Colorwork

I tried colorwork for the first time last night...two-handed Fair Isle knitting. I've done stripes before...no problem there, as you knit with one color, then the other. But with Fair Isle, you knit with two colors off and on in the same row. The Six Sox Knitalong sock for Oct/Nov is a Fair Isle sock, but I haven't tried it for three reasons...my tension might have issues, it would tkae me FOREVER to do a whole sock this way, and this style of knitting results in a warm, double-thick fabric. I don't need or want double-thick socks. It is barely cold enough for regular socks!

I ordinarily knit with the working yarn in my right hand, English or American style. I have a very hard time achieving good tension when holding the yarn in my left hand. But I've been practicing my left-handed Continental style knitting in order to work up to two-handed Fair Isle, so last night I watched the instructional video at philosopherswool.com and gave it a try. Yellow working yarn in my right hand, white working yarn in my left.

Success! Okay, so my tension has issues. But I did it on a baby hat for NIN...in colors that don't contrast too much, so it is all okay. I only have yellow and white baby yarn right now, so I need to pick up some purple or green yarn with higher contrast and try again. This is also my second attempt at doing a ruffled hat brim. I'm just sort of playing it by ear, not using a pattern.

I did three yellow stitches, then three white, then as I came around on top (knitting circular on dpn's), I did white on top of the yellow, yellow on top of the white. After about an inch, though, I was ready to switch back to one-color knitting and finish up the hat. The Fair Isle isn't TOO slow, but it definitely isn't fast for me at this point.

Hey, it's a start. :D And this could be addictive. I love the look of Fair Isle.