Thursday, November 15, 2007

Which yarn in which hand

Hi Cheryl

I think your problem might be the position of your yarns --

In Autumn Rose -- the reds are the background and the golds are the pattern --

If you are knitting two handed fair isle -- hold the red (the background shade) in your right hand, and the pattern shade, the gold, in your left hand.....that way the pattern shade is always coming from underneath the background shade -- it makes the pattern stitch ever so slightly larger and it stands out more.

If you're working with both strands in one hand -- just make sure that you're always carrying the background shade above with the pattern shade carrying along below -- never twisting.
If a piece of knitting is done with the yarns changing position -- it does stand out -- I was surprised the first time I saw this.

Anne

2 comments:

Cheryl said...

Thanks Anne! I think you may have something there. Since this is my first fair isle I've been experimenting with how to hold the yarn. Some of it I did holding both strands in the left and some I did with the RED in the LEFT hand (I normally knit continental so this is easier for me) Maybe that is why the red is looking more prominent.

Also, I've never followed a chart like this where it only shows half of the sts and the increases (so I hope that isn't contributing to the problem). I'm just reading the chart from right to left as usual, repeating the pattern across the whole round. I'm waiting on the excel chart from chappysmom so I hope that will help confirm I am doing it right.

Anonymous said...

You're reading the chart properly Cheryl -- I definitely think it's the position of your yarns -- so switch them over and stay consistent and you'll see the difference it makes!

Anne