carry the yarn?

[sberb]

i feel like this is a stupid question, but i'm not sure if the phrase is literal:

i'm not sure what is meant by "carry" the yarn. i'm doing a mitten that changes color every 2 rounds (1st rnd knit, 2nd rnd k1p1). i did the first mitten knowing it wouldn't turn out too great...and i was right. the join where the colors change was really sloppy. i really liked the seamless appearance of the dbl knit-in, but i just about pulled my hair out trying to figure a way to use it in my project. i eventually got it to work, but it left my yarn a gigantic mess.

anyway...when you carry the yarn do you literally hang on to it while you continue to use the other colors? i tried just picking up the new color when i needed it but the joins betweens the dpns looked horrible - ladders and gaps galore.

i think the problem is that i'm not joining the last stitch of color A to the first of color B. does that make sense? so there's a gap every time i switch colors, which is every 2 rounds.

you guys are the best - i really appreciate your help!

[Jan in CA]

Generally I think when it says to carry the yarn it means up the side of the project. You can do this if the color change is pretty frequent. You just drop the yarn and start with the other color. I was doing this recently and I brought the working color under the other one and then knit with it..it sort of secures it up the side.

If you are knitting in the round you could just drop the yarn you aren't using and then pick it up again and drop the other one. When knitting in the round though there are no edges so there will be little floats of yarn. You probably don't want to do more than a couple rows between color changes.

There may be a better way, but I don't have the experience to know yet.

[sberb]

thanks, jan.

for clarification, i am knitting in the round. on my first mitten i would change colors at the start of a new round but i didn't connect the last stitch of the previous color to the first st of a new color - are you suppose to? so what ended up happening were gaps between rounds. i feel like i'm missing a step or something.

many thanks, again

sara

[Jan in CA]

Hmmmm... :thinking: I'm not sure. I think a more experienced knitter will have to take this one. I don't quite understand the gap thing. :thinking:

[hunterjenn]

Usually when I change color in the round, I twist the two yarns around each other so there's no gap. I also like to use this technique if I'm making stripes.