Knitting with two colours in the left hand

or at least, how I knit with two colours in the left hand.

But first a quick update, I finished all the colour work on the bohus, which is a little sad, although there is enough yarn left for me to think about some Mrs Beetons as the next project. Brenda spoke of having a completed Mrs Beetons page, but I couldn't spot one on her site. Of course knowing they are designed by the wonderful Brenda D from Cast on also adds to the tempation.

So I divided the stitches up for the front and sleeves, parking these on dishcloth cotton. I have completed around 3-4 com on the back. Above is the photo I made after knitting the first cm or so of the back section. My dress makers dummy came home so I can use her to hold blue shimmer for the photos. Now that I am knitting the body section I have paid a little more attention to the shaping in the pattern. Blue shimmer is shaped by decreasing until 30 cm below the arm scye/hole, then adding a rib. I am not a fan of ribbing around my hips, not that I am big or anything, but on me that always rides up to my waist. I prefer a tunic and in and out waist shaping. I think I will see how the back sits on the dummy as I knit and I may adjust the shape some.


GF shrug is going well, I am up past the elbow on the 2nd sleeve. I am not yet sure if I should just knit like a crazy woman on a mission for the next few evenings and attempt to finish for the big four year olds birthday party on saturday, or just enjoy blue shimmer and catch up with the blogs and knitters review, and my homework instead. Flickr, my photo host-er is having some 'hicups' at the moment, so I will update my progress images in the side bar soonish.

And knitting with two colours in my left hand, how I do that. I have found a few web sites with knitting with two colours in the right hand, but when I went looking late last year didn't have much luck finding two in the left hand. I must say friends at knitters review were very good n sharing ideas and experiences with me, but mostly in words. I would have loved to see photos. So in a spirit of sharing here is what is working for me now. I have tried to be web friendly, and saved these as gif, and for the web, but apologise for the number of images. I wanted enough to how the steps and make it clear how I form my stitches. In my last blog I posted an image showing how I wrap the yarn when kniting with two colours. The wrap is essentially the same as when knitting with only one colour. OK,
Step one, with both the yarns in place over my first finger, move the right knitting pin thru the front of the first loop on the left pin,



After that, swing the right knitting pin up and under the yarn, in this case the green yarn wraped around my 2nd finger. You will notice that it is my wrist that does most of the work, the right knitting pin ends up pointing towards the ceiling. If you are more used to knitting with the yarn in the right hand it is your fingers that provide the most movement.


Once the yarn is 'hooked', return the right knitting pin to a more angled position and twist the knitting pin tip down and back thru the loop on the left knitting pin. Slide the right knitting pin right thru and carefully lift the loop off the left pin. At this point I have developed a habit of giving the new stitch a tighten by pulling it away from the yarns in my left hand. This is a wee technique that really helps me keep even tension and stops rowing out with stocking stitch knit flat. Its so automatic I had forgot I taught myself to do this, until I analysed the photos.


I have not show how to knit with the 2nd colour, as the movements are the same as the those shown, you just hook the 'other colour yarn' instead. I must admit this whole project, to take the images and get them in order and ready for the blog has taken more time than I had anticipated, but I am quite pleased with the result.

As promised I have some showing how I complete the knit then purl stitches used in the bohus, and a set showing rib, using the Finish purl - my current favorite.

Stell