Sometimes in a stranded knitting project there are stretches of stitches in one colour of yarn that span a length of more than 3cm (1.5″). In such areas it is advisable to trap the other yarn (the ‘floating’ yarn) into the main fabric. This is to avoid the tension issues that can result from over-long floats. It also avoids creating loops of yarn that are so big fingers and toes will catch in them.

If you hold both yarns continuously for stranded colourwork (and I strongly recommend that you do so!) then it is possible to trap floats without letting go of either yarn, whether you hold both yarns continental style (in the left hand), or whether you hold one yarn in each hand.

Trapping floats with both yarns held continental style: take your needle point behind the floating yarn to pick up the yarn for the stitch. For a demonstration, see the video below.

Trapping floats with one yarn held in each hand: see my illustrated PDF tutorial, and/or the video below.

Trapping floats when holding one yarn at a time (aka the sado-masochist method*): cross the yarns clockwise before making the stitch, then anti-clockwise after making the stitch.

When trapping floats in consecutive rounds of knitting it is best to stagger the traps. Calculate the placement of your traps so that there is at least one stitch column between trapped floats in consecutive rounds. This minimises contrast colour yarn ‘peeps’ between stitch columns. Where yarn traps are stacked in one stitch column or neighbouring stitch columns the yarn peeps are emphasised.

*Seriously, stranded knitting will be much, much faster, and less angsty (the yarns won’t twist and tangle together), if you learn to hold both yarns at once as described above. See my two-handed stranding tutorial for the method I use.

9 thoughts on “Trapping Floats”

  1. Thank you so much for this!!! I hadn’t been able to find out how to trap the yarn in the right hand until now. I’ve looked everywhere! Thank you for such a clear and concise demonstration

  2. Crystal clear instructions. Thank you so much for this Ann. Although you had already taught some of it at Mysore when we met, it is nice to have a video to refer .

    Also I have a request. If you could make a video of how to knit fair isle in the magic loop knitting without creating ladders at the corners, it would be very helpful Ann.
    Thank you so much for all your videos. They are of much assistance to enthusiastic knitters ?

  3. Thank you, Ann, for your crystal clear instructions! I’m knitting my first Shetland hat, and it’s my first attempt at holding yarns in both hands and until I found your video, I just couldn’t work out how to trap the English held yarn. The air was turning quite blue …

  4. Use both hands, throwing in right, continental in left but have always struggled with trapping the right hand colour…but how easy …..how easy when it is when demonstrated! So clear and so much easier than trying to follow written instructions. In the past i have ended up with wrong yarns on wrong hands!
    Now to look at your stranded purl video…never tried as I only do stranded work in the round in my sock knitting.

  5. This is amazing, thank you Ann,
    I learnt my stranded knitting from some weird online tutorial that has you lay thestrand yarn into a stitch, then lay the working yarn over it and remove the stranding yarn, thus pulling the stranded yarn right into a stitch. It resulted in horrid puckering and distortion of those stitches you were catching the stranded yarn in.
    Also tried twisting yarns to catch floats with limited success (and horrible twisted strands).
    So to stumble across the pure, clean simplicity of this was wonderful and has reinvigorated my interest in stranded knitting.
    Thanks so much.

  6. Thank you so much not only trapping the yarn both ways and colours but avoiding ladders in magic loop work !! Amazing 😄

  7. Thank you for this very clear explanation on how to trap your yarns con style.
    Well done and knitting slowly so we can see how the needles work.

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