The solid-color Stripes! is about half way; I'm an inch into the body and then the sleeves. I'm fully aware that making a solid colored sweater on a striped pattern
is ridiculous, but I really like the fit of the pattern! Made in Quince and Co.'s Chickadee yarn (in the Cypress colorway), it is a welcome break from the stranded work. Although I'm thinking about tackling that Mackworth next, so it must not be too bad.
In truth, my feelings about stranded work go something like this: the first repeat or so, Oh, this is fun! See the pattern, look at the different colors, I'm getting the hang of two-handed knitting! Then the next couple of repeats go like this: grumble, grumble, left hand yarn keeps losing tension or dropping off my finger all together, floats are messy, the knitting is all bunched on one side because there's so much sweater hanging off the needles, I hate this, my fingers hurt, why did I ever think I would like stranded work? And then back to : Oh this is fun! See what I can make with two yarns! Just work a row of repeats every day and Bob's your uncle! And on, ad infinitum. But really, a yoked sweater is a small amount of colorwork relative to the rest of the sweater, and I'm nothing if not doggedly persistent. *snort*
My Yolk! sweater is coming along--just miles of stockinette on the body, although I'm starting to wonder if I made a mistake on the yarn color for the body. Kate's sample (which I LOVE) is navy blue on the bottom, and when I purchased my yarn, I thought I was going a bit into teal, which works better in my wardrobe, but this dye-lot is quite green with a lot of purple accents in it, and I'm not sure I'm a fan. I have a hat out of the same colorway in DK weight and it isn't nearly so green or purple in tone. Palette yarn is pretty inexpensive, however, so if I wanted to redo the body in something more like Shoal, I think it wouldn't be too bad, provided I quit knitting now. Although, looking at it again in the light of my living room, it looks more teal with earth tones, like my hat, so maybe it just looks green/purple under fluorescent lighting?
I can't remember when I started stranded colourwork. I should look that up but I estimate it was 5 years ago (I suck at understanding time so don't hold me to this.) I started with cowls - I must have done 10 in a row. It was, in retrospect, a great way to develop skill - no increases or decreases, simple tube. My knitting friends started to joke about my cowl obsession :-) FWIW, I am firmly a right-handed knitter (flicker), though I use my left hand to write. My left hand also has the arthritis (so my left dexterity is further limited some of the time). Hopefully it will help you to know that I am not a good continental knitter but I can make it happen when stranding, and it might even be good that my tension is so loose with left hand, given how stranding tends to be tight for many. IMO - it's just about finding a groove. So keep doing the colourwork and you will get better and better and more natural - quite quickly! I think it's a rare person who finds it totally natural in the beginning. Also, for 3 colours or more, get one of those rings to use with your right hand (so you can hold 2 strands in that hand at the same time, with more ease).
ReplyDeleteOoh, good to know! Three colors kind of intimidates me, to be honest, but I think the Mackworth has a few lines with three colors at once, so I'd better look into that ring thing. I will say, I did get into a good rhythm pretty quickly, and was surprised how much I enjoyed it. I do need to work on my tension and keeping my floats loose--I tend to knit tightly as it is, and after the first color change, I think I got paranoid that they were too loose, so did the classic newbie thing and tugged them tight as I went. Duh. At least I know for next time (and can go up a needle size to mitigate some of it). I also read a tip from Tasha (By Gum By Golly) to keep your stitches stretched out on the needle instead of scrunching them up, as it gives you a better sense of how long the float needs to be.
DeleteIt's such a rabbit hole. I looked it up and I did my first cowl in 2017. Not so long ago. And since then I do it fairly frequently (but randomly). I have to be in the mood. I def feel my witch-status when I strand. I love feeling that part of my brain kick in.
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