Instead of my regular TipTuesday post, I thought I’d share a
few ways I’ve been playing with 2 colors of yarn and stitch structure using the
Oslo stitch.
In knitting we can carry another color of yarn behind our
stitches and insert it as a different colored stitch. After completing a 2
color knitted hat with a friend of mine, I’ve been tinkering with what I can do with
nalbinding with 2 colors.
I’ve played with several of the effects Sanna-Mari Pihlajapiha lists (2
color starts that give alternating stripes and spots/vertical stripes). And those are lovely effects. But here are a few more.
Center Spots
A very simple way to add a little color is to carry an
alternate color along in your work and just put that yarn over the loop behind
your thumb, then work the Oslo stitch just like you would normally (picking up
the alternate color with the loop behind the thumb).
The back of the work looks much like when carrying yarn for
a second color in knitting.
Alternating Stitch Colors/Candy Cane
Another very simple color effect can be achieved by using 2
strands of colors – alternating the colors every stitch. It helps to have a
needle for each color of yarn.
Here I chose to do white stitches into previous white
stitches, and blue stitches into previous row blue stitches. The result is a
candy cane effect.
Holes
I’ve been wanting to figure out how to make holes, kind of
like in filet crochet. And it turns out its super easy!
When you work a series of Oslo stitches (this my work with
other stitches), just do a stitch without picking up the loop behind the thumb. The resulting stitch will be a hole in your work.
When working over a hole stitch in the previous row – pick up
both loops. It helps to open up the hole.
When you work the skip/hole in a new row into a stitch with
a hole, it will have a stair step effect.
When you work a hole into the next stitch over, the holes
are vertically aligned (or at least closer than they were).
Well, I hope my playing with colors and structure will
inspire you to do the same! I’d love to
see what you discover!
Shy Red Fox 