Rulebreaker

The Rulebreaker Cowl by boundary-breaking designer Yiğitcan Vatansever is inspired by rebellion to systematic order. A 2-color stranded colorwork cowl, Rulebreaker begins unassumingly, with systematic wavy lines around the the bottom of the cowl. As we progress, we see these lines are interrupted by protrusions that cause interference, changing the waveforms. As the waveforms grow in amplitude, we use the Ladderback Jacquard (LBJ) technique to carry our floats behind the work. 

Ladderback Jacquard (LBJ)

Ladderback jacquard (LBJ) is a terrible name but a fun technique for stranded knitting whenever you have long floats. It's an alternative to locked floats: it lets you keep these floats tidy behind the work and keeps them invisible. It's actually a form of double knitting: you bring both yarns to the front, work the stitch and return both yarns to the back, just like you do in double knitting! The anatomy of LBJ is this:

A few additional considerations: You typically do not need to lock your floats when using Ladderback Jacquard. Some knitters may find that they need to go DOWN a needle size once they get into the LBJ section of the pattern. It all depends on how you knit. You can certainly try swatching before you start, or, you can knit your first cowl as a swatch. (It's so much fun and goes so fast, that's what we opted for!)

The Foundation: Right Lifted Increase

Create your foundation stitch with a right lifted increase. 

Right handed knitters: Insert your working needle into the right half of the stitch BELOW the next stitch and place it on the holding needle. Knit the loop with color A. Knit the next stitch with color B as normal. 
Left handed knitters: Insert your working needle into the left half of the stitch BELOW the next stitch and place it on the holding needle. Knit the loop with color A. Knit the next stitch with color B as normal. 

 

The Ladder Stitches

Work the Ladderback Jacquard by bringing both yarns to the front of the work and purling the ladder stitch with the resting color (in this case, it's color A). The return both yarns to the back.

Suggested Swatch

Swatching for this pattern isn't critical, though differences in gauge will impact the finished object size and yardage required. Some knitters may find that they need to go down a needle size at the top of the cowl, once the ladderback technique is underway. 

If you'd like to swatch, we suggest using the Long Float Method (shown below) and doing the following. 

  1. Cast on 34-ish stitches (one full motif) with color A 
  2. Work 4-ish rows of garter stitch 
  3. Join color B and work Section 2 (Protrusions) Rounds 11-18 and Section 3 (Breaking Rules) Rounds 1-12. Cut A. 
  4. Work 4-ish rows of garter stitch with B and bind off.  
  5. Block your swatch by submerging in cool water and laying flat to dry. Then lay a ruler or tape measure on top and count stitches in the middle of the swatch as described below.  The example shown is for the Pacifica Mittens, but the principle is the same. 

If counting two inches, multiple the stitch count by 2 to compare with the listed gauge. I.e. If you count 8 stitches over 2 inches, your gauge is 16 stitches in 4 inches.

If counting over three inches, multiply the stitch count by 1.33 to compare with the listed gauge. (i.e. If you count 13.5 stitches over 3 inches, your gauge is 13.5*1.33 = 18 stitches over 4 inches.)

General Colorwork Tips

Swatching with the Long Float Method

To make a small swatch in the round, knit as instructed, and then slide the stitches to the other end of your circular needle. Continue knitting, leaving a long float of at least 6" between each side. Your edge stitches will be loose and sloppy, but the middle stitches will give you a good indication of your gauge!

Locking Floats

To lock floats, bring the resting color over the working color behind the work before working the next stitch. Knit. Return the resting color to the resting position. The color that you want to pop (typically the motif color, in this case Color A) should be kept in the LOWER position. For Right Handed knitters, this would typically be held in your left hand.

More Words on Colorwork

Knitrino recommends knitting stranded colorwork with two hands. The strand of yarn that is carried lower than the other on the wrong side will create larger stitches and can appear more dominant on the right side of the fabric, so carry the float of the background color in the upper position on the wrong side, and the motif in the lower position. For most right handed knitters knitting with 2 hands, you'll carry the background color in your right hand and the motif color in your left hand.

The floats should lie flat without being taut when the stitches are well stretched out across the needle. Adjust the tension of the carried yarn at the end of each round, if necessary.

If a stitch is pulled too tight and appears too small on the right side, it can be fixed by making a duplicate stitch over top in the correct color.