My 5 Best Tips for Knitting Stripes.
Hi, Guys!
I'm Kristen.
Today, we are taking a close look at the easiest ways to create horizontal stripes that are
knitted flat on straight knitting needles with really simple knit and purl stitch patterns.
First, we're going to look at how you can get really creative by mixing and matching
different knit stitch patterns.
And then we're going to look at the easiest knitting techniques for adding stripes.
You'll learn how and when to change your yarn color, along with the simplest way to carry
your yarn up the side of your work.
Lastly, I'll show you a nifty little trick on how to get rid of those pesky purl dash
lines on your yarn change rows.
When you're knitting patterns that have a mix of knit and purl stitches in that row.
And if this knitting technique video is helpful to you, please LIKE it up.
It really helps me out.
So, let's get started.
Tip One.
Designing knit stitch patterns with stripes.
Let's begin by taking a look at the different ways horizontal knitting stripes look when
applied to different knit stitch patterns.
We're focusing on creating horizontal stripes here.
In this video, I'm using just two yarn colors, but of course, feel free to switch up those
yarn colors as often as your heart desires.
The garter stitch pattern.
When you're knitting every row in your knitting swatch, you are creating the most basic knit
stitch pattern, the garter stitch.
This sample is four rows of the knit stitch and then I change my yarn.
Here is how the garter stitch looks on the right side, or the front of your work.
Now, usually the garter stitch is reversible, looking identical on both sides.
But when you change yarn colors, you will have the wrong side of your work and the difference
is very obvious.
Next, we have the Stockinette Stitch.
When you're knitting the first row, and then purling the second row, you're creating the
stockinette stitch pattern.
Let's take a look at the right side of our stockinette stitch pattern.
And here is how the wrong side looks.
We can get really creative by mixing and matching these two knit stitch patterns.
So, here's a fun little combination that adds a pop of texture to the yarn color change.
The Stockinette stitch with a little Garter stripe pattern.
And, how I achieved this is four rows of the Stockinette in my Color A, which is purple.
And then when I switch yarn colors, I knit the next two rows in the Garter Stitch.
Here's how it looks on the front side.
And I just love the texture of pulling up that little garter row right there.
And this is what the wrong side of the work looks like, too.
The written instructions for all of these knit stitch patterns are available for FREE
directly on my website.
Of course, I have a link down in the description below for you.
I also am including a new page in my Knit Stitch Pattern Book that I have available
on Etsy.
So, if you would like a printed PDF of these patterns, you can go and check that out, as
well.
And to save this knitting technique to your Pinterest Board, I also have a link down below
for that.
I think it's worth taking a moment to note the obvious gauge difference between our garter
and stockinette stitch patterns.
You'll see in my two samples here, they were knit with an identical number of stitches
and rows.
However, you can see that the stockinette stitch is clearly knitted up with a greater
length than the garter stitch.
So, those purl rows in the Stockinette stitch, they are helping create taller stitches, making
the entire piece longer.
And, I just thought it was interesting to look at because when you understand the difference
between these two stitch patterns, the Garter and the Stockinette, and how it knits up longer,
faster on the Stockinette, it might come in handy for you when deciding exactly what to
knit.
For patterns with a combination of knits and purls on the same row.
My examples here are the 2x2 Rib Stitch Pattern, as well as the Seed Stitch pattern, which
each row is a mix of both knits and purls.
So, hold tight.
We're going to look at these two patterns when I review Tip 5 because I have a super
simple little trick to make these kinds of combination patterns perfect within your knitted
stripe.
Tip 2, change yarn colors to knit your stripes.
So, once you are done knitting in Color A, which is purple for me here, you're not going
to continue knitting in that color, are you?
You are ready to change your yarn colors.
So, simply take that new yarn Color B, and make a loop.
We're not tying and knots.
We're just making a simple loop.
Holding it between our two fingers.
And instead of the purple yarn, that is what we are going to knit through on our right
needle.
And your purple yarn, your Color A, might be a little loose, so you can tighten it up
a bit at this point.
And your yarn tail, you just keep that just kind of hanging.
And you're going to take your new working yarn, Color B, and simply continue knitting
as you would on your next row.
It really is as simple as that.
Of course, that yarn tail will have to be woven in when you're ready to do so.
But, otherwise, that is it as far as beginning a color change.
And just keep on knitting down that row.
Tip 3 Keep Yarn Colors on the right side of your work.
The easiest way to be changing yarn colors while knitting is to do it at the beginning
of the right side of your work.
So, all of your yarn tails are going to be on the right side.
And when you switch your yarn color, you are starting on the right side of your work, which
is the front of your work.
Tip 4.
Carry yarn up the side of your work.
This is a great technique that allows you to not have to cut your yarn ends and weave
them in every single time you change colors.
So, here's how we do it.
You take the yarn that you'd like to carry up and you just make sure that you place it
over your working yarn.
That's the yarn that you plan to keep on knitting.
You place it over and then when you knit with your working yarn.
Let's get that little purple guy to the side.
Go ahead and knit through your working yarn and you'll see, this is catching your yarn,
it's also called twisting.
And we'll just continue knitting all the way across the row.
And let's take a look at how this develops each time you do it from the right side of
your work.
So, I'm going to knit this entire row, both on the right and wrong sides and let's come
back around to it again.
So, here we are, we take the yarn that we want to carry up, we twist it over the working
yarn, that just means placing it on top.
And then just keep on knitting as you would.
Let's do it a third time so we can see exactly how it's going to look.
So, we take that yarn that we want to carry up.
We twist it, simply by placing it over our working yarn, and we just take our working
yarn and we knit as we would.
And then when you are ready to change back to that yarn color, it's already carried up.
And you just go ahead and knit it.
I like to place it on top of the color that I just used.
And then you have this really nice little side on the front, the right side you can't
even see it.
And here is how the little twists carried up the yarn, carried up along the side on
the back, the wrong side of your work looks.
It's a super simple trick that is definitely worth the time so that you don't have to weave
in all those yarn ends.
Tip 5.
Remove Purl Dash lines on your yarn change row.
You're going to love this super simple trick on how to remove this purl dash line in the
knit stitch patterns that have a combination of both knits and purls on the same row.
So, here is the 2x2 Rib Stitch pattern.
Typically, the pattern is knit two, and purl two.
However, we want to create a clean yarn color change in this row.
And all we have to do is simply knit that entire first row instead of the 2x2 pattern.
And I know what you're thinking.
For the Rib patterns you want it to be nice and stretchy, so does just knitting an entire
row affect it?
It actually does not at all.
To the naked eye, you can not tell the difference, except for the fact that you have really clean,
great looking yarn changes.
And here on the Seed Stitch pattern, we would typically knit 1 and purl 1 on the first row.
But, instead we are also just going to knit that entire yarn change row.
The technique really works.
The seed stitch looks so much better and nothing is easier than knitting an entire row, right?
I hope my 5 Best Tips on How to Knit Stripes has been really helpful to you.
Again, thank you so much for watching and I'll see you next time, guys!
Bye!