Hi Knitters,

I've spent the last couple of nights teaching myself some new techniques for my planned knitting projects for the year.

Maving mastered plaing stocking stitch and with horizontal stripes for hats, I fancied trying some colour work for hats and teas cosies.

I found some colour work instructions on the internet, and had a go and it seems to have worked out well. I used the technique with the wool of the main colour crossing behind the second colour.

The instructions did show using small amounts of each colour to avoid this, but it seemed a real faff to have to make lots of little bundles (I'm intrinsically lazy!).

My first question is that is this method actually better, providing I can keep the strands across the back loose enough not to cause puckering?

2. As I was knitting straight from the ball of wool, when I finished the block of my second colour I just left a fairly long tail and cut the wool off. So I now have 2 tails for each block of colour. Do I just need to weave these tails in?

3. I saw a bag a friend had knitted that had a horizontal slit for a handle. She told me how to do this, so I had a go at that too, by casting off the required number of stiches in the middle of my piece, and the when going back casting onthe same number of stiches. That seemed to work ok, is it the best way to do this? I was thinking of making some felted bags of a simple box type design with this simple handle.

4. Is it possible to make a similar split, but vertically, as you'd need for the spout in a tea cosy? My plan was to knit the cosy as I did my hats, so the back seam will allow for the handle, and making a vertical split for the spout. I tried to figure it out but couldn't!

I know there are probably loads of instruction on the net, but don't know the right terms to search for and drew a blank when I was looking!

Also, I have read about using special knitting graph paper to design projects. I googled it and didn't find anywhere to buy it, but found sites where you couldprint your own. One gave the option of choosing your own dimensions of the squares for different stiches. Everything I am planning on knitting for the moment will be knits and purls, but with different yarns. I was wondering if the ratio of width to height of stitch remains the same regardless of yarn? so that if I make a design the only differene in using different yarns will be the overall size, not the actual proportions?

Am I just best buying some graph paper rather than printing it if I don't understand the stich sizes? If so where's good for buying it?

Sorry for so many questions! Just a direction to good internet resources will do! Thanks in advance!

The method where you have lots of little balls of wool, one for each block of colour, is called intarsia. If you've got something like a single large apple on the front of a sweater then that would be intarsia, you wouldn't carry the yarn you are not knitting with along the back of the work. That's usually knit flat rather than in the round because intarsia in the round is a bit more tricky. (You do just weave the ends in when you're done)

The other search you want is for fair isle or stranded colourwork. With that you usually have two colours in a row and you carry the one you're not knitting with at the back of the work. This is more suited to an all over pattern so that you're not having to carry the spare colour over long distances across the back (the search word here is "floats")

The bag with the slit handle may be a buttonhole bag - the slit for the handle is just a very large buttonhole. You can make a vertical slit, instead of knitting in the round you just turn and purl back when you come to where you want the slit and then knit flat for as long as you want it. If you're knitting in stockinette it's going to want to curl at the slit so you might want to add some sort of edging there to avoid that. If you're knitting flat rather than in the round then you'll knit backwards and forwards on half of the stitches and put the rest on a stitch holder, when the slit is as long as you want, break the yarn and return to the stitches on the shorter side. When the two pieces are the same length you can just knit (or purl) across the lot to join them back together again.

I've always printed off my own graph paper and based the dimensions on the measurements of the swatch. You could measure a few of your hats and see whether the proportions remain the same.

The method where you have lots of little balls of wool, one for each block of colour, is called intarsia. If you've got something like a single large apple on the front of a sweater then that would be intarsia, you wouldn't carry the yarn you are not knitting with along the back of the work. That's usually knit flat rather than in the round because intarsia in the round is a bit more tricky. (You do just weave the ends in when you're done)

The other search you want is for fair isle or stranded colourwork. With that you usually have two colours in a row and you carry the one you're not knitting with at the back of the work. This is more suited to an all over pattern so that you're not having to carry the spare colour over long distances across the back (the search word here is "floats")

The bag with the slit handle may be a buttonhole bag - the slit for the handle is just a very large buttonhole. You can make a vertical slit, instead of knitting in the round you just turn and purl back when you come to where you want the slit and then knit flat for as long as you want it. If you're knitting in stockinette it's going to want to curl at the slit so you might want to add some sort of edging there to avoid that. If you're knitting flat rather than in the round then you'll knit backwards and forwards on half of the stitches and put the rest on a stitch holder, when the slit is as long as you want, break the yarn and return to the stitches on the shorter side. When the two pieces are the same length you can just knit (or purl) across the lot to join them back together again.

I've always printed off my own graph paper and based the dimensions on the measurements of the swatch. You could measure a few of your hats and see whether the proportions remain the same.


Thanks for so much info! I have even suprised myself that it all makes sense!!