Easy Way to Knit Fair Isle and Other Stranded Colourwork in the Round and Flat

The biggest advantage of making our own handknits is the freedom to choose different colours and combine them in unique combinations. There are ways to blend colours together, to make motifs and various stripes, colour blocking and entrelac. 

But probably the most loved way to mix colours is stranded knitting, especially Fair Isle. This technique is considered to be more advanced because there are quite a few rules we need to follow to make a nice looking colourful fabric:

1. Manage a few strands of yarn at the same time in the same row or round.

2. Remember to always pick one strand from underneath the other, and maintain that order throughout the row or round.

3. Keep the floats at the back of the work long enough to ensure the fabric is not jammed.

Pretty complicated, right? Well, not if you use a little helpful technique I am going to explain in this article 🙂

The general idea is simple – we don’t carry two or more strands in one row. Instead, we work the same row or round with each colour separately. That means, that if we use two colours in one row, we’ll work the row in colour A, then return to the beginning of the row and work that same row with colour B.

Here’s how we can do it step by step.

Make your knits colourful 🙂


The full step-by-step photo tutorial about this method, is a part of the Knitting Collection #1Once you order your copy of this collection, you will instantly receive a “big PDF” (190 pages!) with this and 22 other tutorials included in the collection.

You will also receive two e-books and six knitting patterns as a special bonus, so go ahead and get it all right now before you forget 😊


If you enjoyed this tutorial,
here’s something else you might find helpful:

“Matching Cast Ons and Bind Offs” Book

Discover six pairs of cast on and bind off methods that form identical edges on projects worked flat and in the round.

“Neat Side Edges” Book

Learn twelve ways to make side edges of a knitted project nice and tidy. Plus, ways to fix side edges, and a way to improve edges of finished projects.


Happy knitting!

Maryna Shevchenko - www.10rowsaday.com

Easy way to knit Fair Isle and other stranded colourwork in the round and flat (back and forth) | 10 rows a day
Easy way to knit Fair Isle and other stranded colourwork in the round and flat (back and forth) | 10 rows a day
Easy way to knit Fair Isle and other stranded colourwork in the round and flat (back and forth) | 10 rows a day
Easy way to knit Fair Isle and other stranded colourwork in the round and flat (back and forth) | 10 rows a day