I’ve recently got my hands on the “Short-Row Colourwork Knitting” book by Woolly Wormhead and I am absolutely blown away by all the possibilities that this method has to offer.
Many of the ways to knit short-row colourwork are quite challenging. But some ways are simple, as long as we understand a few basic rules that make short-row colourwork possible.
In this tutorial, we’ll take a look at those rules, and we’ll follow a simple short-row colourwork pattern step by step.
Before we start to make the swatch, let’s set a few ground rules that will help us master this amazing way to knit with several colours.
RULE #1
This method really shines when we apply it to projects worked in garter stitch.
The ridges make the colours pop up better, and the reversible texture of garter stitch makes the colour pattern look nice on both sides of the project. That’s probably why short-row colourwork is often used to make garter shawls and scarves.
It also doesn’t hurt that garter stitch is built solely by knit stitches, making the short-row colourwork much easier.
RULE #2
As the name implies, this type of colour knitting involves making short rows. I tried different short-row techniques, and I agree with Woolly Wormhead – German short rows work great with this method.
RULE #3
This rule is the most important one. We have to make sure the number of garter ridges at the right edge of the fabric is the same as the number of ridges at the left edge of the fabric, regardless of the short-row motif we placed between those edges. The fabric has to be balanced!
Now let’s see how we use these rules to make a simple “Alternating Stripes” pattern.
Cast on any number of stitches using any cast-on method you like. Because I use chunky yarn, 12 stitches will be enough to add this lovely stripy pattern to my swatch.
Knit all stitches for two or more rows. I’ll knit them for four rows to form two garter ridges at the bottom of the swatch.
THE FIRST ROW OF THE STRIPE
Whenever you are ready to add a stripe, use the yarn in the main colour to knit stitches to a point where you want to place the stripe.
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To add a stripe two stitches away from the right edge of the swatch, I knitted two stitches.
Use a simple knot to tie a strand in the second colour to the yarn in the main colour, then move the knot as close to the bottom of the first stitch on the right needle as possible. Keep both strands at the back of the work.
Take the strand in the second colour and use it to knit as many stitches as you like. The more stitches you knit, the longer the stripe will be.
As you see from the photo below, this stripe in my swatch is eight stitches long.
Turn the work and make sure the yarn stays in front of the work.
THE SECOND ROW OF THE STRIPE
The last stitch we’ve just knitted is the stitch that we will use to work the German short rows method.
Here’s how we do it:
Insert the tip of the right needle from right to left into the first stitch from the tip of the left needle. Ease the left needle out, slipping this stitch purlwise to the right needle.
Pull the working yarn up and over the needle to bring the bottom of the slipped stitch to the top of the right needle.
When you look at the tip of the right needle, the stitch should cover half of the circumference of the needle, and the two strands that are pulled at the bottom of that stitch should cover the other half of the needle circumference.
Now that the transition between the short rows is taken care of, knit the other stitches of the stripe one by one until you get to the strand in the main colour.
Bring the strand in the second colour to the front of the work and twist the two strands.
Pick the strand in the main colour, bring it to the back of the work, and knit all stitches to the end of the row.
Turn the work.
JOINING ROW
With the yarn in the main colour, knit all stitches.
When you get to the double stitch formed by the German short rows method, knit both strands that form that stitch together.
Then continue to knit all stitches to the end of the row.
When we look at the fabric right now, we will see that the ridge with the stripe is partial. It does not go all the way to the end of the row.
If we leave it like this, the right-hand part of the fabric will have more ridges than the left-hand side of the fabric. It will make the swatch crooked.
That’s why the third rule of short-row colourwork demands that the fabric should be balanced. And in the next two rows we are going to do just that – balance the fabric.
THE FIRST BALANCING ROW
Turn the work and knit all stitches to the stitches of the stripe in the previous ridge.
Turn the work and keep the yarn at the front of the fabric.
THE SECOND BALANCING ROW
To make sure we don’t form a hole in the place where we turned the work, we should work the German short rows method again.
With the yarn in front of the work, slip one stitch purlwise from the left needle to the right needle.
Move the yarn up and over the right needle so that the slipped stitch covers half of the needle circumference and the two strands at the bottom of that stitch cover the other half of the needle.
Knit all stitches to the end of the row. Because this part of my swatch is so tiny, I need to knit only one stitch.
FINISHING ROW
This is the last row of making a stripe and then balancing the fabric. In this row, we simply knit all stitches. Remember to work the double stitch formed by the German short rows method as one stitch.
Now the number of garter ridges at the right-hand side of the swatch is the same as the number of ridges at the left-hand side of the swatch, even though the ridge formed by the balancing rows is not exactly a continuation of the ridge with the stripe. The main thing is that we didn’t break the third rule, and the fabric is now balanced.
We can use the same process to add more stripes.
Technically, we can add the next stripe anywhere in the project, but if we don’t want to cut the yarn or leave a float at the back of the work, it is better to start a new stripe in a spot that is directly above the place where we started the previous stripe.
Once you get to that spot, leave the strand in the main colour hanging at the back of the work, pick up the strand in the second colour, and use it to knit as many stitches as you like.
I’ll make this stripe shorter and I will knit only four stitches.
Then I turn the work, slip one stitch to the right needle, turn it into a double stitch as we do in the Second Row of the Stripe and I knit all stitches until I get to the strand in the main colour.
Then I bring the strand in the second colour to the front of the work, twist it with the strand in the main colour, pick the strand in the main colour, and use this strand to finish this row and to work the Joining Row.
After working the First Balancing Row and the Second Balancing Row, I finish this stripe with the Finishing Row.
You can repeat the same sequence of rows to add stripes in the same or alternating lengths, or change the length of each stripe as I did in my swatch. It is totally up to you.
This method gives us an almost unlimited freedom. We can work on any number of stitches, add stripes to any part of a project, and make each stripe as long as we like. It is all possible as long as we follow three rules and a set sequence of rows.
SAVE IT FOR LATER
This and 26 other in-depth tutorials are part of Knitting Collection #9.