so I have so much to learn.

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I did a series of videos on stranded colorwork in the months after this video. Check my playlists. There should be one called Stranded Colorwork.

[@mannabee240]

@@RoxanneRichardson I have seen some of these on how to hold the two colors and trap floats. I will look again for the rotating float method. Thank you so much!

[@RoxanneRichardson]

This one may be helpful: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZKwm3tudtaKZtU

[@bonitoclub]

Thanks so much! After watching your video I went back and watch the Arne & Carlos video about stranded colourowork and noticed that Arne always brings the yarn of both colours from underneath so it's actually twisting the yarn. So this explains why there's no colour dominance in Norwegian knitting? Tbe also have a video about how to untwist the yarns when they get tangled. So a question, if twisting removes the colour domjnance, is there a reason why you wouldn't always do this? Or is there a reason to sometimes use parallel stranding - because you might want colour dominance ? Thanks again!

[@RoxanneRichardson]

With parallel stranding, you avoid the twisting and tangling, so you can keep going. A couple people have mentioned Arne and Carlos's video, so I watched one, and tried to see if he was twisting, or not (he kept changing which hand he was knitting with, too, so I couldn't tell for sure whether his floats were parallel--I kept losing track of what was where). Having to untwist is a disadvantage, in that you have to stop and deal with it, but the advantage is there is no yarn dominance. His point about tension is valid to an extent. If your Continental tension isn't the same as your English tension, or if you are pulling your floats too tight, you'll have trouble, but the yarn dominance thing isn't something that is observable only with knitters who handle one yarn in each hand. Many knitters manage both yarns *at the same time* over their index finger (or an index and middle finger), and presuming you always knit the top strand from above, and the bottom strand from below, the floats will be parallel, and the bottom strand will be dominant. He mentioned that Norwegian knitters only have one yarn in their hand at a time, letting the other one dangle. That is a possible clue that he might be rotating his floats, but I'd have to see the back of the knitting to know for sure.

[@cydnicaldwell1337]

@@RoxanneRichardson I've watched a lot of videos on knitting on KZbin. I love Arne & Carlos, however, unless they are demonstrating a certain technique, Arne knits so fast it is very hard to see exactly what he's doing most of the time. I watch all the programs I can because everyone has a different way of accomplishing things. However I am currently trying Norwegian style knitting while knitting a project for a Christmas present that gauge isn't required. I've always been a tight tension knitter when I knit the way I learned - English style - and I've found that Norwegian style loosens my knitting and it is faster for me to knit. For now its slow going, because my hands and muscles aren't used to the movements. I'm getting better but I make sure to do at least a row a day so I can train myself to be comfortable with the style.

[@jvallas]

This is practically a thesis of its own! Amazing information, and you really go deep with your research.

[@NewJerseyLaura]

Fabulous 💕💕💕. The tornado drill made me laugh - brought back memories

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I wish the weather right now was more related to tornado season. (We're getting a foot of snow today!)

[@NewJerseyLaura]

Roxanne Richardson a foot of snow on April 14! At least you can enjoy the extended opportunity to wear wool - maybe Latvian mittens! Your videos are great! I look forward to them. The link to the thesis has had so much traffic I was blocked! Suspicious knitters!

[@siggylev4268]

This is very informative and I will be watching it multiple times as I gain knowledge for color work. I am a novice at color work and am planning on doing a lot of it so that I become skillful at it. I have been looking at videos and saving them so I can refer back to them as I hone my skill. Paper Tiger has only a few videos, but she talks about color work and has some good advise on, too. Thank you for this video and I am excited that you will be doing more videos on color work.

[@tammiesuebruner1487]

Way over my head but so fascinating to listen to. I will never be at this level.

[@sask]

I love BFL. It’s my favourite sheep breed for spinning yarn. (Also BFL/silk is to die for)

[@midgeporter7495]

Hi. I just found your channel via HeyKerianne on Ravelry where she talks about her project of the Tronheim Mittens. I am totally fascinated by your talk about explored different methods of yarn dominance and control in colourwork. Thank you so much for the links. I have only really done Fair Isle knitting and never really considered yarn dominance. I tend to twist the yarns to catch the floats but don't really think about which way I am doing it. All very haphazard! I am going to have a go at some swatching now. I am also fascinated by the talk of colour dominance. Again, new areas to explore. Textiles is such a fascinating subject :)

[@shoelessmonk1941]

its so neat to see your brain hungering for the light bulb to turn on...you get me thinking... love your videos. cannot wait to see what you say when you turn the mitten inside out. thank you so much! thanks for the link.

[@vivianlee4848]

I’m knitting a Birkin by Caitlin Hunter and it’s taking all the things you’re talking about here! Three colour stranding and struggling with gauge and yarn dominance and yarn twisting. It’s all the stuff I’ve been trying to figure out while working on this project. I’m enjoying the pattern and I’m getting better, but I really want to check that thesis! Thank you for this wonderful episode, it was very timely!

[@RoxanneRichardson]

The Casual Friday from the following week talks a bit more about yarn dominance and there are several Technique Tuesday videos from this summer where I discuss/demonstrate aspects of stranded colorwork, as well. Good luck on your project!

[@vivianlee4848]

Roxanne Richardson thanks!

[@suepeterson5042]

Excellent informative video. Thank you so much!

[@bigcitybuslines3872]

I just got into knitting, I am still trying to finish my first swatch. Interesting video to see where this can go. I crochet at an intermediate level, and had never considered you could get a masters in such things.

[@RoxanneRichardson]

The master hand knitting program is through TKGA - The Knitting Guild Association. It's not a master's degree program through a university (although more than one person who has done the program has said it was more challenging than their master's degree!)

[@bigcitybuslines3872]

​@@RoxanneRichardson Oh neat, I believe it would be challenging! I am looking at tkga.org right now, and it reminds me of looking at French baking school. Thank you so much.

[@hazeluzzell]

I was going to mention Arne and Carlos too! One of their comments was that ‘yarn dominance ‘ was considered to be a sign of poor tension in Scandinavia. I was born in UK in 1940 and we didn’t have knitting in schools. My sister taught me to knit when I was about 7 ..just knit and purl, the rest I picked up here and there. Skip on 30 years and I tried colourwork, just by experimentation. I had never heard of parallel floats, yarn dominance, float trapping or anything else, I just did what I thought necessary. The method I came up with as working the best? Rotating floats! Maybe that’s how the Latvians came up with it way back when...just do what works best 😀

[@russellmiles8783]

Me too! I'm self taught and a bit cack handed and rotating floats is the only way I can manage my colours!

[@helenread3272]

@@russellmiles8783 I am the same, I have knitted a latvian mitten and I just rotate the floats, I do one stitch twisting one way and the other twisting the other way to unravel the twist and it works and I have never had to worry about yarn dominance. I sometimes get into a ravel but not very often as I just flip the yarns. I hadn't thought about it until I recently looked at stranded colour work and leaned that you can keep one yarn in one hand the other yarn in the other. However, I also worked out that floats of up to 3 stiches were fine. I've also seen something about ladder stitch on fruity knitting podcast and they 'catch' the float as well, a bit like twisting the yarns but less fiddly.

[@luellscott6268]

@@helenread3272 So, I guess I'm not understanding the twist one way and then another, or over and under. i can't find anything video that Roxanne did to follow up with examples. Do you mind explaining? I'm new to stranded knitting and trying to figure out the best way and am so interested in NOT having a dominate color.

[@lottafischerstrom3668]

Same with me (a native Swede), also an autodidact. We never got to multi-color knitting in grade school, so when I tried it out for myself in my late teens, I did what came natural, which happened to be parallel floats (although I never thought of it as such). When I took up multi-color knitting a year ago (had a bout of cable knitting in between, some 20-30 years ago) my daughter-in-law asked how I did the floats -- and my face was a big question mark. The concept of 'color dominance' was also news to me. So it's been really interesting to follow Roxanne's tutorials, including this account. Have to look up Olle-Petter's thesis - which I will be able to read in original language (!). Really interesting to hear that school streamlined us to hold the yarn in our left hand. Must have been common even before that, too, because both my great influencers' in knitting (grandma and mother-in-law) went to school long before the 50's, and both held the yarn in their left hand.

[@BeautifulOaks]

Hi Rox, I started stranded knitting two months ago on little Easter egg and a hat project. I like learning more ways to incorporate color creatively but I’ll stick to small projects. Thank you for your studies and videos on stranded color work and Fair Isle knitting. Your videos help me understand or notice what I do and don’t do. Ha ha ha Your explanations of breaking down the techniques and theory are great tools for applications. I wish there were more teachers that taught principles and techniques in mathematics, art, sciences and language courses like that instead of “it’s going to take some time.”

[@elisapokkinen4882]

I really appreciate the expertice you have and the effort you put into all of your videos! Thank you so much.

[@RoxanneRichardson]

Glad you like them!

[@minkaf4243]

I hope you do a video tutorial of this color work method. Now I can’t remember what it’s called... spiraling? Winding?

[@RoxanneRichardson]

Rotating floats. I did a 3-part series on colorwork, recently that included rotating floats. (There's a playlist on my channel of those videos.) Also, the week after the multi-color knitting Casual Friday, I did a follow up regarding parallel floats/rotating floats, and then in June I did a Casual Friday that talked about my visit to the Norwegian American museum, where I examined the inside of 25ish sweaters knit between 1910 and 1985.

[@Jess-ix8do]

I'm so jealous of people having local yarn shops :(. The closest one to me is over 2 hrs away so I have never been. I would love to go in and just feel all the different types of yarn. Right now I'm limited to a Michael's and we just got a hobby lobby although both are about 40 minutes away. Love that you chose colorwork as that is my goal this year :) done a few things but my tension is still a bit wonky. May I also say I love that you are super inquisitive like me and will not stop researching until you get an answer

[@vickibee9264]

Very informative video! Can't wait to see your follow-up technique videos!

[@NinaKeilin]

I think I will have to watch this several times to understand some of the techniquesI would be reluctant to try one of the techniques with a lot of twisting. I saw twined knitting on another podcast and my mind was boggled.

[@judylinn2308]

I landed here trying to get some direction about how to pick up the colors in fair isle (stranded) knitting. Is it over or under the other color? Anyway, watched the entire video because your excitement is contagious! The learning continues. Thank you!

[@amarasharon]

Very thorough and fascinating, as usual Rox. It's worth experimenting on your own, like your sample, to fully understand the differences. Awaiting more!

[@AngelaDChildress]

Who the heck gave this a Thumbs Down?!?!?! Are they Borg or something??? I had to listen to this video at least 5 times and I still haven't unpacked all the info. Thank you!

[@amazontrish]

All these years I've just been casually lurking and peeking in to your channel every once in a while.... I had no idea you were in the twin cities until I heard you mention it here! Speaking of yarn shops in the twin cities, have you been into beWoolen in Maple Grove? I love it there! It's my happy place. And the ladies that own it are absolute gems!

[@RoxanneRichardson]

Oh, I haven't heard of that one. I've been to Amazing Threads, but I didn't realize there was another one up there. Maple Grove is quite a hike for me (I'm in SW Mpls), so I usually go to shops that are a bit closer. I will have to stop by there at some point, and check it out!

[@amazontrish]

@@RoxanneRichardson you can also check out their website. Before making the hike up there. I'm in North Brooklyn Park so it's a mere 15 minutes commute for me.

[@delmahockett1747]

Wow Roxanne I’m intrigued learning about color work! I’ve been one that followed the assumption that I had to twist yarn when changing colours!😲 Thank You, Delma😀🧶

[@RoxanneRichardson]

You are so welcome!

[@richardteale3217]

😮Hi Roxanne and greetings from Yorkshire England . If you are ever over here, my kettle is always on . I’m a carpenter and boatbuilder and taught myself sock knitting during lockdown . I have a question, can stranded colour work only be worked in the round ?

[@RoxanneRichardson]

It can be done flat, but most knitters prefer to knit it in the round, and most patterns are designed with that ease in mind.

[@janhill43]

Amazing video! Thank you! I'm so excited to learn more.

[@sheryltisdale]

Good info-as usual! Looking forward to next weeks video and hearing about what you find out in your next class! Thank you

[@lafrileuse4459]

Thank you so much for the link to Olle-Petter Melin's master's thesis. Wow!

[@NYKnitter]

Been searching for something on 3 color knitting , this just came up lately , it was a short portion , but had no idea how to deal with it , and had the same though about yarn dominance of the 2 background colors.

[@teslaandhumanity7383]

My daughter lives in Yorkshire I can’t wait to visit her . Love the undyed blue faced Leicester yarn 🧶

[@elena33009]

Phenomenally interesting discussion. Thank you, Roxanne!

[@aminabi3847]

I found this video on my home page and thought o should watch it ... I'm a beginner so pretty new to knitting but find it very fascinating .. am also very slow so it takes me a lot longer to knit for example a baby blanket (first one) took over a period of 4 weeks 🙈 which now takes half that time now to knit a baby set .... but still takes hours to knit .... I've tried colours and pretty much regretted as i was struggling and was using videos to try and help me but in the end I just decided to twist the yarn so it catches every stitch as it was much easier for me and and then untwist the yarns at the the end of each row (time consuming took 4 weeks to complete) .. you pointed out how you could twist it one way then the other way and you notice a zig zag thing going on ( not sure of the right terminology.) I didnt really like the effect as it wasnt really smooth so i just twisted the yarn in every stitch but then theres the issue of tension as theres no stretch to it ... how do i avoid that ... and my other issue was that the you could see the second coliur in the front . But yes i I absolutely loved this video and realised i was doing some of the things mentioned just out of whatever i found easier to do and things ive come arcross these last few months ... (started knitting in end ofdec 2019)

[@sanumvilenavinavilessons8198]

Have you looked into Portuguese/Peruvian knitting and how they handle multicolor work? Thank you for that thought experiment and the link to the master's thesis.

[@kameliapandaklieva2453]

This was most helpful. Thank you.

[@Stretch1003]

Fascinating info about the colorwork.

[@bdarci]

I have knit 2 color-work projects. In fact they are the same hat, but knit utilizing two methods of handling the yarn. In the first I held the two colors, one in each hand, and wove in the floats every other stitch. The result wasn't very attractive, and was very time consuming. The second time, I knit with one color, then picked up the next color, all using the left hand. I locked in long floats, but otherwise just tried to keep them loose. That looked much better, but the picking up and dropping of yarns was not very efficient. I'm really looking forward to your color-work experiments. I watched a video of Carlos and Arne doing color-work, in which they declared that dominance meant that you were doing it wrong. All their color stitches are the same size. As I said, I await your upcoming videos. Thank you.

[@FeannaFey]

If I remember right they did claim that dominance in colorwork means your tension is sloppy, maybe because you aren't holding the yarn right because you're not used to holding yarn in one of your hands. I do feel like that's not really true and this video shows a nigh see swatch for that. So it could be a difference in technique like discussed in other comments, or a difference in perception of finished products, or.......