This
past autumn, after perusing knitting patterns on Pinterest and admiring
one delicious colorwork pattern after another, I decided it was
high-time I learned how to knit with stranded colorwork!
I quickly commenced
to dust off my trusty, double-pointed needles and turned to Youtube
for some information and advice.
After watching quite a few tutorials, the videos that ended up helping me the very most were:
THIS ONE by Suzanne Bryan, which shows how to catch and carry floats. I especially appreciated Suzanne's technique because she shows you how to hold both yarns at the same time, one in each hand. (This method seemed to make the knitting go a lot quicker for me.)
THIS VIDEO by Roxanne Richards, is a very clear introduction into stranded colorwork and shows different techniques that can be used.
And THIS VIDEO by Roxanne Richards, which shows how to read a knitting chart.
After working some practice swatches, my first colorwork project that I undertook was a pair of nautical-themed socks. I was also attempting to write my own sock pattern for the first time, so there ended up being quite a bit of trial and error!
I'm going to save how my nautical socks turned out for another post, and share about my second colorwork project instead, because I actually followed a pattern the second time 'round. 😉
I ended up checking out the book "Socks from Around Norway" by
Nina Granlund Saether from the library, and I'm so glad I did! With over 40 traditional, Norwegian knitting patterns to pore over, Saether's book is a delightful collection of patterns. I particularly enjoyed the history on Norwegian knitting that was included before each pattern, as well as the many different heel techniques shown at the beginning of the book. It was a very fun read, and I'll definitely revisit it again in the future.
After studying all the lovely patterns, I settled upon the "Halling" sock.
It has a relatively simple color chart and the small pattern repeat made it a great choice for beginner colorwork practice.
While this book is extremely interesting and informative, it's intention is not to actually teach the basics of stranded knitting. So, if you're a beginner (like me!), it would definitely be helpful to watch some of the videos linked above that demonstrate the process before starting one of the projects in the book.
And here's the finished pair!
I've officially been hooked on colorwork now,
and have had a lot of fun trying my hand at designing some patterns.
I'll have to share more about some of my other knitting adventures soon. 😊🧶
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