Technique: Stranded Knitting

I haven't started yet, but coming up, I will be doing blue detail work on the shawl with stranded knitting. It's been awhile since I used that particular technique, because I usually prefer my work to look good on both sides (and I hate the way stranded knitting looks on the back). But, this piece of the shawl will be sewed so the back doesn't show. Time to review tips!

While I was home for Thanksgiving, I hunted around for old pieces that I didn't have pictures of so that I could show you all some early attempts. It's always nice to see how far you have come. Actually, both things I found were hats with stranded knitting that was too tight. I made both in high school.

First up, a hat made from a vintage pattern, from before I had any style:

Pattern from Jill C. Weiner: Side view

Back view

I vaguely remember picking the pattern because it was one of the ones that the book listed as "hard" and I wanted to challenge myself. Except for being an ugly pattern, it came out mostly ok, and has improved over time as the yarn stretched. However, at the time, I did not know how to do stranded knitting at all, and the hat has very long floats on the pink squiggly in the middle (as well as being too tight in that section). First tip: be sure to carry the non-working yarn along with you by twisting it with the working yarn every 3 to 4 stitches. This ensures short floats on the back that won't snag so easily.

Ok, second example. In high school, I made a bunch of berets from a basic pattern I had. Once, I decided to make it fancy by adding stranded colorwork of my own design:

A beret of my own design, from high school

Well, the pattern came out ok, and I would do it again -- though that light blue really clashes with the other colors: what was I thinking? However, although I carried the non-working yarn this time, I made it far too tight, and the beret puckers up, and won't lie flat. The shape is really weird. So, second tip: Make your floats twice as loose as you think they should be. Better too loose than too tight. 

Well, getting into college, I tried again. This time, for a Valentine's Day gift swap:

Heart hat

 The knitting is plenty loose, but this time I made a different error: I assumed that knit stitches are square. I drew hearts on graph paper and transferred the pattern faithfully to the hat. But, since the stitches were rectangular, my hearts came out far too wide and ended up looking like bats. So, third tip: if making your own pattern, account for the fact that knit-stitches are rectangular. There are three different ways to account for this. The hardest is to knit a swatch and measure it. Use the number of stitches per inch both horizontally and vertically to see how your pattern will stretch, and compensate. The other options are to buy knitting pattern graph paper at a knitting store, or to use a program like I do now, which automatically stretches the pattern after you have sketched it.

Ok, final example. I really haven't used the technique much, so this is what I have:

A hat made on commission for a co-worker

This one came out looking great, actually (though I made a rolled-brim hat for a guy, for some reason). The only thing was that off was that, because I made the hat in the round, I had to float the red across the entire back of the hat. So, final tip: if you are only putting the pattern on one part of the piece, do flat knitting and do intarsia instead.