- [Kristen] Learn the houndstooth stitch pattern.
This is a Fair Isle technique on a stockinette.
We're gonna be working with two colors today
and show you the stitch repeat.
Welcome to GoodKnit Kisses.
We're all about helping you stitch your love
and love your stitches.
The Fair Isle design is a two-color or more stitch repeat
where you make a pattern on the front in stockinette,
and you hold the yarn in the back
and string it along until you need the next color.
You don't cut your yarn, you just hold it.
So I'm gonna show you a technique
where you can hold the two colors
in actually two different hands.
You can still work with just one hand at a time
if you need to, in fact, I do that on the purl row
still myself, so you're gonna see
two different techniques here.
And you can work this as a flat panel,
back and forth like this,
and we'll have a pattern down below that has a chart,
but you can also work it in the round,
so you just keep repeating.
It's a four-stitch repeat and a four-row repeat,
so be sure and click down below to get that pattern.
I also have a pattern for in the round and a Fair Isle hat,
which is kind of a classic Fair Isle look,
but it's also a four-row repeat four round,
and you can substitute this stitch pattern in that too,
so be sure and click down below.
Let me show you my chart and we'll work on this together.
On the third page of our pattern,
you can see we have a couple of charts.
We've got a small houndstooth chart,
which we're gonna work on today,
and then we also have a large houndstooth chart.
You can choose to use either one.
This is for your convenience,
if you're working with a smaller yarn and needle,
or if you just want to make
what we're doing today much bigger.
So, the small houndstooth is we'll concentrate on today.
If you're not familiar with patterns,
you're always gonna be starting on the bottom right
on row one and that's going to be your right side row.
You're gonna work all the way across,
and then, when you get to your wrong side row,
it's going to be a purl and you're gonna walk across
from left to right in that direction.
So you can see Contrast A is where we're going to start,
and we just have one, and then you're gonna make one of B,
and then you're going to repeat your A.
When you're repeating this over four stitches,
this will actually end up looking like three
because this one repeats again,
so you'll have three of one color
and one of the opposite color, and that's on every row,
so then when you go up to row two,
you're gonna work three of your Contrast color B,
and then you'll do one of A.
Three, row three, is knitting again on the right side
and you're still gonna do what you just did on two
in the same color, so you're going to knit this time,
so you're gonna knit three in B, and then one of A.
So you have two rows that start with the same contrast.
And then you have row four that starts with one of A,
just like row one did, but we're working in
the opposite direction, from left to right, in purls.
So we're gonna do one of A, one of B,
and then we'll repeat with the three.
So that's how that chart works.
Let's jump on over, and you're gonna want to cast on.
I'm gonna look at my sample and show you
what you want to do first.
We're gonna cast on our sample with 20 stitches,
and I'm using a US 11, or eight millimeter needle,
and a super bulky six-weight yarn.
If you want to use whatever needle you're comfortable with,
and yarn, just make sure the yarn is
appropriate to the needle.
This sample is about five and a half inches wide
by six inches tall.
We're gonna do five pattern repeats,
or you can do five pattern repeats,
and let's just go over the basic format of this.
You're gonna cast on 20 stitches,
you're gonna have a foundation row of purl going back,
and then we're gonna work on just this four-row repeat.
And then, when you're done, I suggest that you make
one row of knit stitches after that
and then you can bind off your sample to have.
So that's how you get that.
So go ahead and cast on 20 stitches
and make one row of purl and I'll meet you back
to work on the four-row repeat.
See you soon.
All right, so you've done your 20 stitches of cast on
and your first purl row.
Of course, I did assume you knew how to cast on,
and knit in purl, and of course,
bind off for this sample today,
but if you need a refresher,
please go click down in the link below
for our slower tutorials.
We go very slow for beginners,
so if you are a beginner, you can do this.
However, this next part, I am gonna be holding things
with two hands and I want you to know that
I'm gonna go slow, you can do it with your own technique
and learn how to trap it in,
but this is a very particular one
that makes it easier on you.
So go ahead and work the very first stitch in color A.
Just as normal.
And then, you can drop A for now and pick up B.
I'm working my A is orange and B is white.
So just knit this first one as normal.
Leave a tail.
And go ahead and tighten those up.
Okay, so our next stitch, we want to knit with A as well,
so go ahead and work that one.
All right, now we're on our last and fourth stitch
of this stitch pattern repeat,
and this is one that allows us to trap in
this color here, our Contrast B.
So I'm going to go into that stitch as if to knit
and pick up my Contrast B in my other hand.
So just pick that right on up.
And we're gonna be working with both of these,
so let's see, I'm in this stitch here,
and when I go in, I'll just dip my needle right underneath
what's in this other hand.
This is my Contrast B, so we're going underneath B,
and then go ahead and knit with A, just as normal,
and when you offload that needle, when you come through,
what happens is it sweeps underneath that Contrast B,
and it ignores it, but it puts it on top
of this stitch in the back, here.
And then just let it go like before.
And then now, when we knit the next stitch
which is in our four-row repeat,
when we're going on to the next one,
or four-stitch repeat, it's gonna be an A again.
When we knit this one, it traps it in,
so you're ignoring B here, it's going right on top of it,
and knit, and you can see that B is trapped in the back.
There's no really long lines here, there's no floats.
And so now you can work on your next stitch as well.
So we've got one, two, three, four, five,
and that means that we're ready to go on to Contrast B,
'cause you can see every fourth stitch here,
so we've got one, two, three in A,
and the fourth one is B, so we're going to
pick up B, and the way to knit that one
is you're going to keep your needle on top like this,
but we're gonna wrap around.
So you're coming from the side where
your work is, your main work on your--
I'm trying to not use left and right terms,
but you're coming from this side of the needle over here,
go around up top, and down towards the front of the needle.
So from this direction, go around towards the point
of this needle here, and then pull it on through,
and now you have B.
And then you're going to knit A as normal,
and now we're gonna trap it in,
so we're gonna go in and we're gonna go down
underneath that yarn, or you can
flick it around like that.
I end up doing that when I'm doing it faster.
And then now knit that stitch with A,
and do one more to lock it in with A,
and you're back to B and you're gonna knit with B.
So you're gonna go in that stitch,
we're gonna go around
and through.
You're just gonna keep that stitch pattern going
until you reach the end, and you'll actually end
with two of color A.
What if you're not working with two hands?
So what I'll do is I'm going to
trap in this B, just knitting as usual,
and then if I have A and I want to get that trapped in,
I would need to lift it up,
and after we put it on top here,
we're just gonna go over this direction,
and then pull through,
and it traps it in the same as well.
So if you really don't want to hold it with this other hand,
that's what you can do.
All right, pause your video,
and I'll see you on the next row.
Okay, I'm at the end of row one.
I just want to show you the last couple of stitches,
just go ahead and work the second to last one as normal,
and in the very last stitch,
go ahead and tuck in like you're preparing
to continue the pattern on, go underneath there,
go ahead and knit, and then let that fall off,
and it sets that color up in the back
in the right position for our next part.
So we're gonna be purling all of these.
Our next stitch is going to be white,
so you see that we had three of the orange,
which is color A, and we have color B, the cream color
tucked in behind, just looks like a little purl stitch here.
So we're gonna be doing that over this way,
and we're gonna be doing more of an
English-style, we're throwing here.
Go underneath, and we're going to purl that first stitch,
and we want to make the white stitch go,
so we're gonna put the orange on top.
So we've got B coming from below, purl that stitch,
and it sets the yarn up in the right spot.
And then now, we want to purl with B as well.
We want to make sure that we go underneath the orange.
Put A on top, and grab B, and go ahead and purl with B once.
So we're gonna work this third stitch,
and we want to make sure that A goes around
like a little scarf, so we just move this one over,
just like that, and then put A on top,
so A is gonna come around on top of it over here.
So it's under it, and then we're gonna go
back over this direction and purl.
And then there's your little scarf.
So now we're gonna come over here,
and we're gonna pick up A, and we're going to purl,
and so that is our pattern.
We'll do it again.
I'm gonna start repeating, and just pick up B and purl.
And then we wanna do B again, but we're going to
make sure that the A is on top.
And go ahead and purl.
And then come to the third one,
make sure B is on top again.
So you're going under twice on that.
And then you're ready for A again.
I hope I didn't say those wrong numbers,
but you can see what I'm doing.
If I said that wrong, then I'm so sorry.
Okay, so we've got it all set up again to repeat,
so you're just gonna continue working.
Again, here we're going B,
that's on top,
B's on top, and then we're gonna do B under,
and knit with B,
and then B under,
you're gonna twist it around, and knit with B,
and then...
I'm saying "knit," I mean purl. (laughs)
I just mean work the stitch.
And then go ahead and purl.
Whoops.
And then go ahead and work your purl in A.
So I may have said some of those names wrong
but you can see what's happening on the screen
where I'm making three of one color
and one of the other in the purl,
because when you work your row four,
it's going to be like this again, just the opposite colors.
So go ahead and complete that row, pause your video,
and I will meet you back up for row three.
See you soon.
We are ready to begin row three
and we're gonna start with the same colors
that we started our row two when we were
going the other direction with,
so we're gonna start with three whites,
which is B, so go ahead and work those three.
So you're going to hold your A yarn in your other hand,
and your B in your primary hand here.
We're gonna knit that first stitch,
and the next one, we're going to tuck that in,
and knit that.
And then knit the next stitch to trap that in,
and then go ahead and knit color A.
So three knits of white, or your color B,
and one of A, and then repeat that.
So continue that, and I will meet you back for row four.
We'll see you soon.
(needles clacking together)
We're at the end of row three, ready for four.
I just want you to see what that looks like so far.
And I'm gonna turn this over
and we'll start working with color A again,
and we're gonna have more of color A on this row.
So this is the same similar starting colors,
or the same starting colors as row one,
you're just purling them.
So, it's already on that color.
You can go ahead and twist around
and get that white color trapped in
to the one you're not actually using,
so essentially you're grabbing A from below,
and go ahead and purl that one.
And now we're going to work with B and purl one.
And then now, we're gonna work with three colors of A,
so grab A, it can be on top.
And the next one, we're gonna purl again,
and we want A on top.
Go ahead and make sure it's coming from below and purl.
And in the third one, go ahead and make sure B's on top, so
A's on bottom, and purl.
And you got that all set up and trapped in,
and now you can grab B again and purl.
I may have said some of those names.
(laughs)
I keep wanting to say the colors and not the names
and get myself confused, but you can see what I did.
So we've got one of A, one of B, three of A,
and then one of B, and we're gonna continue on
with those stitches as before, where you grab A and purl.
And make sure B is underneath,
I'm sorry, A is underneath, so put that B on top and purl.
And that finishes out those eight stitches.
So you're going to keep repeating 'til the end of that row,
and I'll show you what mine looks like
with the four-row repeat after this.
See you in a moment.
So here's my work, let's pull it down here.
You can see this four-row repeat.
See what that looks like?
You'll really start to see the pattern emerge
after you have a couple of these done,
so at least two to three of these row repeats,
to really see the houndstooth emerge.
So this sample here, for my swatch,
I just repeated it four more times.
There's a total of five here,
one, two, three, four, five.
And then, you're going to knit one more row
in your main color, or color A,
and then bind off all stitches,
and there is your sample.
And of course, it is a stockinette,
it is gonna roll unless you have a border on it
or you can use it in the round.
And feel free to play around and have fun with it.
I hope you enjoyed learning about the houndstooth design.
Be sure and click below to get that hat pattern
to make Fair isle hat, and you can substitute this pattern
instead of the standard Fair Isle hat that we have listed.
Also, if you need any more tutorials on needle knitting,
we've got a playlist for you here on your end screen,
so be sure and stay tuned,
and subscribe for more videos.
Next week, I'm gonna show how to make this
on the knitting loom.
We'll see you soon.
Happy knitting!
Thanks for joining us today,
where we help you stitch your love and love your stitches.
See you again soon!