A few weeks back I got it in my head that I should try stranded knitting again. It was already bedtime (isn't that always when inspiration strikes?), but I quickly read through a couple of stranded colorwork tutorials online. Without thinking too hard (that's the key, for me), I cast on for the Bergen Cowl.
I sat in bed in the halo of my bedside light and suddenly found that my hands knew what to do. They weren't fumbling through a colorwork project, tangling yarn and struggling with tension. Instead, with Carrie's Yellow yarn in my left hand and Egret yarn in my right, the stitches flowed easily and knitted triangles began to emerge. Oh my! It was all I could do not to wake up my husband and gush about my new skill (and really, it was after midnight by this point, so I knew his reaction would have been more of a grumble than a cheer).
After that first night, this cowl flew off the needles. It was a joy to knit. The best part of this project, aside from cracking the world of colorwork wide open, is that it converted me to continental knitting. I've tried continental knitting before because I wanted to be more efficient, but it never clicked like it did this time. Before this, I wasn't an English knitter or a continental knitter. I was a ragtag make-it-work knitter. And now? Knitting is much faster, and I've got dreams of more stranded colorwork in my future (maybe Anders, Chamomile, or A Most Bespeckled Hat?).
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What's your knitting style? And do you do stranded colorwork?
I'd love to hear about your experiences with it.
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P.S. I'm slowly checking off things on my resolutions list.
Yay! Well done! I made this a few months ago, although I naven't taken any pictures yet. It was my first attempt at colourwork too and I was inspired by Lori's: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/lorix5/bergen-cowl. My experience was pretty much the same as yours although it took me a couple of false starts to get the tension right. It was such a fast and addictive knitting project!
ReplyDeleteYours looks great on you.
Stephanie
Lovely cowl. Your color work stranding is terrific. I am a continental knitter. When I strand, I use both hands though.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful color work! I too have Chamomile on my "want to knit" list.
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely beautiful!! I'm an English? knitter (I hold the yarn around my left finger and work it like I'm crocheting).
ReplyDeleteYour stranding is amazingly neat! The back is just as pretty as the front.
ReplyDeleteI think the English method is so much more complicated. If I had learned English first, honestly, I might not have stuck with knitting.