How do you knit a pattern?

[knitknotandacorn]

I can knit a pattern, but the back of the work is full of un-knitted-in lines of wool which mean that my hat or my gloves won't stretch to go on someone's head. I don't understand at all how you can knit a pattern without making the back full of lines of wool?

I am so sorry to ask on here but I don't know what to type into Google that will give me the answers I'm looking for.

does anyone on here have any advice? Thank you!

I have no advice but as a novice knitter I'm keen to find out from someone more experienced!

Hope someone can share. The stuff looks great but isn't functional at all.
I made a hat for an adult but it doesn't even fit on a child's head!

You weave them in, it's called stranding if you want to look it up

Every few stitches, you catch up the wool around the last stich, making sure to leave a small loop on the wrong side. That way, you are building in some stretch in the finished item.

Do you mean when you are knitting with two colours in a fair isle pattern? You have to be very careful with your tension, you have to make sure not to knit too tightly as that would cause the front to pucker and for the garment to be too rigid and not stretchy. So you knit more loosely than you normally would but not so loosely that there are long strands on the back which can get caught. You also catch the other colour every three stitches or so you don’t have really long floats at the back. It’s a matter of practice to get your tension right, not too tight and not too loose. There’s some tips here
www.thesprucecrafts.com/fair-isle-stranded-knitting-2116385

For stranded colourwork like fair isle? Look up how to catch the floats in the back as suggested above. Every 3 or 4 stitches is good.

I also found it really helpful to teach myself continental knitting as well as English style, so I could get into a rhythm and ‘throw’ colour A off my right hand, but ‘pick’ colour B off my left. My tension is more even this way than if I have to try and use my right hand for both colours and keep swapping the wool over.

I just looked up 'fair isle knitting floats ' on Google and some tutorials came up for keeping the strands/floats neat in the back of the work.

I do it as Yellowdahlia does

Oh wonderful!
I didn't know if anyone would understand my description. I'll have a look through some tutorials thank you all so so much 💗

I find it really tedious and don't usually bother but it's advisable 5o

Sorry, pressed send too soon!
It's advisable to knit a small test swatch to see how your swatch matches up with the pattern.
It'll show you if your tension is too tight.

Good luck! Come back and show us if you nail it? I’ve got a 13 colour fairisle on 3mm needles on the go but am currently knitting single colour stocking stitch on 6mm needles because I can only do so much before my brain tries to explode 🤣

There's a way of doing it with lots of bobbins pre wound with the different colour yarns. I use this way, and you don't have trailing yarn on the reverse. Disclaimer: I've not ever done Fair Isle, but lots of very patterned stuff with objects and animals on them (Patricia Roberts, back on the day).

13 colours? Blimey!

i had never even heard of fair Isle before this so I'm not as advanced as o lead my family to believe (although I am an absolute god as I can knit hats, scarfs and mittens... 2 colours --striped)

Make sure you’re using the right type of wool as well- I generally go for the wool the pattern recommends or as close a match as I can get. And the right size needles. Some people suggest to size up for fair isle sections. Keep practicing though and try some colour work patterns without too many stitches between colours - I’ll this one really helped me with colour work practice.

www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/tessera-4

The neatest method I’ve ever found for tidying up your “floats” is this:
Ladderback jaquard

Tricky not to pull it too tight when you’re colour changing. It takes a bit of practice.

Any kind of knitting is basically a god-like power. My 5 year old still thinks it’s actual magic and, you know, he’s right 🤷‍♀️😉

@Verbena87 I completely agree! I also tell people I'm en expert knot maker because that's almost what it is!

Try the ‘Very Pink Knits’ channel on YouTube. She does excellent demo video. What you’re describing is called catching floats.

There’s also a method called intarsia that doesn’t use floats, you might like that better.