Layered
colourwork is a new name for knitting with two strands held together.
The tension of both strands is the same. Sometimes the background
colour is wrapped to the right of the contrasting colour yarn which
hides it, or if it lies to the left of the background yarn it shows
through producing an overall mottled effect. It is best suited to a
large area of intarsia without any fine detail.
As
a sock knitter the question is: “How do I do that in the round”?
Essentially it is a special case of intarsia in the round. It is
necessary to allow for the fact that even though you have an area of
contrasting colour you also use the background yarn to knit it. After
experimenting and much research, this is what I have found.
The
technique works best if you use a much thinner yarn for the coloured
area. For a sock I used 4 ply sock yarn and the heart motif is sock
yarn held together with mohair laceweight yarn.
Method
1:
Stranded
/ intarsia hybrid.
It
is possible to knit in the round, however to use bobbins in order to
strand across the motif only. There are no strands between the
motifs. The strands are kept short by using more than one identical
bobbin for each area of colour. I found that the transitions were
visible therefore it is best to stagger the area covered using each
bobbin. For example you could use the chart below, knitting entirely
in the round and two bobbins of coloured yarn for each heart, four in
total for the round.
(The
orange squares are worked with a second strand of the same colour as
the red squares).
Method
2:
yo
turn.
At
each turn you start the row with a yo, which you decrease with the
last stitch of the row using either ssk or p2tog depending on whether
it is a knit or purl “row”. My attempt at this was neat and
produced a flat join. For a sock leg with 56 (64, 72) sts the
instructions would be:
Row
1: P1, k54 (62, 70), p1. Turn.
Row
2: Yo, k1, p54 (62, 70), ssk. Turn.
Row
3: Yo, p1, k54 (62, 70), p2tog. Turn.
Repeat
rows 2 and 3 until desired length before inserting chart.
Method
3:
Lift
a strand from the neighbouring stitch (the last stitch of the row)
which you decrease together with the first stitch when turning to
purl back. This is very similar to doing a left or right lifted
increase and closes the turning gap by joining the start to the end
of the “round”. I had difficulty doing this because the strands
were too tight. Perhaps with practice, but all in all I gave up on
it.
Method
4:
Hide
the turning gap with a wrap and turn (or double stitch).
Depending
on the yarn you use, the wraps can show, although with the German
“double stitch” (DS) method this can be almost invisible and
therefore a good choice. In my sample the stitches next to the turn
were tight followed by a loose stitch next to that.
If
you place the turning point next to your motif, any imperfections
will show next to the design you intend to show off, making an end of
round on the other side of the sock a better choice.
For
the double stitch method and using a turning point at the end of the
round, the instructions would look something like this.
For
a sock leg with 56 (64, 72) sts.
Row
1: K54 (62, 70), p2, turn.
Row
2: DS, k1, p53 (61, 69), knit the DS through both strands, k1, turn.
Row
3: DS, p1, k53 (61, 69), purl the DS through both strands, p1, turn.
Repeat
rows 2 and 3 for 1”, ending with a row 2.
Once
you have set this up, you insert the chart twice in the round.
The
stitch counts in rows 2 and 3 are correct, as the reverse stocking
stitch is worked twice.
Method
5:
Using
any method, it is possible to hide irregularities using seam
stitches.
As
all methods produced at least a minor visible irregularity I wondered
if there was a way to optimise. That was when I remembered that
traditionally stockings were knitted with a “seam stitch” which
is purled. Therese de Dillmont describes the “seam stitch” as
follows: “To
ensure the right proportions between the several parts of a stocking,
the following directions should be attended
to. …. When the top part is finished, you make the seam, at the
beginning of the first needle of the round, of one, or two purled
stitches, or sometimes, a narrow pattern of purled stitches. This
marks the middle of the stocking.“
Encyclopedia of Needlework p.178, first published 1886.
In
my sock leg the transition from stockinette to reverse
stockinette “seam” stitches hides the position where the turn was
performed. The turns recede into the leg of the sock.
