Hey there, you're Ambassy. It's Jaberm Hobby here, and
you're listening to Skein and tell, the podcast that unravels
it all. Today's episode we are talking
about something that sounds a little mysterious, maybe even
intimidating, but it's actually the secret sauce to bold,
beautiful color work, and that's floats.
Now, if you've ever flipped over a stranded knitted project,
maybe a mitten, a sweater, yoke, or even just a little Swatch,
you have seen them. Those little strands of yarn
traveling across the back of your stitches.
That's what we call floats. And learning how to manage them
is the difference between color work that feels tight and
puckered and color work that's smooth, stretchy, and wearable.
So whether you're brand new to stranded knitting or you've been
avoiding it because floats scare you, ooh well Bessie, today
we're going to unravel floats together, step by step.
And by the end, I promise you'll feel ready to tackle the bold,
Nordic inspired motives of the Dortea collection from
Copenhagen Fibers. So let's get into it.
So what exactly are floats? Let's start with the basics.
When you're knitting stranded color work, you usually have two
yarns going at once, unit with one, and then the other One
just, you know, just hangs out waiting for its turn.
But because your knitting needle keeps moving forward, that
unused yarn travels across the back of the fabric, and that's
your float on the front. You get those gorgeous motifs on
the back. Your yarn is quietly, let's call
it hitchhiking along until it's needed again.
It sounds simple, right? But here is why floats really,
really matter. If they're too tight, they
pucker the fabric. Your motif looks almost squished
if they're too lulus, your tension is sloppy and you risk
catching your fingers on the long loops when you wear the
sweater. And if you manage them just
right while you then get a fabric that's smooth, even, and
comfortable to wear. So how do you actually knit with
floats? Step one is knit your stitches
with the working yarn as normal. Step 2.
Let the yarn not used travel loosely across the back.
Don't pull it tight. Imagine it's taking a gentle nap
back there. OK, And then Step 3, every few
stitches, spread your stitches out on the right hand needle.
This gives the float enough slack to lie comfortably across
the back without tugging. Now you can do a quick check for
yourself. After a few stitches, gently tug
the the fabric in and if it stretches easily then you're
good. If it feels stiff, your floats
are definitely too tight. Don't worry, take a breath,
relax your shoulder. Seriously, float tension often
lives in your shoulder, so relax them and eventually try again.
It's not only enough to know how to help these floats travel, but
you also need to be securing them, so you need to be catching
them in. Now here is where things get a
bit practical. Sometimes a motive makes you
carry one color across the long stretch that's basically more
than five stitches. And that's when floats get very,
very long and they risk snagging.
The trick is to catch or trap the float.
Now here's how you do it. First of all, you knit 1 stitch
with your working yarn, and before the next stitch happens,
you have to bring the unused yarn over the working yarn.
And you have to knit the next stitch with your working yarn as
just as usual, and move the unused yarn back to its original
position. On the front.
Your motive stays clean. On the back, the float now lies
neatly against the fabric, shorter and more secure.
A general rule of thumb is to catch your floats over three to
five stitches, depending on your yarn thickness and your gauge.
But I also have some extra tips for, you know, more confident
floats. So let's level up a little bit
with some tried and true tricks. Swatch First.
I know swatching is in glamorous, but color work gauge
is often tighter than plain stocking it.
Now a Swatch helps you feel out your tension and practice floats
without pressure. Second of all, stay consistent.
When you're holding 2 yarns, the one you hold closer to your
stitches is the dominant color because it pops forward.
And keep the dominant color in the same hand throughout the
project so that your motives don't wobble.
And of course, tension. Check every so often.
Pretty stitches. And gently stretch your fabric.
If it's too tight, consciously loosen up.
If it's too loose, reel in a little bit.
You know, floats are a dance between control and relaxation.
Then, of course, there's the inside out trick.
If you're knitting something in the round, like a mitten or a
sweater, try knitting with the fabric inside out.
That way the floats naturally travel around the outside of the
curve, giving them a little bit more room and preventing that
puckering. Use shorter needles is my next
little trick. So for projects like mittens,
using a shorter circular needle or magic loop can make it easier
to spread stitches and control floats.
Block your work is the next step I have for you.
Block your work. This is your bestie.
This is your best friend. OK, a gentle soak and block
evens out stitches. It relaxes the floats and makes
everything look more polished. So do not skip blocking your
work. And that was my little tips for
how you can make your floats flow with your work.
But also let me tell you a little secret.
Floats aren't just the hidden side of your knitting.
They can actually tell a story about your project or about your
knitting style and even your mood.
Now here's what I, I, I mean by that Floats, they carry tension
of your work. So if you're knitting while, you
know, relaxed, happy and so forth, your floats are usually
even and they're soft. But if you're stressed, hello
tight floats. In a way, they are almost like a
diary on the inside of your sweater.
So they kind of record how you felt stitch by stitch.
And here's something most people don't realize.
And some historical pieces of stranded knitting researchers
can actually date or they can regionally identify a garment
just by the floats on the inside because different cultures had
different ways of managing them. Some cut them every two
stitches, others, others let them run for for longer.
It's a little bit like a secret fingerprint of, you know, the
maker's tradition and where the maker comes from.
Oh, and if we're still talking about tips and tricks, I just
remembered a new one. Tension can also, the tension of
the floats can also be severely influenced by the humidity in
the air. That is correct.
This kind of shocked me, but I remember one of my close friends
was making a beautiful Christmas sweater and she was going on a
cruise ship and it turns out that she could not figure out
why suddenly her floats were extremely, extremely tight.
And it was because it was so much more humid on the cruise
than it was in her apartment. So that's also super, super
interesting. Be wary of the temperature and
be wary of the humidity in the room or the location you are
knitting with color work because it can really influence.
So anyway, next time you peek, you know, at, at your at your
color work, don't think of floats as annoying and oh, I
cannot master them and it's difficult.
Think of them a little bit as invisible magic or the secret
history, or maybe even kind of like an emotional heartbeat or a
diary of your mood as well. It's quite, quite interesting
how they are. They are basically the mystery
stitches that make color work possible, right?
Now, why are we talking so much about floats today?
Easy answer, because they are the beating heart of the
tortilla collection. So every piece in the tortilla
collection, the cozy mittens to the statement yolk sweater, uses
strand knitting to create bold and modern Nordic motifs.
And once you get comfortable with the floats, those designs
go, you know, from from intimidating to absolutely
irresistible. So here's where I start.
If you are new to stranded knitting or to color work, the
tortilla mittens, OK, I mean, it's an easy one.
It's small, it's fast, and it's fun.
The perfect test run for the floats.
Then you can also try the tortilla cowl, which is worked
in the round. So you can basically practice
stranded knitting in a more manageable project.
And then once you master those, once you're feeling confident,
ultimate reward is definitely the tortilla sweater and the
yoke sweater. Big motives, bold colors in
garments you'll be so, so proud to wear.
All of the patterns are free on the hobby.com website, and the
blog also has photos and guides to help you along the way.
So it's not just me chit chatting away and you having to
do a lot of research on YouTube and who knows where.
Just head out to the blog. I added a link in the notes of
this episode. And yeah, give it a shot.
It's it's it's it's an incredible new technique that is
really a lot of fun to master. And here's the real secret.
OK, so floats aren't really scary.
They're just part of the rhythm of stranded knitting.
It's like learning to ride a bike.
You wobble at 1st and suddenly you're just cruising away.
So do grab your yarn, Swatch a little, dive in.
The tortilla collection is going to be there waiting for you and
it's the perfect playground to build your skills.
And before you know, before long enough, floats will just become
your second nature. Sebasti, that's floats
unravelled. What they are, how to manage
them, how to secure them, how to knit them with confidence.
Once again, don't forget you can grab the free Tortea patterns on
the hobby.com website and check out the full blog post for step
by step guides, photos, and color work tips.
And if you cast on a tortea project, please share it with
us, Tag at Hobie under score Yarn and at Copenhagen Fibers on
Instagram and use the hashtag #hobie Tortea and hashtag
Copenhagen Fibers by Hobby. Because these aren't just
fluids, they're stitches that bring bold, beautiful color work
to life. And you, Busty, are absolutely
ready for them. I know it.
Until next time, keep your floats even and your stitches
joyful. That was Yeah, from hobby.
I will see you very, very soon. OK, Love you, Busty.
Bye.