I'm just a knitter,

standing in front of stranded knitting, asking it to love her.

For someone who teaches a class called Colorwork Without Stranding, it might seem kinda weird that I also love stranded knitting. But I do. Stranded, mosaic, dip and slip stitches, you name it. Colorwork of all kinds is so much fun, and I’ve never regretted learning a new technique.

Plus, if you give something a try, you might love it or at least have an extra tool in your tool kit if you need it later.

There are lots of ways to approach stranded knitting, and how I work it is only one way to do it:

As you can see in the video, I'm a continental knitter and a “picker” (insert silly comment that my inner 12 y.o. would make :p). I keep the contrasting color (the one I want to pop in the design) on the left side of my finger, and the background color to the right.

Many knitters hold both yarns in their right hand and are throwers, and some will hold the dominant color with their left hand and the background color in their right. Cool, huh?

The best way to do it is whatever is most comfortable and enjoyable for you and gives you a result that makes you happy.

So I’m curious. How do you approach stranded colorwork? Hit me up here:

However you work stranded knitting, a common concern is making sure your floats are neither too tight or too loose. Notice in the video that I stretch out the stitches on my right needle frequently. This goes along with pushing a few stitches forward on the left needle frequently, too.

Stretching the sts on the right needle after a long float keeps the float just the right length.

And not bunching a ton of stitches into the queue on the left needle can help the tension as you knit them.

As always, ymmv and it takes some practice. But the results are totally worth it:

I was so happy to see the new Hot Cider Hat in Miss Babs’ booth at Rhinebeck this past weekend (they sold out of the show colorways quickly and are now taking preorders). One of the knitters who visited the booth mentioned later that they liked how the top of the hat reminded them a little bit of a spider web…that um…wasn’t my intention, but I’m totally going with it as a Halloween-y design feature.

Decide for yourself:

Wherever you are, I hope you’re enjoying some lovely October knitting, maybe with a hot cuppa next to you, and time to enjoy both.

Big Love,

Mary (aka Lyrical Knits)

P.S. There’s been a new port added to the Iceland-Norway-Fjords cruise with Laura Nelkin and myself this coming June: We will now stop for a glorious day in the omg Faroe Islands (!) and we’ve been able to add 2 more cabins to our group. If you’re interested, click here or the photo below to get the info. We’re going to have a wonderful time!