# First colorwork?



## BlueberryChick (May 12, 2008)

I have some special souvenir yarn that I'm pretty sure wants to be mittens. There's two balls each of a light green and a purple. I think they would look fantastic together. The problem is that I've never done any colorwork in my knitting. I think I need to practice on something small and simple before I start on my "special yarn".

Suggestions on where to start?


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## Wind in Her Hair (Jul 18, 2002)

BlueberryChick - several years ago we did a fingerless KAL that was the first colorwork for many of us. It was the Lusekofte mittens and they were easy.


http://www.ravelry.com/projects/WIHH/lusekofte-sque-mitts

or you can "play" with colorwork but doing a simple scarf - like this one with many different color pattern sample blocks like this Kristin Nicholas design.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/extra-long-scarf-for-extra-cold-days

Colorwork is way easier than it looks as long as you remember to:

use only two different colors on a row (never more)
and never stretch or float the unused color over more than 5 stitches - otherwise you end up with messy backside floats that catch on everything and distort the pattern.

Also Kristin Nicholas also suggests going up a size needle on colorwork rows -down from the the solids rows. 

So if you use a US #6 on the solid rows, you use a US#7 on the colorwork rows and that reduces the amount of pulling and stretching and distortion as well.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

A good practice piece for color work in the round would be a coffee cozy. Also check out mosaic knitting. I recently took a class in that. It's super easy too and looks much harder than it is.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

You can always just do stripes. Another alternative would be to knit 2 purple, knit 2 green for two or three rows, then 2 green and 2 purple for a checked look. As long as you remember to stretch the knitting in between color changes, you'll do great. And, if you are holding each color in a different hand, always keep the same color in the same hand.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Those sheep socks were my first _real _colorwork (except for working some mittens where I knit 1 MC, then 1 CC so it looked like stripes going up the mitten.)

Like WIHH mentioned, you really need to go up at least one needle size (I went up 3 needle sizes for the sock) when working the colorwork


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## Lythrum (Dec 19, 2005)

I think practicing with a bigger in-the-round project might be easier than starting with something small, like a toboggan or something. It would get you familiar with the technique and knit up pretty quick.


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## BlueberryChick (May 12, 2008)

Thanks so much for the suggestions. A coffee cozy sounds like my kind of starting point! 

Do I understand correctly that it's easier to work color/pattern in the round, both because it's all knit stitch and because I won't have to work the pattern "backward" on the purl side?

Oh, and it occurred to me that not only have I never done colorwork of any kind, I had also never made mittens. So yesterday afternoon, I pulled out a bit of leftover handspun and followed a mitten recipe for a toddler size. Even with my limited spinning and knitting skills, they are so cute!
View attachment 26799


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Those turned out nicely . What pattern did you use? Generally if you can make socks or mittens you can make the other pretty easily. They have a lot in common, socks and mittens.

As far as if it is easier to work in the round than flat, I think it is a matter of opinion. I personally do not have the hate and loathing some people have for the purl stitch. It's just another stitch, the opposite of a knit :shrug: the trick to color work whether it is in the round of flat is to resist the urge to tug the yarn snug. You want to leave it a bit loosey goosey. If you mess it up you will know. And it would be a good thing to use yarns of similar fibers. My first ever color attempt when I first started knitting was a baby had from Hand Spun Home Knit. I knew nothing about fibers. I mixed wool with acrylic and various other blends. I also didn't know about not tugging the yarn snug. The very top of the hat was in red. When I finished it and washed it, not knowing about shrinkage, the hat came out looking like a breast with a big red nipple :shocked: :facepalm: let's just say I learned a LOT on that hat. Don't sweat the practice piece and learn from your mistakes.


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## Wind in Her Hair (Jul 18, 2002)

cute mittens and yes, Kristin Nicholas also recommends startting off with "in the round" colorwork/Fair Isle as a first attempt at color knitting.

Marchwind, you are hilarious! :grin:


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## BlueberryChick (May 12, 2008)

Marchwind said:


> Those turned out nicely . What pattern did you use? Generally if you can make socks or mittens you can make the other pretty easily. They have a lot in common, socks and mittens.
> 
> As far as if it is easier to work in the round than flat, I think it is a matter of opinion. I personally do not have the hate and loathing some people have for the purl stitch. It's just another stitch, the opposite of a knit :shrug: the trick to color work whether it is in the round of flat is to resist the urge to tug the yarn snug. You want to leave it a bit loosey goosey. If you mess it up you will know. And it would be a good thing to use yarns of similar fibers. My first ever color attempt when I first started knitting was a baby had from Hand Spun Home Knit. I knew nothing about fibers. I mixed wool with acrylic and various other blends. I also didn't know about not tugging the yarn snug. The very top of the hat was in red. When I finished it and washed it, not knowing about shrinkage, the hat came out looking like a breast with a big red nipple :shocked: :facepalm: let's just say I learned a LOT on that hat. Don't sweat the practice piece and learn from your mistakes.


That cracked me up! (pause while I wipe the milk off my screen)

The sock pattern is from a book, I Can't Believe I'm Knitting Mittens, by Cynthia Guggemos. I'm pretty sure I bought it at a Joann's or Michaels. It has a basic sock recipe at the beginning and follows with 7 or 8 patterns.

I actually don't mind purling, I just do better with one-thing-at-a-time knitting. If I am just going around and doing the same stitch, I can concentrate on the color changes.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Working color on the 'wrong' side is easy if, as I wrote, you are doing 2 Color A, 2 Color B. On the easy side, you make the change, then on the hard side you just repeat.


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

I don't mind doing ordinary knitting flat, but with colourwork you have all those floats - it seems simpler to do it in the round.

That said I had some trouble with keeping the tension loose on DPNS - but I did my first colourwork on a small circular, I made a case for my tablet. It turned out fantastic!


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## BlueberryChick (May 12, 2008)

I managed mittens for my 8yo daughter. Yay! They have a simple checkerboard pattern just above the cuff. 

View attachment 26948


View attachment 26949


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Great! But, for mittens that are definitely right hand or left hand, I put some kind of pattern on the back of the hand so it&#8217;s easier for kids to get them correct. Could be a simple K1, P1 seed stitch for 9 stitches.


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## Kasota (Nov 25, 2013)

BBC - look at you go!!!!  

FH - love your tablet case, too!


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Yay BbC!!!


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Maura said:


> Great! But, for mittens that are definitely right hand or left hand, I put some kind of pattern on the back of the hand so itâs easier for kids to get them correct. Could be a simple K1, P1 seed stitch for 9 stitches.


Or a Bow, a Button ect. I put a handmade button on the back of all my hats,a deer antler button. My hats are called Bonehead Hats.


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