You can knit stripes in any size or scale, taking
advantage of their versatility to highlight or disguise
different figure traits. They can also be used to set off
other areas of color and texture. Stripes often add just
the right amount of interest when incorporated into
designs where other color knitting techniques would be
too busy or distracting.
Join and carry alternate strands
Once you know how to add and carry different colors,
making stripes in any pattern is easy. Make a weaver’s
knot to join the new color as follows:
1. With the new color, make a slipknot, and pass the old
color through it.
Pass the whole skein of the old color through the
slipknot if you don’t want to break the working strand.
2. Snug the slipknot up next to the work where you want
the new color to begin.
Gently tug the ends of the slipknot apart until the old
color pops through (b).
3. Carry (strand loosely upward on the wrong side) the
unused color as you knit with the new color so the old
one will be close by when you are ready to switch back
to it.
To avoid weaving in extra yarn tails, you can change to
a new color without breaking off the old one.
4. After changing colors, carry the unused strand loosely
up the back of the work and twist it around the current
color to anchor it to the wrong side of the piece.
The act of twisting the prior color around the current
one is known as tacking. Tack the unused strand at
the side edge of the piece every two rows when
working flat, or at any interval you choose when
working circularly.
Knitting stripes in ribbing
Ribbing and other stitch patterns comprised of adjacent
knit and purl stitches present a special challenge to
stripe-knitters. This simple technique will keep the
colors in your ribbed stripes sharp.
When changing colors in ribbing, the new color can
create unsightly purl bumps that are visible on the
public side of the work.
Rather than maintain the ribbing stitch pattern (in this
case, k1, p1) on the color-change row, knit all the
stitches in that row. Change back to the stitch pattern
on the following row.
Knit circular stripes with jogless rounds
Circular-knit tubes are made up of rounds rather than
rows. Knitted rounds spiral one on top of another
rather than stacking evenly as rows do. This
characteristic of circular knitting causes “jogs” where
the color changes in stripes are visible. There are
several ways to make the jogs less noticeable. This
section shows two of them.
Here you can see what happens when changing stripe
colors in circular knitting. Each time a new round
begins with a new color, you can see a stair-step or
“jog” in the knitting.
These stripes were knit using a technique to minimize
the appearance of the jogs.
Knit one stitch from the prior round
This technique for minimizing jogs is especially useful
for very narrow stripes. The first stripe is complete,
with one full round of the second stripe knitted.
1. Pick up last st of prev color and place it on left needle,
right next to first st of new color.
2. Knit the last st and the first st together.
The jog will be visually softened and minimized.
Blocking the piece at the end of knitting helps make
the jog even less noticeable.
When planning stripes, take your construction
technique into account. If you will be knitting flat,
choose stripes with rows in multiples of 2. For circular
knitting, stripes in any number of rows will work.
Slip one stitch
Another way to disguise jogs is to slip one stitch. This
technique makes jogs in wide stripes nearly invisible.
Here the first stripe is complete, with one complete
round of the second stripe knitted.
When you come back to the beginning of the round,
slip the first stitch to the right needle purlwise, without
actually knitting it.
Yarns with both elasticity and tooth (surface fuzz that
grips itself), such as 100% wool, make it easier to
disguise jogs. Superwash wool and slippery fibers can
be less forgiving.
