How to Knit Stranded Colourwork (Fair Isle Tutorial)

Stranded colorwork — often called Fair Isle, though that technically refers to the traditional patterns from the Shetland Islands — is the technique of carrying two colors across every row, switching between them as the pattern dictates. The result is fabric with geometric, floral, or pictorial patterns in multiple colors, and a satisfying thickness because the floats (carried yarn) add warmth and structure.

The technique has a reputation for difficulty, but the actual mechanics are simple. The challenge is tension. Get tension right and colorwork knitting is genuinely enjoyable.

What Stranded Colorwork Actually Is

In stranded colorwork, you work with two colors simultaneously. The color you're not knitting with gets carried loosely across the back of the fabric, creating horizontal strands called floats. You then pick up each color as needed according to the pattern.

The "stranded" in stranded colorwork refers to these carried strands. They're visible on the inside of your work (the wrong side) but completely invisible from the outside if your tension is correct.

Most stranded colorwork is worked in the round. This keeps the right side facing you at all times, which makes reading the chart much easier. You can also work stranded colorwork flat, but you then need to manage the colors on purl rows too, which significantly increases complexity.

The Float Rule — Never Skip This

The key rule in stranded colorwork: floats longer than 5 stitches should be caught.

A float is the strand of carried yarn crossing the back of the fabric. If a float stretches across too many stitches, it creates a long loop on the inside that can snag, pull the fabric tight, and create visible puckering on the outside.

To catch a float that spans more than 5 stitches:

1. Identify the float: you're knitting Color A and Color B needs to cross more than 5 stitches without being worked.
2. After every 4-5 stitches, pick up Color B with your working needle before knitting the next Color A stitch. Don't actually work Color B — just loop it under the working yarn so it's anchored.
3. This traps the float against the back of the fabric without interrupting the pattern.

The art is in not catching the float too tightly. You're anchoring it, not yanking it.

Two-Handed Colorwork — The Efficient Method

The easiest way to manage two colors is to hold one in each hand: Color A in your right hand (Continental style or throwing) and Color B in your left hand (Continental/picking style).

When you need Color A, knit with your right hand as normal. When you need Color B, knit picking style with your left hand. No dropping and picking up — both colors are always available, and your hands alternate naturally with the pattern.

If you've never used Continental style before, this is an excellent motivation to learn it. Even a basic functional Continental pickup is enough for colorwork. See the Continental vs English knitting guide for the basics.

If two-handed feels too awkward, you can hold both colors in your dominant hand, dropping one and picking up the other as needed. This is slower but completely workable, especially for patterns with long runs of a single color.

Tension — The Make-or-Break Factor

The most common colorwork problem is puckering: the fabric pulls in horizontally because the floats are too tight. The floats need to match the relaxed width of the knitted stitches.

Before pulling the float across the back, spread the stitches you've just knitted along the right needle. Fan them out until the needle is full. This forces the float to span the true width of those stitches rather than the scrunched-up width of stitches pushed to the tip.

This feels slow and deliberate at first. With practice it becomes unconscious. The result — flat, even colorwork that doesn't pucker — is worth every second.

Some knitters go up one needle size for colorwork. The added ease compensates for the natural tightening that happens when you're managing two yarns. Your gauge swatch will tell you whether you need to adjust.

Reading a Colorwork Chart

Colorwork charts are grids where each square represents one stitch and each row represents one round. Each color gets its own symbol — often a filled square for the main color (MC) and an empty/colored square for the contrast color (CC).

Working in the round, you read each chart row from right to left. The number on the right side of each row is the row/round number. Row 1 is at the bottom of the chart; you work upward.

Most colorwork charts use a repeat — a section that repeats multiple times around the circumference. The repeat is usually marked with a box or brackets. Count your stitches to confirm the repeat divides evenly into your total stitch count before you start.

Swatching for Colorwork — Non-Negotiable

You must swatch stranded colorwork. Not because swatching is virtuous, but because your colorwork gauge is almost certainly different from your single-color gauge. Most knitters knit tighter in colorwork — the two strands at the back of the fabric cause the fabric to pull in.

Swatch in the round if possible (knit a small tube). Work at least 4 inches of the actual colorwork pattern. Wash and block the swatch as you would the finished item. Then measure the gauge.

If your swatch gauge is different from the pattern gauge, adjust your needle size before you commit to the whole project. A single stitch per 4 inches over a 200-stitch cast-on means your sweater ends up 2-3 inches narrower than planned.

Common Colorwork Problems and How to Fix Them

Puckering (fabric pulls in horizontally) — Your floats are too tight. Spread stitches before pulling the float across. Go up a needle size. Practice making floats that feel almost too loose.

Float shows through to the right side — Your main color yarn is too thin, or your float tension is uneven. Make sure floats lie flat against the fabric rather than standing away from it. Using a yarn with good stitch definition (not fuzzy or loosely spun) helps.

Colors bleeding at pattern edges — This is a yarn tension issue — one color is being pulled tighter than the other, making the color boundary look uneven. Try to maintain equal tension on both yarns throughout.

Running out of one color mid-project — Always buy more than you think you need. Colorwork uses significantly more yarn than single-color knitting because of the carried floats — budget 20-30% extra per color.

Starting Your First Colorwork Project

The ideal first colorwork project is a hat. Small circumference, quick finish, and a knitted tube is the perfect stranded colorwork format. Look for a pattern with a simple 2-color geometric repeat, maximum 5 stitches between color changes, and no more than an 8-row pattern repeat.

Work the brim in a single color to get comfortable with the gauge. When you join the colorwork section, go slowly at first. After the first complete repeat, check the back of your work — your floats should lie flat and span evenly. If they look right, your tension is right. If they look tight and puckered even before blocking, loosen up now before you have 200 rows to regret.

The first round of colorwork always feels awkward. The second feels better. By the third repeat you'll be wondering why you waited so long to try this.

Colorwork puckering or tension problems? Get expert help from Emma in minutes →