Hello knitters! I have setted myself the goal to learn a new technique every few months. Now that I’m comfortable knitting in the round I’m looking to dip my toes into colorwork and was wondering if you had any recomendations for patterns to introduce me to fair isle. Preferably a small project, as I’d like to work my way into a sweater.
Thanks in advance for any recs, I’ve already learnt so much from you guys here :)
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Jamie Lomax’s Doodle series of patterns are a fun way to dip your toes in color work (stranded knitting). You pick a single sided cowl or a infinity loop knit in the round. The pattern comes with a bunch of little mini charts, most are worked two colors at a time, and you pick which ones you want to use and which order. Her website https://www.pacificknitco.com/ and she’s on ravelry https://www.ravelry.com/designers/jamie-lomax
I’ve seen those patterns on Ravelry but I thought they were way too over my head. Thanks for letting me know they’re acually newbie-friendly. I think I’m gonna try the Basic Doodle cowl first :)
@kurobita I did my first stranded colorwork on a cowl pattern: “Selbu Cowl” by Inge Skeie (on Ravelry.) Not for new knitters but not that difficult either. Two purple colors of Rauma Finull, rustic fingering weight. I think a colorwork cowl would be easier to do first than mittens or a sweater. // For sweater yoke colorwork patterns I often hear knitting YouTubers recommend going up one needle size on the colorwork than the rest of the body. Good luck.
@kurobita do you want stranded colourwork in general or actual fair isle? If the first, you could start with mittens or a hat, like https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/starkin (you could start with just 2 colours)
I have to be honest and confess I honestly have no idea of the terminology, let’s say anything but Intarsia lol
@kurobita fair isle is a subset/implementation of stranded colourwork, so you can safely go with the latter and knit your heart out :)
thank you! and thanks for the pattern recomendation, those look so cute/cozy!
@kurobita wearing a pair right now! They’re super warm because you effectively have two layers of yarn.
oh, pro tip: get wool that’s a bit rustic, like Shetland or Norwegian or whatever is sticky/grippy around where you live. SO MUCH easier than, like, superwash merino if you’re starting with colourwork.
@kurobita if you want to do fair isle, you could look at the Shetland Wool Week hats, they’re super fun! Hazel Tindall designed a couple of them and she has many more patterns for small projects.
I’m also keen to learn colourwork so I’ve been boning up. Top tip so far: don’t use full balls of the additional colours. Instead, wind a goodly length on to a bobbin. https://fullywoolly.co.uk/products/clover-knitting-bobbin-set-332 This makes it easier to control the yarn.
Also, there’s a technique of holding the main yarn in one hand and the colour in the other. Knit one using English method (throwing) and other using Continental. https://youtu.be/JOYBE11s640?feature=shared
The big caveat here is that I haven’t actually done any of this! I have the yarn to make a fair isle hat, but my one attempt was a terrible failure, because I had done zero research. Once I’ve finished my current project I’m going to have another go. Keep us posted on how you get on…
