So, you’ve mastered the knit and purl stitch. You can cast on without breaking a sweat and bind off neatly. Your scarves are straight, your dishcloths are square-ish, and you’re starting to feel that familiar itch – the desire for something more. The world of knitting stretches far beyond the garter stitch horizon, offering textures, patterns, and colors that can transform simple yarn into truly stunning fabric. Moving beyond the basics opens up a playground of possibilities, allowing you to create garments and accessories with intricate details and personal flair. Let’s dive into some of the most popular and rewarding techniques that await you: cables, lace, and the vibrant world of colorwork including Intarsia and Fair Isle.
Twists and Turns: The Magic of Cables
Cables are perhaps one of the first “fancy” techniques knitters aspire to learn. That beautiful, rope-like texture winding its way up a sweater or hat looks complex, but the principle behind it is surprisingly straightforward. At its heart, cabling involves knitting stitches out of order. You temporarily hold a small group of stitches aside, knit the next group, and then knit the stitches you set aside. This simple act of rearranging the stitch order creates the twist that defines a cable.
The essential tool for this is the cable needle (often abbreviated as ‘cn’). This is typically a short, double-pointed needle, sometimes with a dip or groove in the middle to help hold the stitches securely. To create a basic cable:
- You’ll slip a designated number of stitches onto your cable needle.
- You’ll hold this cable needle either to the front of your work (for a cable twisting left) or to the back of your work (for a cable twisting right).
- You knit the next set of stitches from your main left-hand needle.
- Finally, you knit the stitches directly off the cable needle.
That’s it! The direction of the twist depends entirely on whether you hold those waiting stitches to the front or back. Cables are usually worked on a background of purl stitches (often called reverse stockinette) which makes the raised knit stitches of the cable pop dramatically. While simple twists are common, cables can branch, weave, form intricate knots, and create stunning all-over textures. Reading cable charts, which visually represent the stitch movements, becomes an essential skill as patterns grow more complex.
Tips for Cable Success: Start with a simple pattern featuring just one or two types of cable twists. Use a smooth, light-colored yarn so you can easily see your stitches. Don’t be afraid of the cable needle – it quickly becomes second nature. Remember that cables pull the fabric inwards, so your gauge might be different than plain stockinette; always swatch!
Delicate Designs: Exploring Lace Knitting
Lace knitting conjures images of airy shawls and delicate edgings. It’s created through a beautiful interplay of increases, typically yarn overs (yo), and decreases (like knit two together – k2tog, or slip slip knit – ssk). The yarn over creates a deliberate hole in the fabric, while the decrease compensates for the extra stitch created by the yarn over, keeping the overall stitch count consistent (usually!).
The basic elements are:
- Yarn Over (yo): Simply bringing the yarn forward between the needles (if moving from a knit to a purl) or wrapping it over the right needle (if moving from purl to knit, or knit to knit) before working the next stitch. This creates an extra strand on the needle which, when worked on the next row, forms a small hole or eyelet.
- Decreases: These slant either left (ssk) or right (k2tog) and are often paired strategically with yarn overs to shape the lace pattern and maintain stitch count.
Lace patterns range from simple repeating eyelet rows to incredibly complex motifs resembling flowers, leaves, or geometric shapes. They are almost always charted, as written instructions can become extremely long and cumbersome. Reading lace charts requires understanding symbols for different stitches (yo, k2tog, ssk, etc.) and paying close attention to every row, as patterns often involve intricate shaping on both right-side and wrong-side rows.
Lifelines are Your Best Friend: Because fixing mistakes in lace can be tricky (tinking back through yarn overs and decreases is fiddly), many lace knitters insert “lifelines.” This involves threading a contrasting piece of smooth scrap yarn through all the stitches on the needle at the end of a correctly completed pattern repeat. If you make a major mistake later, you can rip back to the lifeline without fear of losing all your stitches or dropping those crucial yarn overs.
Blocking is Magic: Lace often looks crumpled and unimpressive right off the needles. The true beauty emerges during blocking, where you wet the finished piece and pin it out gently to shape, allowing the yarn overs to open up fully and the pattern definition to become crisp and clear.
Painting with Yarn: Introduction to Colorwork
Adding multiple colors to your knitting opens up infinite design possibilities. From bold geometric patterns to subtle shading and pictorial scenes, working with more than one strand of yarn per row is incredibly rewarding. The two main techniques for managing multiple colors within the same row are stranded knitting (often associated with Fair Isle) and intarsia.
The choice between them depends largely on the pattern itself: how many colors are used per row, and how large the blocks of each color are.
Fair Isle and Stranded Knitting
Stranded knitting involves using two (or occasionally more) colors within a single row, carrying the unused color(s) loosely across the back of the work. This creates “floats” on the wrong side. The key challenge here is tension.
Managing Floats: Floats need to be loose enough that the fabric doesn’t pucker, but not so loose that they snag easily or create ladders on the right side. A common guideline is to ensure the floats are loose enough to match the stretch of the knitted fabric itself. For longer floats (typically more than 5-7 stitches), the carried yarn should be “caught” or “trapped” by twisting it with the working yarn on the wrong side to secure it.
Color Dominance: An interesting aspect of stranded knitting is color dominance. Depending on how you hold your two yarns (e.g., one in each hand, or both in one hand with one strand consistently held above or below the other), one color can appear slightly more prominent. Understanding and controlling this can subtly enhance your patterns.
Traditional Fair Isle knitting, originating from the Shetland Islands, often features intricate, repeating geometric motifs worked in the round, typically using only two colors per round. However, the term “stranded knitting” encompasses any technique where yarns are carried across the back.
Tips for Stranded Success: Start with patterns using only two colors per row. Practice maintaining even tension – consistency is key. Spread the stitches on your right needle out slightly as you strand the yarn across the back to prevent puckering. Consider learning to knit with one color in each hand (Continental and English style combined) for better speed and tension control.
Intarsia: Color Blocking
Intarsia is used for knitting large, distinct blocks of color, like a picture or a bold geometric design. Unlike stranded knitting, the unused yarn is not carried across the back of the work. Instead, you use a separate small ball, bobbin, or strand of yarn for each area of color.
The Twist: The crucial technique in intarsia is joining the colors. When you switch from Color A to Color B, you need to twist the two yarns around each other on the wrong side of the work where the colors meet. This twist locks the colors together and prevents holes from forming at the color changes. You must consistently twist the yarns on every row where the colors change.
Managing Bobbins: Working with multiple bobbins can feel like juggling at first. Keeping them from tangling is essential. Some knitters wind small amounts onto specialized intarsia bobbins, while others just use small center-pull balls or even cut lengths of yarn for very small sections. Laying your work flat periodically and untwisting the strands is often necessary.
Intarsia is usually worked flat (back and forth), as managing the twists when working in the round is significantly more complex, though not impossible.
Tips for Intarsia Triumph: Wind manageable amounts onto your bobbins – too much yarn leads to tangles. Always remember to twist your yarns at each color change to avoid gaps. Keep your tension consistent across the color joins. Don’t pull the first stitch of a new color too tight.
Mind Your Tension! Maintaining consistent tension is crucial across all advanced knitting techniques, but especially vital in colorwork and lace. Uneven tension in stranded knitting leads to puckering or loose floats. In intarsia, it can cause holes or tight spots at color joins. In lace, inconsistent tension distorts the delicate balance of yarn overs and decreases, obscuring the pattern. Always swatch carefully and pay attention to how you handle the yarn.
Beyond the Boundaries
These techniques – cables, lace, Fair Isle, and intarsia – are foundational steps into more complex knitting. They can be combined in countless ways: cabled sweaters with lace panels, Fair Isle yokes on otherwise plain garments, intarsia motifs accented with small cables. Each technique builds upon your basic skills, requiring patience, practice, and perhaps a willingness to unravel and try again.
Don’t be intimidated by charts or multiple strands of yarn. Start with smaller projects, like a cabled hat, a simple lace scarf, or a mug cozy featuring a two-color stranded pattern or a basic intarsia shape. Celebrate the small victories and enjoy the process of learning. Transforming yarn into intricate fabric with your own hands is a deeply satisfying craft, and mastering these techniques unlocks a whole new level of creative expression.
