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| Accidental photo taken for video production when camera was on wrong setting. |
Weaving Yarns…to
catch long floats
On the top of my very unofficial poll of the things that
most concern beginning stranded knitters are how to…
hold the yarns
how to get even tension
how to weave in yarns to catch long floats
We’ve talked about the first two…but before we get into the
“weaving” part, let’s talk about why you want to catch the long floats.
Just like there are different types of tensions, when you
talk about “weaving in” yarns, more than one type of weaving comes to mind.
There is the weaving in of the ends when finishing a garment and there is
catching or weaving in long floats. We’ll talk about the catching of long
floats type of weaving here….and save the weaving of ends for the “finishing”
segment.
A float, as you will remember, is another name for the span
of the non-working yarn that is stranded across the back of the fabric. Long
floats are just that…long strands of yarn looping across the inside of your
garment. In addition to catching jewelry and fingers when the garment is pulled
on, these loops can be a detriment to even tension. (See list of concerns
above.)
If you are working with yarn that felts easily…like Shetland
wool…this finger catching nuisance may not be as big of a problem, however, if
just for the sake of even tension, catching the non-working yarn is a pretty
good practice. Also, we will use the technique again in the next two sections.
What you are trying to do here is to trap the stranded yarn
between the back of the project and the working yarn. If you remember, there
are two stranded coming out of the back of your work…the one on top (or over or
above) and the one on the bottom (or under or below). There is a different way
to catch each of these yarns.
If you are holding your yarns in the same hand...either
right or left…you will need to take the over yarn from under the under yarn or
the under yarn from over the over yarn. If that is about as clear as mud, let
me try again.
If you look at your hands at the two yarns…the over yarn
should be towards the right...call it purple…and the under yarn should be
towards the left…call it green.
So say you are working a series of purple stitches and you
need to catch the green yarn in the back so there will not be a long green float.
You will need to go under the green yarn and to work the purple…twisting the
two and catching the green yarn.
If you are working a long series of green stitches and need
to catch the purple yarn, you’ll need to go over the purple to work the green.
….and if that is still indecipherable, I might remind you
that I knit stranded two handed…and it might be easier to check for a video online than to listen to me. ;)
Now…if you have decided you are a two handled stranded
knitter, here are two videos of how I do this catching floats thing.
The first shows catching the left hand yarn with the
right….which is accomplished by just tilting the left yarn forward so the right
yarn can go behind it to work the stitch.
The second video shows a multi-step process of catching the
right yarn with the left…which is accomplished by sticking the right needle
into the stitch as if to knit...and holding the needle there until all of the
following shenanigans are finished…then…wrapping the right hand yarn around the
needle as if you are going to work it western style…scooping or picking the
left yarn continental style, unwrapping the right yarn…and then…and only
then…completing the stitch by pulling the left yarn through the loop and taking
the new stitch off the left needle onto the right.
Ok, now…your next question is when do I do these little yarn
dances? The answer is …it varies. (Doesn't it always with knitting?) Some say in a run of 4-5 stitches …some say 7-9…some
say it depends on your gauge …others say you catch the back yarn if the float
is to be over an inch in length. Some styles of stranded knitting have you do
this every stitch…producing a very dense fabric.
What do I do? I usually don’t have a float of longer than
three stitches…no matter the gauge or the yarn. This means I will catch the
stranding yarn on the third and sixth stitch…if the run is that long. “Knit,
knit, catch” just becomes a rhythm on the long runs. I am doing it too often?
Maybe…but it works for me…and it makes things consistent. :)
Next week: Using this weaving techniques to add new yarns and finish with old ones. Also, using weaving to help prevent laddering.
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