Hi everybody! I just got my kit yesterday and cast on for my swatch tonight. I'm so excited about this sweater.
However, I do have a question. I'm not very experienced in fair isle knitting, but I have heard that if you hold a strand in each hand (like I do) you have to worry about which hand has the "dominant" yarn (I think that's the right term). While knitting my swatch, I'm just taking whatever color is first up in the row in the right hand and the second color in the left hand, but I'm pretty sure this isn't the right way to do it.
Sooo... on to my question! I can't tell from the chart which colors are supposed to be dominant in each row. Is there any way to tell? Does this even matter?
Thanks in advance for any help!
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Yarn dominance does matter. If you don't pay attention to it, things will end up looking more fraternal than identical.
I've be placing the gold/line drawing colours in my dominant hand and am liking the result so far.
As for what you are "supposed" to do, most people use the patterning yarn as the dominant one so that the pattern really pops. At the end of the day it is all just a matter of preference. While swatching you may way to try both and see which you prefer.
Here's a link for some more info,
http://nonaknits.typepad.com/nonaknits/2006/01/yarn_dominance.html
The dominant color--the "pattern" color rather than the "background" color--should be held in the left hand . . . since it has slightly further to travel, each of those stitches will therefore have a little more yarn and stand out just a little more than the stitches from the yarn in the right hand. In this sweater, of course, the "pattern" color is the lighter one. (Confusingly symbolized by the dark squares on the chart.)
Good luck!
Hey there :)
http://fairisleknitting.blogspot.com/
This is a great place for little tidbits of fair isle info. If you scroll down to Tip #8 (towards the very bottom of the first post) you'll see the section on yarn dominance. She links a pic where you can see a completed sweater in which the knitter kept switching colors and the results of not knitting consistently (be it the dominant color or not) can be witnessed.
Have fun!
I assumed that Eunny wanted the colors listed on the right hand column to be the dominant or right side colors and the colors in the column on the left as the recessive colors and therefore, held on the left. Good luck. I can't get the hang of english knitting so I've been carrying both colors continental. Works fine but the four stitch floats are a bit tricky.
Thanks everyone! I get it now. Sitsipknit, thanks for the link, I think that website will be very helpful.
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