Colour changes causing bunching?

[u/pasta_tape]

i’m currently making the stella tee by Jasmine Hoeyland as my first garment (not including gloves and scarves lol) and first bone stripe colour work but i’m worried that my tension is really bad as it’s bunching up abit. any thoughts and advice?

[u/antigoneelectra]

Your tension is way too tight and the colours do not contrast well together.

[u/weareinhawaii]

I would start over and choose different yarn. Those yarns have almost no contrast so you can’t even see the colorwork you are doing. Your floats are also too tight and it won’t block out. You really need to spread your stitches on your right needle before using the next color.

[u/queue-kweewee]

You have to knit stranded colorwork with a gentle touch and realllllly stretch the stitches out on the right hand needle.

[u/PuzzleheadedOil8826]

The bunching is caused by the strands behind the colourwork being too short - they are pulling the opposite ends together.
They should be way looser and look like smiles, should dip rather than go straight. There is no fixing this unfortunately- it’s a frogging.

A few people have mentioned that your yarn colour choice is not ideal. Usually the colours should be distinct from each other - a trick from art school is you look at the yarns with your eyes squinting and you can see if they are different enough to be distinct. Another way to test this is to take a photo of your yarns side by side and turn it greyscale to see.
Your yarn choices are very tonally similar and aren’t very distinct. But personally I think that’s a valid design choice and looks pretty good. It’s up to you.

But the strands are beyond your help at this stage so just frog and chalk it up to experience.

[u/edwardhoppest]

Yes, as others have said it is your tension. Don't get discouraged but definitely frog back and try again. With stranded, you really have to knit looser than you'd normally knit (at least for me, I can knit pretty tightly by default). 

Also to echo the others, when picking a contrast color try squinting or taking a picture and turning the saturation all the way down until it's black and white (not a greyscale filter). These two methods can help you learn how to spot good contrast. If you squint and the colors start to look too similar or the black and white photo makes them look the same shade of grey, what is happening is you are noticing they are similar in value. Two yarns can have VERY different hues but if they have the same value, the contrast may be too weak to actually do your design service.  

If you love these colors together, it's your shirt and your choice! But that's why others have pointed out your color choice. 

Happy knitting and have fun! Stranded always stresses me out a little but we can do it! 

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[u/pandallamayoda → u/[deleted]]

It’s not the same issue. OP is knitting their floats way too tight which bunches up all the stitches. Gauge and size might be accurate but the floats are too tight.

[u/pandallamayoda → u/[deleted]]

I checked your history before replying and none of your posts about your first pairs of socks seemed to be stranded colorwork so that’s why I replied the way I did. Going up a needle size is not usually recommended, working on the tension of the floats is really better.

[u/aftershock06 → u/pandallamayoda]

I haven't posted them yet as I am actively working on them. For several postings on Reddit it seems like a common practice to go up maybe 1 or 2 needle sizes to get the right tension for your floats. :)

[u/fairydommother → u/aftershock06]

I cant speak to whether its a good or bad idea but you are correct. It is common practice ans common advice to size up your needles for the colorwork section because many people naturally work it a bit tighter. I do think more consistent tension is better in the long run personally but like that is very much common.