How do I stop the “gathered look” with fair-isle knitting?

When knitting patterns with different coloured wool in the same row, it looks raised and “gathered” on the right side. Should I twist the wool when doing fai-isle?

4 Comments

babyzcostumeshop May 25th, 2010 at 5:23 pm

By gathered, do you mean it’s bunching up? You may be stranding the colors too tightly in the back between changes. As for twisting, it’s recommended anytime you change colors, but I think it’s more for intarsia with it’s big blocks of color. I’ve never had much of an issue either way when working fair isle. I’d suggest trying it with and without and seeing if it makes a difference.

pstiff48 May 25th, 2010 at 6:15 pm

There is a video on this site that might help you

http://www.philosopherswool.com/

jinxed May 25th, 2010 at 6:42 pm

I believe you are pulling the yarns to tight causing it to “pucker or gather.” Try to leave the yarn a little loose when you pick up a new color.

hot_hermione May 25th, 2010 at 6:48 pm

i had that same problem when i started fair isle. your problem is that you are pulling the yarn too tight. here is what helped me to understand how to do fair isle easy without confussing the heck out of me, plus you wont get the holes either.
its about half way down under how to knit with 2 colors at a time

http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/advanced-techniques

a tip you can use is to spray the finsihed project with a spray bottle and iron the piece. this will get rid of the gaterhing in fair isle.

Zen Knitting

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