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Hey there, young Bessie. 
It's Jaya from Hobby here, and 

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you are listening to Skiing and 
Sell, the podcast that unravels 

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it all. 
Today's episode is for every 

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knitter who's ever squinted at 
their color work and thought, 

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hmm, why do my motifs look a 
little blurry? 

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Or maybe you've admired somebody
else's bold and crisp stranded 

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sweater and wondered, what's 
their secret? 

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Well, I've got you. 
The secret is color dominance. 

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It sounds fancy, but it's really
just a small detail with a huge 

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impact. 
And once you understand it, 

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you're stranded. 
Knitting like the bold, Nordic 

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inspired designs in the tortilla
collection, will look sharper, 

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clearer and oh so professional. 
So grab your yarn, maybe 2 

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shades that you've been dreaming
of and yeah, let's pair them 

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together and let's unravel the 
mystery of color dominance. 

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So what is color dominance? 
Now, in stranded knitting, 

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you're always juggling 2 yarns. 
1 is active, one is hanging out 

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in the background until it's 
kneaded again. 

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But here's the trick. 
The way you hold those two yarns

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determines which color pops and 
which one recedes. 

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The yarn held closest to your 
stitches or closest to your 

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needle or closest to your body 
becomes the dominant color. 

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It's the one that stands tall 
and says, notice me. 

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The other yarn, the one carried 
a bit further away, naturally 

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fades into the background. 
Think of it like taking a photo.

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One subject is in focus, the 
other one blurs softly behind. 

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In color work, dominance is your
lungs. 

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It tells the eye what to focus 
on. 

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In the tortilla collection, that
means your motive color should 

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always be dominant. 
If you're netting stars, 

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zigzags, or yoke motifs, you 
want those shapes to pop crisply

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against the background. 
So how do you do that? 

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Now, there's more than one way 
to wrangle 2 yarns, and none of 

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them are wrong. 
But whichever you choose, the 

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golden rule here is consistency.
If you carry both yarns in your 

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left hand, keep the dominant 
color closer to your palm and 

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the background towards your 
fingertips. 

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If you're one in each hand 
coordinator, keep the dominant 

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yarn in your left and the 
background in your right. 

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And whichever method feels most 
natural to you, stick with it 

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and stick with it through the 
end Switch halfway through and 

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suddenly your motive will look 
fuzzy. 

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It's going to start looking 
uneven. 

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So yeah, a pro tip is definitely
to flip your work over and check

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the floats. 
Remember, check the floats now. 

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If your dominance is consistent,
you'll see two neat parallel 

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lines marching along in the 
back. 

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It's a very satisfying little 
check in, so do try it out. 

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Now let's just imagine that 
you're knitting the Dorothea 

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sweater, OK? 
It's got these bold vertical 

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motifs across the yoke. 
If you swap dominance halfway, 

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suddenly half of your motifs are
going to pop and the other half 

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are going to fade away. 
So the result is just going to 

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be a sweater that looks like 
it's having a little bit of an 

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identity crisis, and nobody 
wants that. 

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OK, consistency. 
Once again, consistency keeps 

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your motifs sharp, your fabric 
smooth, and your design looking 

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intentionally so. 
Think of it like handwriting. 

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Changing pens midletter. 
It gets messy, but keeping the 

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same pen from start to finish 
and the flow is beautiful. 

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Now, Bessie, here's where floats
and dominance meet. 

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Even when you're catching 
floats, remember that's when you

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secure long strands so that they
don't snag. 

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You still have to keep the 
dominance order the same. 

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If you accidentally flip the two
yarns while trapping afloat, 

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you're going to break the 
illusion. 

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The motive color might suddenly 
dip into the background. 

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So here's the mantra. 
Dominant always stays closest, 

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background always behind. 
Repeat it as you net and your 

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motives will thank you. 
Dominant always closest, 

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background always behind. 
Now here's some extra tips to 

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make color dominance kind of 
like click. 

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OK, so when you Swatch with both
yarn positions, net the same 

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motif twice, switching which 
color is dominant. 

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Then you're going to see the 
difference and the difference 

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will blow your mind. 1 is going 
to look super crisp, the other 

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one is going to fade. 
Use for instance light and dark 

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combos. 
The clearer the contrast, the 

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more obvious the dominance 
becomes. 

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Practice, you know, maybe on 
smaller project like for 

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instance the Dortea mittens or 
the cowl are perfect for this. 

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Manageable canvases where you 
can really really see the effect

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and remember dominant. 
That's the motive. 

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If in doubt, just ask yourself, 
which part of the design do I 

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want to stand out? 
That's the yarn that should sit 

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closest to your stitches. 
Now of course, of course I had 

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to include a little color work 
history. 

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And if you haven't heard a 
previous episode and then this 

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is going to be very interesting 
to you, let's zoom out for a 

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moment, OK? 
Because color dominance isn't 

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just something that we're doing 
now. 

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It's been part of stranded 
knitting for century. 

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Even knitters didn't always call
it that. 

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In Norwegian selbu maintenance, 
the star motifs are always 

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dominant. 
So knit in a contrasting yarn 

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that pops against the 
background, The floats on the 

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inside reveal A consistent 
dominance tradition. 

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In Fair Isle knitting from 
Shetland Island, color dominance

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is almost a religion, the rule 
of two colors per row with one 

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popping and one receding. 
That's what creates those 

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mesmerizing little geometric 
patterns. 

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And even in the beautiful 
Icelandic little Papesa 

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sweaters, dominance shapes the 
bold yoke motifs. 

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Now, without it, those 
snowflakes and those chevrons 

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would blur into mush. 
So when you're practicing 

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dominance, you're tapping into 
the same wisdom knitters have 

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been passing down for hundreds 
of years. 

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You know, you're part of a 
lineage of makers of crafters 

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who knew that the tiniest 
detail, which is, you know, yarn

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placement, could transform their
work from ordinary to 

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extraordinary. 
Now let's bring it back to our 

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fiber fame. 
The Dortea collection is a 

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master class in color dominance.
The mittens show you right away 

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how one yarn pops and the other 
one fades. 

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The cowl gives you space to 
practice repeating motives and 

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see consistency in action. 
The sweater and the yolk 

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sweater, that's where you 
basically graduate, you know, 

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large motives that depend on 
crisp dominance to really, 

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really shine. 
All the patterns, of course, are

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free on the hobby.com website. 
And the blog has photos that, 

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you know, show swatches in 
action with different dominance 

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positions. 
It's I feel, a great visual. 

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If you're more of a see it to 
believe it learner O go check it

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out. 
I added the link to the blog 

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post in the notes of this 
episode. 

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And Busty, Here is the thing, 
Stranded knitting is as much 

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about the journey as the 
finished piece. 

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Now, every float, every color 
choice, every neat little motif 

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is part of your Maker story. 
So if you can't resist trying on

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your tortilla sweater halfway 
through, floats dangling and all

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same, OK, same. 
That joy, that pry, that can't 

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wait to share energy is what 
color work is all about. 

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So bestie, that's color 
dominance unraveled. 

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What it is, why it matters, how 
to master it, and the history 

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that makes it feel even more 
magical. 

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Don't forget, you can grab the 
free patterns, the free tortilla

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patterns on hobby.com and check 
the blog for swatches, for 

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photos and even side by side 
examples of dominance in action.

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And when you'll net your 
tortilla, please share it with 

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us. 
Tag us at Hobby under score yarn

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and at Copenhagen Fibers on 
Instagram and use the hashtag 

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Hobby tortilla and hashtag 
Copenhagen Fibers by hobby. 

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We live for your color work 
selfies. 

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Until next time, keep your yarns
in their lane and your motifs 

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both. 
That was all for me, Jaya from 

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Hobby. 
I will see you best see super, 

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super soon. 
OK, All right, Love you, bestie.

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Bye.