Knitting colorful stripes?

Question

I want to knit a scarf with black and white stripes going long, not horizontal. How would I do that without changing the string every couple of stitches? And if you know how to do horizontal stripes, that would be useful to know too.

Thanks for the help!

Answer 1

You would have to have a different ball of yarn for each stripe.  If you are going to do very narrow stripes, you could carry one strand of each color across the back, but I wouldn't recommend it for a scarf because the back will be really unattractive, and the scarf itself will be very bulky.

Answer 2

The easiest way to do this, no doubt, is to knit this long-wise.  In other words you cast on at one side edge of the scarf and knit rows of color, changing when you want to change, then bind off when the scarf is WIDE enough.

Horizontal stripes are done just this way, but starting at one end of the scarf and knitting towards the other.  That way you bind off when the scarf is LONG enough.

In either case you need to carry repeated colors up from row to row if the rows aren't very wide.  For wide rows or if the colors don't repeat, you just use a new ball of yarn for each color, but you have to weave in all the ends when you are finished.  I find that tedious.

Answer 3

You really only have two options, that I can think of :)  One is to knit a few stitches in each colour, like you mentioned but don't really want to.  

The other option is to knit the scarf lengthways - cast on a few hundred stitches, knit a few rows of one colour, then you can cut the yarn if you wish, or just let it hang.  Knit a few rows with the second colour, then again, cut or let the yarn hang.  If you knit an even number of rows, you should be at the end of the scarf that the tail of the first colour is hanging from.  Pick this up, and begin knitting with it again.  Try not to pull too tight, or you'll pucker the edge of your knitting; try not to be too loose, or you'll have a loop of yarn showing.  I would not suggest carrying the yarn up the edge like this for more than two or four rows - any more, and you are better off to cut the yarn and weave in the end.  Or, you could add a fringe, and incorporate the yarn tail into the fringes.

Hope this helps...

Answer 4

I have knitted Scarves sideways. Cast on 100 - 125 Stitches.

They look great. For this I use circular needles. I love it.

It actually is faster. Not as many turn to make.

Ingrid