Disrupting stripes with textured stitches, knitting with Colorburst yarn

I happen to love the stripes created by long color repeats, but I also like to mix things up a bit and create some visual interest for the wearer’s, and the viewer’s, eyes when I knit something striped. Monday and yesterday, we looked at some of the great characteristics of Universal Yarn Colorburst and some amazing designs that really take advantage of the self-striping colors of this yarn.

As I swatched for the Northern Lights Shawl (just a peek today, pattern in full in Friday’s post), I tried all sorts of different textures. I knew I wouldn’t use them all, but I just had to see what worked. Today I’ll show you how to work four of these, but the one I ultimately chose will appear in tomorrow’s post.

Other than cables and knit/purl textures, I wanted to use something more disruptive, something that crosses row boundaries, or the normal ‘rules’ for needle tip insertion, so I experimented with mid-row bind-offs, wrapped stitches, tuck stitches and loop stitches. This is what happened…

Abbreviations

RH – right-hand

LH – left-hand

K – knit

P – purl

K2tog – Knit 2 sts together inserting the hook into the front loop of the 2^nd st on the LH needle then immediately through the front loop of the first st.

Ssk – slip the next 2 sts knitwise, return to the LH needle, knit the 2 stitches together through the back loops.

Yo – yarn over

Sl – slip (purlwise unless otherwise stated)

Wyif – with yarn in front

The flat bobbles: Versions 1 and 2

Worked over 3 stitches in the middle of a row.

Row 1: Work to chosen 3 sts, insert RH needle between 3^rd and 4^th sts on LH needle and knit up a loop. Draw the loop over across the 3 sts, k2tog, yo, k1, pass long loop over first 3 sts on RH needle, continue across row.

Row 2: Work to chosen 3 sts, p3, continue across row.

Row 3: Work to chosen 3 sts, k1, knit below into eyelet, k1, continue across row.

Row 4: Work to chosen 3 sts, p3, continue across row.

Row 5: Work to chosen 3 sts, insert RH needle into eyelet and knit up a loop, draw the loop up to the height of the current row, k3, pass loop over 3 sts just knit, continue across row.

Row 6: Work to chosen 3 sts, insert RH needle into eyelet purlwise and purl up a loop, draw the loop up to the height of the current row, p3, pass loop over 3 sts just purled, continue across row.

Version 2

Worked over 3 stitches in the middle of a row.

Row 1: Work to chosen 3 sts, k1, yo, ssk, continue across row.

Row 2: Work to chosen 3 sts, k3, continue across row.

Row 3: Work to chosen 3 sts, k3, continue across row.

Row 4: Work to chosen 3 sts, k3, continue across row.

Row 5: Work to chosen 3 sts, knit into eyelet drawing loop to height of current row, k3, turn work, purl into eyelet drawing loop to height of current row, turn work, sl 1, continue across row. (2 sts increased)

Row 6: Work to chosen 5 sts, sl 1, pass 4^th stitch on LH over first 3, p3, pass 4^th st on RH needle over first 3, continue across row. (2 sts decreased)

Butterfly Motif

Worked over 7 stitches in the middle of a row.

Row 1: Work to chosen 7 sts, insert RH needle in next st, wrap yarn 3 times and knit up the 3 loops together, k2, knit next st with a double wrap, k2, knit next st with a triple wrap, continue across row.

Row 2: Work to chosen 7 sts, wyif, sl next st allowing extra wraps to drop, k2, wyif sl next st allowing extra wrap to drop, k2, wyif sl next st allowing extra wraps to drop, continue across row.

Row 3: Work to chosen 7 sts, drop first st from LH needle without allowing it to unravel, k1, return dropped st to RH needle, k1, sl1, k1, sl 1, drop next st from LH needle without allowing it to unravel, return slipped st to LH needle, return dropped st to RH needle, k1, continue across row.

Row 4: Work to chosen 7 sts, p1, wyif, sl1, k1, wyif sl1, k1, wyif, sl1, p1, continue across row.

Row 5: Work to chosen 7 sts, k1,  sl2, pass 2^nd st on LH needle over first, sl1, pass 2^nd st on RH needle over first, return 2 sts to LH needle, slip next 2 sts together through front loops as if to knit 2 together, (k1, yo, k1, yo, k1) into next st, pass 2 slipped sts (6^th and 7^th on RH needle) over 5 sts just made, k1, continue across row.

Row 6: Work to chosen 7 sts, p7, continue across row.

Trillium Motif

Worked over 6 stitches in the middle of a row.

Row 1: Work to chosen 6 sts, k3, yo, k3, continue across row (one st increase in middle of motif – 7 sts)

Row 2: Work to chosen 7 sts, p7, continue across row.

Row 3: Work to chosen 7 sts, k7, continue across row.

Row 4: Work to chosen 7 sts, p3, sl1, p3, continue across row.

Row 5: Work to chosen 7 sts, K3, knit into eyelette 4 rows below drawing loop up to current row height, drop next st, k3, continue across row.

Row 6: Work to chosen 7 sts, p3, purl into eyelette wrapping yarn twice and drawing up to current row height, p1tbl, p2, turn work, knit into eyelette wrapping yarn twice and drawing up to current row height, turn work, sl 1, p1, continue across row. (2 sts increased)

Row 7: Work to chosen 9 sts, k2tog, k3, drop next st without allowing it to unravel, k1, place dropped st on RH needle, sl 2, pass 2^nd st on RH needle over first, return 2 sts to LH needle, knit tog through back loops, continue across row.

Row 8: Work to chosen 6 sts, p6, continue across.

I hope you give these stripe-disrupting stitch motifs a try. You could even work them evenly spaced across the width of the knitting and stagger them on a section of rows further along in the work. These knitting stitch patterns look fabulous using Universal Yarn Colorburst but would also work up great using a solid yarn. Please let me know which ones you try. Tomorrow I’ll explain how to work the stitch that looks like a linked chain ridge.

This is part 3 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 2: 4 free knitting patterns for Universal Yarn Colorburst yarn

Go to part 4: Knitting surface stitches as you go