Learn to Work With Two Color Knitting
Two color knitting is easier than you think
Whether you call it inastarsia, Fair Isle, or a pain in your neck, sooner or later every knitter has to deal with two color knitting. Beginners often find instructions for working with more than one color yarn complicated and confusing. Sure, we all understand how to make a big stripe (you break the yarn, you attach the yarn, presto chango, you're finished!).
But what about small, intricate patterns or small stripes -- things you don't want to constantly break yarn to create? Fortunately, two color knitting is much easier than you think.
Techniques
Knitters use two main techniques for two color knitting (or three color, or four). They are inastarsia and Fair Isle.
Fair Isle knitting means working with two colors and working the one you aren't using along the back. Inastarsia is basically the same thing, except that it focuses on making blocks of color and strictly states that you're using two different balls of yarn, or bobbins.
Confused? Good. Forget both of those terms, because they don't really tell you anything about how to work with different colors. Instead, let's take this one step at a time.
Getting Started
The first thing you need before you start two color knitting? A pattern, of course. There are many easy two color patterns available for free online. Make sure you're picking something easy, or get creative and design your own. Either way, once you have a pattern, there's really nothing to it.
Start out by casting on according to your pattern. You're working with one color right now, and probably will for the first few rows. Complete the first few rows in stockinette stitch, and you're ready to begin your pattern.
There are several different ways to join a second color for two color knitting, but I'm assuming you want the easy way. Ready? Here it is: make a loop of the second color and knit it through the next stitch. Then tie the short tail of the new color to the working strand of the first color. Double knot it and weave the ends through later.
Now you'll continue knitting with the new color for as many stitches as the pattern requires. When it's time to change colors, drop the second color and pick up the first again. It's just that easy!
Things to remember
-If you're not careful, you'll wind up with the yarn behind your work pulling too tightly so your project can't lay flat. Give it a tug now and then to make sure that isn't happening.
-If you go more than about an inch in one color, loop it around the second color so the yarn gets pulled up behind the project. That way, you won't have huge loops hanging off the back of your finished work.
-Don't worry about small gaps between colors. You can use a crochet hook to fix that later.
Try a simple project, and see how easy two color knitting becomes!