I have lately been showing off a lot of the gaps in my knitting knowledge, and here’s another one: I’ve never knit helical stripes.
This is a technique for knitting stripes in the round in which you basically move the end of the round around a bit by leaving some stitches unworked in one color when you change to the next color.
It sounds a little mind-blowing and like it might not actually work, but it does!
This is the first technique in the Mason-Dixon Knitting blog’s Year of Techniques, and it’s a great one to start with. Check out the tutorial, give it a whirl and let me know what you think.
The Year of Techniques is a series that will be going on all year, which includes technique videos and patterns that will help you learn those skills. The pattern for this month is a pair of armwarmers; you can buy the collection of patterns, to be released monthly, on Ravelry.
There are other helical patterns on Ravelry, but of course you could work any one-round stripe (or thicker, apparently, but it’s a technique mostly used on one-round stripes) pattern in this manner. I’m definitely going to check it out soon. I’d love to know if you’ve tried it.
[Photo via Mason-Dixon Knitting.]
I just watched this video, too, and found it interesting. I’ve never knit helical stripes. That said, I think they’d be useful for straight tubes, but I just can’t wrap my head around what to do for pieces with shaping. I’m not sure I could keep track of a moving start of round while also increasing for a thumb gusset…
Use a different color st marker. Or use a yarn loop – I never use one so I’d notice those.