A couple of weeks ago, we introduced the lovely new design, the Helica Pullover, by Teti’s Knit Garden. Teti is known for her nature inspired, almost etheric looking, romantic and timeless style. Teti chose the name for this design, Helica, from Latin, meaning “winding”, because of the winding ivy branch of the colourwork motifs on the yoke. When exploring the design, preparing to build our yarn kits, we simply couldn’t make our minds up on which yarn to choose. We had two very strong contenders, and both of them would produce the most stunning Helica, but also both have very different characteristics, we couldn’t make a decision on which one we loved the most – so we ended up with building both kits – leaving the decision in your hands, to choose for yourself!

For the Soft & Fussy Helica we chose Hey Mama Wolf Mokosh.
For the Rustic & Crisp Helica we chose Hey Mama Wolf Ylva.

So the choice is between softer than soft or woollier than most, and in this blog post I plan to explore both, to talk a little bit about stranded colourwork in general and the difference between fibres more specifically.

Traditionally, for stranded colourwork you would choose a (non-super wash) toothy pure wool yarn. Colourwork sweaters are some of the most traditional hand knit garment types, found in a multitude of characteristics and geographically linked variations throughout the ages. It is worth remembering that these sweaters were originally made as workwear, to stand the test of time and to bear against all weathers – and with this in mind, choosing pure wool is kind of a give, you’ll get a strong and lightweight fabric (strengthened even more with the ‘double effect’ created with strands running across the reversed side) The technique itself though, benefits greatly when sticking to this fibre type, much due to its stickiness! Pure wool will make sure your stitches stay in place, they won’t sag or distort from the motif simply because the toothy fibres interlock in a different way than smooth and slippery fibres will do. You’ll achieve a slightly ‘felted’ or ‘haloed’ surface, which results in a more even tension and unity between stitches, a smooth transition between the colours used, and which will make the garment hold it’s shape and make the fabric less drapy – not to mention how soft against your skin it actually will become with time.

However – sometimes your heart is set on that particular yarn – no matter how slippery it is – and if you for whatever reason would like to use it in your colourwork project you absolutely can! Whether your yarn is super soft, super washed or even plant fibre, there are just a couple of things to consider and few tricks you’ll need to have up your sleeve.

I’ve made two swatches to illustrate the difference in fibre, the green-cream version is Ylva, the grey-pink is Mokosh. I used the same needle size and technique on both, working in the round and catching my longest floats on the back. We block our finished projects to manipulate the fabric, to set the shape and size, to flatten the fabric, settle the fibres, and even out our tension so our stitches become more uniform – we block woolly garments to close the stitches, set motifs and hide imperfections, however, depending on fibre type and also the stitch pattern (e.g. lace knitting) blocking can also open up a stitch and when it does, those imperfections can pop out and become even more visible, as you can clearly see on the Mokosh swatch above. When doing stranded colourwork in a smooth and soft fibre this is something to pay attention to, as the added weight of water and stretching/pinning down the garment might actually do more harm than good resulting in sliding/distorted motifs and gaps becoming more visible.

So with plant fibres, super washed, or very silky animal fibres you actually want to set the fibres and your stitches as much you can prior to blocking. I come from a time and a place where knitting was thought by throwing you out on the deep end, my Nan took me to the yarn shop where I could choose my favourite and then I was led by the hand throughout the project. My very first proper project was a colourwork sweater. There’s this main advice my Nan gave me when doing my project, she said ‘you’ll always go too tight, it’s not possible to go too loose’. She was referring to how the main pitfall is your strands being too tight making the fabric pucker up. But when using slippery yarn you actually want to make your stitches firmer, to sit closer together, still avoiding a fabric that becomes too dense. One way to work around this is to use a smaller needles size than what is called for in the pattern, and then re-calculate your measurements/size based on that new tension/stitch count. A smaller stitch will make wonders on your motif definition and it will make the fabric less drapy for the stitches to slide around on.

If you’ve done a bit of stranded knitting already, you are probably familiar with how we ‘catch’ the floats on the reverse side every few stitches. If you’ve had a go at using slippery yarn, you’ll also know that this method comes short. Those sliding stitches will open the gaps between them even more, and where you caught your float, it will peak through making your background colour appear mottled. Enters the Ladder Back Jacquard Method (link to youtube search), the answer to everything floats, and just let me mention that this technique is brilliant, you’ll want to have this one in your tool belt no matter the fibre, it works magic on toothy and slippery yarns alike – though it is an absolute must for the latter. With this method you’ll create an extra stitch in your work, that you then ‘ladder up’ on the reverse side of your project, not only does this keep your floats in check so they don’t peek through, it also adds firmness and structure counteracting a potential heavy drape. This is what the Ladder Back Jacquard looks like:

So, that pretty much sums up my ways of doing stranded colourwork in different fibre types, let me just finish with how I don’t prefer one over the other, my personal yarn choices are mostly based on what ‘look’ I want to achieve, and visually all variations have their beauty! Coming to toothy yarns vs smooth yarns in colourwork, one is firm, rustic and crisp, one is more floating, soft and fussy. They provide different visual expressions – to use an analogy from painting – like different brush strokes. I like to think about the difference similar to the one between pixel art (super crisp) and Japanese ink paintings (super floaty).