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How to Hold Yarn When Stranded Knitting

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how to hold yarn for stranded knittingStranded knitting, or Fair Isle knitting, is a fun way to get more color into your knitting projects. But I know it can be a little intimidating to figure out how to deal with the yarn.

Because you have to work with two different colors on each row or round, yarn management is different from when you only have one strand of yarn to deal with.

You might be tempted just to knit with the first color, drop it, pick up the next color yarn, work with it until you need to change colors, drop it, pick up the other yarn and so on.

But as long as it took me to describe that, it takes even longer to do.

There are other options:

  • hold both yarns at the same time in your right hand
  • hold both yarns at the same time in your left hand
  • hold one yarn in your right hand and one in your left hand

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV7ksRfUoek&w=600&h=480]

This video gives you a run down of all the options. I hope you’ll try them and figure out which one works best for you.

How do you hold the yarn when you do stranded knitting? I’d love to hear about it!

Comments

  1. I am self taught, and I do it the clunky put-it-down-pick-it-up way. I will give the video a view and see if I can wrap my head around another way to manage the yarn. Perhaps I could get over my dread of multi color work that way!

  2. Oh I hope you do try! It’s really awkward in the beginning but with a little practice you can probably find a method that works better for you.

  3. I’m the same way as Amy, above — I was self-taught when it comes to Fair-Isle, and I still drop one yarn and pick up another. I’ve tried holding both yarns in my right hand, which doesn’t seem to stick. But I’m taking a look through the video right now, and maybe I’ll see something that does stick!

    Thank you for posting this! It’s very timely for me, since I’m working on a huge colourwork project. 🙂

  5. It seems to be, actually. I’ve found that provided I’m paying attention, I can tension both yarns in my Right Hand, one around the index finger and one around the middle finger, and the video gives me a good idea of how to work with the yarns that way, which was my previous stumbling block.

    The problem, is, then I start knitting with muscle memory, stop paying attention, and end up dropping the yarns again!

    I’ve seen knitting thimbles to hold yarns for colourwork. I might give one of those a try. 🙂

Have you read?

Book Review: The Wandering Knitter

Knitting and travel are two hobbies that are highly compatible. Travel often involves waiting or time spent on planes, trains, boats, etc., time that can easily be filled by knitting, a portable and productive craft you can do most anywhere (and yes, you can take your knitting on a plane most of the time). 

Krista Ann combines knitting and traveling regularly and ended up visiting every continent in 2022 with her knitting needles along for the ride. The Wandering Knitter explores travel, knitting and learning new knitting skills no matter where you are. 

This isn’t a book for beginners, but if you’ve wanted to learn techniques like brioche, cables, lace, colorwork, mitered squares and short rows, there’s a set of more beginner level patterns followed by ones that are bigger, more detailed or required a little more skill. For example a brioche washcloth is the beginner pattern, while a brioche sweater (with unexplained exceptionally long sleeves) is the stepped up project. A basic mesh lace scarf becomes a more complex lace kerchief. A giant mitered square cowl graduates to a mitered square tote bag. 

Interspersed among the patterns are essays about traveling to different continents and what she saw there. There are also tips for traveling with your knitting and tips for reading charts, but no tutorials for knitting skills (other than a written explanation of how mosaic knitting works). 

Some of the projects would be useful to have when traveling, such as fingerless gloves, a warm headband or a colorwork hat. The travel angle is an interesting hook for a book, but I would have enjoyed essays more about specific incidents or shopping for yarn in a different country or something more than the general essays about things she’s liked and places she’d like to go back to. 

Still, if you’re looking for a skill building book that doesn’t focus on the basics but gives you some wearable, attractive accessories, this book is a good one to check out. Just maybe make the sleeves shorter if you knit the sweater. 

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 20 patterns. Published 2026 by Quarry Books. Suggested retail price $24.99.