Advanced Knitting Techniques
Whether You're Knitting Scarves, Socks, or Shawls, You'll Find that All of These Techniques Spice Up Your Needlecraft!
Advanced knitting techniques can be broken down into four different categories:
colorwork, lace, cables, and structural techniques. All of these will help you
produce delightful knitted creations for years to come! Here's a little about
each technique, suggested projects, and further reading.
Colorwork allows the knitter to make a multicolored garment by knitting with two
or more different colors of yarn in the same row. There are three main styles of
colorwork: fair isle, intarsia, and mosaic knitting. In fair isle knitting
(which has an extensive Scandinavian heritage), two different colors of yarn (no
more) are carried throughout the row, with one color "floated" behind the other
while not in use. Fair isle items are usually knit in the round; cardigans are
generally "steeked," or cut up the front after knitting. Intarsia knitting, on
the other hand, is usually knit flat: while fair isle is usually used for motifs
which are repeated in the round, intarsia is good for solid blocks of color
independent of a motif, such as circles or squares. The third kind of colorwork,
mosaic or slip-stitch knitting, differs from fair islea and intarsia in that
only one color of yarn is knit at a time - the stitches which will be knit in
the alternate color or colors are slipped, then knit on a second round while the
stitches in the main color are slipped. The effect is lovely, but time
consuming, as knitting a mosaic sweater can take twice or three times as much
time as a fair isle garment, depending on how many different colors you are
using.
Projects to try: Wendy Johnson's Fearless Fair Isle, Sweaterscapes Intarsia
Tutorial (with free pillow pattern), hello yarn's Mini Skull and Crossbones Tote
(intarsia)
Lace knitting, while it is often complicated, is in essence just specifically
ordered, decorative increases and decreases. Thus, projects range in difficulty
from simple feather and fan scarves to complicated Shetland, Faroese, and
Orenburg shawls that have centuries of history. Shetland and Orenburg lace
shawls are traditional square shawls knit in very fine weight yarn, while
Faroese shawls are an exaggerated triangular shape with shoulder shaping, which
helps the shawls stay on their wearers' shoulders. (If you're interested in
Faroese shawls, there is no better resource than Myrna Stahman's
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0967542707/104-5104663-4469550?v=glance&n=283155
Shawls and Scarves, which is out of print but often available used.)
Projects to try: Cookie A.'s Hedera, Wendy Engstrom's Orenburg lace shawl (PDF)
Cables originated on seamen's sweaters in northwestern Europe, where they were
both decorative and helped conserve body heat. Thusly, cables create a highly
textured and dense garment, although they consume lots of yarn in the process.
Cables (usually knit in stockinette) are created by twisting stitches around
each other, and are often set off by columns of reverse stockinette. Patterns
can range from simple braids to complicated celtic knotwork. The best place for
cables: warm, cuddly wool sweaters. For gorgeous cabled sweaters, be sure to
check out the books of Alice Starmore and Elsebeth Lavold.
Projects to try: Rebecca Hatcher's BPT, Jodi Green's Mariah, Ariel Barton's
Leaves in Relief
Structural innovations in knitting come about through using shaping techniques (entrelac
uses short rows) and inverting the usual order of things (twisting the cast on
of a circular piece, in Mobius knitting). Entrelac uses short rows to produce a
fabric that appears to have been woven, although it's actually been knitted.
Mobius knitting is just as you might imagine - the principle of the Mobius strip
applied to cowls, baskets, and more. Cat Bordhi's
http://www.fiberholics.com/lace/Shawlchart.PDF A Treasury of Magical Knitting is
a great place to read more about Mobius and other types of mathematical
knitting. Klein bottle hats are just another application of this type of
knitting (and quite cozy, too!)
Projects to try: Jesse Loesberg's Danica, Cat Bordhi's Cashmere Mobius Cowl
(PDF), Nathanael Berglund's Klein Bottle Hat (PDF)
Once you've experimented with these techniques a little, try designing your own!
Combining elements of any of these techniques can make for a beautiful and
unique creation...