Tuesday 18 November 2014

Intarsia color change on vertical line for garter stitch

We create garter stitch by knitting or purling every row. It is an easy pattern in knitting. I like garter stitch because it is soft, cushy and reversible.  Anyway, when we make an Intarsia color work in garter stitch both sides wouldn't look exactly the same. In garter stitch, one side is clear-cut and the other not. If you knitted a vertical stripes in garter stitch, you can see the broken line formed between the two vertical stripes. Though it is not a reversible stitch, to me, both sides are equally attractive. How to change color on the vertical lines in garter stitch? Let's take a look at the steps below. I found that this is the most common and easier method which many knitters like to apply it on their knitting projects.




When changing color at the right side of the garter stitch knitting work, first of all, knit to the part where you want to change color. Then, insert the the right needle knitwise into the new color stitch. At the back of the work, drop the old color and pick up the new color from under the old color. Now, knit the next stitches or knit to the next color change with the new color.



When changing color at the wrong side of the garter stitch knitting work, it is worked differently. First of all, knit to the point of the color change and then bring the old color to the front between the two needles. Drop the old color, pick up the new color from under the old color and then bring the new color between the two needles to the back of the work. Now, knit the next stitches or knit to the next color change with the new color.




The photo shown above is a sample of  intarsia vertical stripes in garter stitch knitting fabric. Do you think both sides are equally attractive?




I had been thinking about how to knit reversible Intarsia vertical line in garter stitch for my project like a scarf. I had been searching from internet but it seemed nobody to do so. If many knitters believed that it was impossible to do reversible vertical line in garter stitch or it was not an good idea?  Why not have a try? Yes, I had tried several methods but I couldn't get any method that can be used to create a reversible vertical stripes in garter stitch. What I got only an almost reversible look on both sides. Why I said so? The reason is when the two different colored yarns being twisted would interlock with one another in an opposite direction compare to the previous row. As a result, the vertical stripes in garter stitch make a broken line and the broken line on each side is in different color. Here show you the way how I knit this almost reversible vertical line in garter stitch. Let‘s look at the photos and steps below.

  1.  Knit to the part where you want to change colors. Drop the old color, bring the new color up between the two needle and to the back of the work.
  2.  Insert the needle knitwise into the next stitch and then pick up the new color that you brought from the front of work just now from under the old color. Knit the next stitches or knit to the next color change.
  • Repeat the steps in every row, you will see the result after a few rows.




The above photos shown is the sample of my garter vertical stripes knitting fabric. You can see that the color of the two broken lines at both sides are different, one is blue and the other is brown.  Can you differentiate the two broken lines?


Although this method couldn't create a look that exactly the same at the both sides but it is good enough for me ......







4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm having difficulty understanding how the 2 methods are different...I like the second method that results in the nearly reversible look better, but it seems the same as the first method, except that the right and wrong side are both worked the same? If you can clarify, I would appreciate it!

Rainbow said...

For the first method, the way we change colors on the right side and wrong side would be different.
When you change colors at the right side, just twist the two colors that hanging at the back of the work (remember to pick up the red color from under the black color).
When you change colors on the wrong side, you must bring the red color to the front between the two needles and drop it at the front. Then pick up the black color from under the red color and bring it between the two needles to the back (the two colors will be twisted). Knit the next stitches with the black color until the next color changing point.

The second method is easier than the first method. No matter which side of the work, every time when you reach the color changing point, just bring the color that hanging in front the work to the back of the work by passing it through between the two needles. Then twist the two colors at the back of the work (you must pick up the new color from under the old color when you twist) and knit to the next color changing point.

Blahnik said...

How did you cast on without a separation?

Rainbow said...

Hi, Blahnik please refer to this link: http://rainbowscrafts-n-creations.blogspot.my/2014/11/changing-yarn-colors-in-vertical-or.html

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