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Three Color Stranded Knitting – Knitting with Three Colors

My last two posts covered two techniques for knitting color work, both great at managing two strands on yarn at one time. But some patterns will call for knitting with three colors in the same row, adding a new layer of difficulty to the pattern.

Some people use the two handed method and simply drop/pick up different colors with their right hand. This can work, but it brings back the issue of twisting the yarn making knitting harder than it needs to be. I’ve seen others that will just use a duplicate stitch in the third color once they’ve finished to change the color of those stitches. This works well for infrequent color changes, but less so for rows that uses all three colors a lot.

This is why I prefer to use a combination of using a knitting thimble and the two handed method at the same time. I find that it keeps the yarn untwisted and is fairly easy to work once you hand a solid grasp of both methods.

To do this, I load my knitting thimble on my left index finger as I normally would, having both contrasting colors loaded into the rings on the thimble. Then, with my main color, I hold it in my right hand, just as I would for two handed knitting. To demonstrate this, please watch the video below.

It can be a little tricky to get the hang of, but I find that it makes working with more strands a lot quicker and more comfortable. It also makes the knitting a lot more even.

What’s your favorite method for color work? Let me know in the comments. And as always, if you have any questions or need any help, please leave a comment and I’ll try to help you as best as I can.

Happy knitting!

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