Before you can do something that you’ve never done before,
you have to be able to imagine it’s possible.
[Jean Shinoda Bolen]

I’m currently working on a new pattern for a small sock that I can use as a workshop project. I want to teach the non-stop heel turn that I like to use, but don’t want to take up too much of the workshop time doing a leg to get to the heel. When I write a pattern, I try to imagine how a knitter will read it. I have varying levels of success and my greatest asset is having a beginning knitter use the pattern. If I can get someone to say, “What do you mean by this?” then I can write a better pattern.

Also, I’ve had a number of requests for the pattern I used for the argyle vest that I wrote about several weeks ago. I knit that thirty years ago and lost track of the pattern. One of my blog readers, Sara, found the pattern on line! That got me to thinking. I swore I’d never knit argyle again (intarsia isn’t a favorite technique of mine), but I now have a vest pattern growing in my mind. I’ll keep you posted on the development of this.

Surround yourself with people who are going to lift you higher.
[Oprah Winfrey]

I am honored that Schoolhouse Press is now offering my new CD book through their mail-order business.

Many years ago, I took my mother to Meg Swansen’s Knitting Camp in Marshfield, Wisconsin. My mother was wheel-chair bound, and I went mainly to care for her. Knitting Camp was wonderful, and I was bit by the knitting bug anew. The following year, we returned and I won a contest with a pair of socks I’d designed. I was so encouraged that I went home and designed all of the socks in the original version of …and a time to knit stockings. Meg helped me market my book and I sold out two printings.

After that, Mama and I made an annual pilgrimage to Marshfield for Knitting Camp. We enjoyed the companionship, stimulating ideas, shopping at the Schoolhouse press tables, and basking in the warm and encouraging atmosphere created by Meg and her team of helpers. Being a part of that gathering lifted us higher.

For more information about Meg Swansen’s Schoolhouse Press and Knitting Camp, select this LINK.

Just remember, there’s a right way and a wrong way to do everything,
and the wrong way is to keep trying to make everybody else do it the right way.
[Colonel Potter, M*A*S*H]

In knitting, any technique that produces the results you desire is “the right way.” In the text of an excellent knitting reference book, the auther insists that the best way to hold the yarn is between the thumb and first finger of the right hand without wrapping the yarn around any fingers. I insist that the best way to hold the yarn is the method that works best for you.

A two-handed method is commonly taught for managing two strands of yarn. I tried that long enough to get proficient at it, but was not happy with the results. I experimented with other ways to hold the strands, and the method demonstrated here produces the smoothest results for me. I am left handed so I do most of my movements with my left hand. My right hand mainly holds the yarn, kind of like a spool on a sewing machine.

1. This image shows the position of my hands and the yarn. The strand that lies nearest my hand (the light color) always falls on top of the darker strand as I change colors. I could hold it so the dark always falls on top. The main thing to remember is to keep the same color falling on top since it will show if you switch the order in the middle of a piece of knitting.

2. This image shows how I wrap the yarn on my hand—like threading a sewing machine for tension control. Notice that I’ve separated the strands with my ring finger. I find that this helps in keeping the strands separated over my index finger.

3 & 4. These images show how I select and knit first one color then the other.

When I taught myself this technique, I worked slowly until my hands were used to the new motor skill. Now, I can knit with the same speed and smoothness as though I were knitting one strand.

Perseverance is not a long race;
it is many short races one after another.
[Walter Elliott]

Watching a color pattern grow as you knit can be so enchanting you might not get your bed made or the dishes washed. You keep saying to yourself, “Just one more row and then I’ll go run the vacuum.” If you would like to add this technique to your set of knitting skills (and if you don’t worry about housework), go for it. It is worth the effort.

STRANDED KNITTING—I use that term because it is more general than the term, “Fair Isle.” To me, Fair Isle knitting uses a stranded-knitting technique to acheive color designs that are traditional to one geographical area. The same technique is also used for color patterns that are identifiably Scandinavian, Russian, etc. Stranded knitting describes the process of carrying two colors of yarn while knitting a color pattern. One color strands across the back while the other color is being knit.

Learning how to comfortably carry the two strands of yarn while knitting stockinette is not difficult—it simply requires perseverence. At first, it feels awkward but, given time and practice, it becomes a comfortable motor skill. Many people carry one color in each hand. I taught myself (slowly at first) to carry both colors over one finger. I can control the tension more evenly, and knit as fast as working stockinette with one color.

HINTS:
1. Start slowly. You can build up speed after your fingers learn the new motor skill.
2. Keep the strand at the back loose so it doesn’t pucker the fabric.
3. When working rows of one-color stockinette along with bands of stranded knitting, use a size smaller needle for the one-color areas. The stranded knitting is less elastic.
4. Likewise, when knitting a garment like socks in stranded knitting, use a size larger needles or more stitches than you normally use.
5. The complex appearance of the pattern is an illusion. Like all hand knitting, it is worked only one stitch at a time, one row at a time. If you focus on that, the pattern will grow before your eyes.

The vest in the photograph took about the same amount of time as knitting a pair of stockings. I used a sport-weight woolen yarn knitted on US #3 circular needles. This is a US size 12/14 garment.