It seems like I'm constantly finishing knits for myself in the wrong season. Winter knits in summer. Summer knits in winter. :) This time, though, I DID actually finish this cardigan in winter. Unfortunately, it also just happened to be the wrong season of life: I was 8 months pregnant and couldn't button it. ;) (I tried wearing it open, but it just looked funny with my baby belly.) And, once I could button it, the tulips were blooming and it was just a little too balmy out for a wool sweater!

So, it sat in my closet waiting patiently for this fall and winter. I have to say, though, that it was worth the wait. I've really enjoyed wearing it! I love the fit and style. Goes with so much! 

It really was a fun knit, too. It's knit top down, all at once (with raglan shaping) and it was awesome to be able to try it on as I went and make a few adjustments as needed! (More on the adjustments I made here.) No seaming at the end, too - perfect! 

Project: Woodstove Season Cardigan
Pattern: Woodstove Season
Yarn: Knit Picks' Gloss Heavy Worsted (discontinued) - "Parsley"

We have had an unusually dry winter here in Washington. Hardly any rain and no snow. Just lots of dry, cold weather! So, this was a pleasant surprise this morning... 5 inches and counting!

Makes me want to bundle up and knit lots of warm things. :) Easier said than done, though. I've actually been on a knitting hiatus for a while now. Somehow I injured my left thumb by being a mom and knitter about a month ago. Painful and annoying! I toughed it out for a week, then gave up knitting. Still wasn't better, so I bought a brace. That's when I finally started to heal.

For the past 3 weeks I haven't knit a stitch - sad! Since my hand hasn't hurt for about a week, though, today I gave knitting a "go" again. 

The project: a bright green sock from my WIP pile. I started this sock months (maybe years? ;)) ago and have only worked on it in between more interesting projects. So, I've only completed approximately 6" of the 2x2 rib cuff. It's just my "work-on-when-I-need-something" project, though, so that's fine with me. The pair will eventually get done. ;)

Project: Simple Green Socks 
Pattern: Priscilla's Dream Socks 
(See my post long ago about this pattern here.)
Yarn: Knit Pick's Stroll Tonal - "Springtime"

It's great to be knitting again (even if just a little), and enjoying the beautiful, white view from the warm indoors! 

I have a confession. Before I designed the Baby Nordik Hat I really hadn't knit much colorwork. Two yarn stranded colorwork, that is. (The Élan Mitts Pattern didn't count, since it's a neat faux colorwork.) 

Sure, I knit a few hats with a colorwork band way back when I first learned to knit (here's one :)), but I pretty much limped my way through those:

Pick up Yarn 1, k 2 sts. Drop yarn. Pick up Yarn 2, k 3 sts... and so on. Gets the job done, but talk about slow.

When I got the urge to knit a earflap hat for Annette with a colorwork band, this painstaking method worked fine for the first hat. I had no trouble keeping gauge and it looked great.  But, once I decided I wanted to turn this into a design, I knew what that meant: lots of colorwork knitting was on my horizon.

I'd have to actually figure out how to knit colorwork the "proper" way, or get super frustrated with with my slugs-pace skills. ;)

Google to the rescue! One quick search and I'd uncovered lots of articles and videos. I found these really helpful:

• Stranded Knitting Tutorial by Knit Picks - an overview of stranded knitting methods (with video)
  
• Color Stranding Article on Knitty - good information on maintaining proper tension
• Two Hand Stranded Colorwork Tutorial - detailed pictures on holding the yarn with 2 hands

I knit English style (my right hand holds and "throws" the yarn) and had only dabbled in Continental style once. So, originally I got a yarn guide thinking that holding both yarn strands in my right hand would feel the most natural. It felt pretty clunky over all, though, and I just couldn't get into a rhythm with it. 

Next I tried two handed stranded knitting, (using the information in the links above - the video by Knit Picks being especially helpful). This felt strange at first since it combined both English and Continental style, but eventually I got the hang of it and it felt really natural. Colorwork was no longer a laborious chore (you know, "only 4 more rows until I'm done with the chart!"). It was actually really fun! 

I certainly don't consider myself to be a 2 handed colorwork master, but after knitting 5 different Baby Nordik Hats (all part of designing a pattern ;)), I do have some advice from my experience should you choose to try this method:

Relax your left hand! 
If (like me) you are not used to Continental style knitting, you'll probably be tempted to keep it super rigid and tense while you learn this. Not a good idea! Your left hand will hurt. So (unlike me :)) take multiple breaks if it starts to hurt and try to just relax it while you are knitting to avoid strain.

Keep the strands/floats the same tension as the knitting!
If you don't, the front of the colorwork will pucker. This sounds scary and hard, but it's really not. For example, when you switch to knitting with Yarn B, you'll "float" the Yarn B strand behind the Yarn A stitches you just knit. All you've got to do is make sure you "float" enough Yarn B yarn behind those Yarn A stitches so that the Yarn B strand doesn't pull them together at all. I found that I got perfect tension on the strands/floats when I:
 1) knit in a relaxed manner AND 2) made sure to not pull on each yarn strand too tightly whenever I made a color change and knit the first stitch. 

Begin with an "in the round" project!
If you've never knit Continental style before, knitting is going to be challenging enough. You don't want to also have to learn how to purl. So, do yourself a favor and knit your first 2 handed colorwork project in the round. No purling! 

Understand it won't look amazing right off the needles!
It takes a good blocking to even out those colorwork stitches and give it a finished look, so don't be disappointed if it doesn't look amazing once you finish it! As long as the strands/floats aren't too tight, blocking it should make the design really "pop".

-----------------------------------------
So, have you tried colorwork?
Have you mastered the art, are you working on it, or are you still scared off? 

Comment below! I'd love to hear about your experience!