Dealing with Floats

There are several ways to deal with floats on the back of your knitting. One way is to latch them up. Here is a picture of a fairisle pattern that I am going to be knitting next. I use this pattern alot as I really like it. Here  is the knit side with the floats latched up on the purl side..

Here is the same pattern without the floats latched up.

They look pretty much the same. 

Now here is a picture of the floats on the purl side.

They are messy & have a tendency to get caught in your fingers when putting the garment on. They sag & get pulled out & just don't work well. It is discouraging when choosing a knitting pattern that you love, but the floats are too long to be practical. 

This picture shows the floats that have been latched up when knitting the swatch. 

Latching up the floats pulls them into the garment & you are not as likely to catch your fingers on them. The do make the knitting pull in some so the gauge is different for latching & not latching. 

To do this you must plan ahead. Determine how long the floats are going to be. I don't latch up any thing less than 5 stitches. 

With this pattern the longest float is 10 stitches. Also, I don't latch up any more than 10 rows. You can do it differently, that is just what I do. 

After you figure out what the floats are going to be, decide how many rows you will latch up. With this pattern I decided that I would latch up all the floats, 10 rows at a time. 

1. Knit 10 rows in pattern. Go underneath the first float with your latch tool & pull that 2nd loop out & over the top.

2. Latch up the remaining 8 floats. Don't pull them while you latch them because it will distort you're pattern.  

3. Hang the last loop on the needle above the last float. 

4. Knit 10 more rows & repeat. 

Continue in this fashion for the complete garment. 

There are more ways to finish off floats & I will cover them later. I did not have time to do them right now.