Colour work without catching the float - Ladder Back Jacquard

Colour work with no floats in Ladderback Jacquard — *Ladder back jacquard viewed on the WS*

Now here’s a really interesting technique called Ladder Back Jacquard or Ladderback Jacquard which is used to carry yarn across the back of large blocks of colour without the need to catch the float every few stitches on the Wrong Side. Designers who know about this technique can include it in their design charts but you can incorporate it into all sorts of colour work, fair isle work or intarsia patterns.

How does it work?

It’s sort of like double knitting where the floats are actually knitted on the wrong side every 2-4 stitches creating long stitches spread across the Wrong Side rows. You can see the floating mesh in this image. What you are looking at is a view of the opposing colour not being worked on the Right Side.

Like Double Knitting, the work has more stitches on the needle than in the RS pattern as you work these extra columns. Once the work is complete and the extra float stitches are incorporated back in with the RS stitches, you end up with the correct amount of stitches in your row. These long stitches then wriggle around and create an evenly spaced mesh across the back.

Benefits

There are a number of advantages to Ladder Back Jacquard compared to using the regular float technique.

The fabric knitted within these patches is as lightweight, elastic and flexible as the rest of the garment.
The floats become very evenly spread and are less likely to catch on buttons or fingers on the Wrong Side.
No opposing colour peaks through on the Right Side when you want it hidden.

This technique can be used when knitting back and forth or in the round. I guess the only drawback is that if you do very large sections this way, such as an intarsia bodice, you will need enough yarn to cover the whole bodice in each colour. If you are on a budget, this is not ideal. If the colour blocks are quite large, you may be better to start each block with a different spool or ball of yarn, then work back and forth. It adds more opportunity for making a bird’s nest of your yarn balls but will save on the over all amount that you use.