Are you ready for a nifty technique to add horizontal interest to your knitted fabric? Vikkel braids are this month’s technique for Confident Knitting, and they are a great way to frame other stitch patterns, or to give a horizontal detail to your fabric.
Lily Kate France has used Vikkel braids to give these lovely bands of colour each side of the houndstooth colourwork pattern on the cuff of her Burnished Mittens, but you can add them to all sorts of projects.
The following video tutorial will walk you through how to create Vikkel braids in one colour, as well as creating them in two colours. The two-colour braid is helpful because it allows you to work the horizontal stitches in one colour, while the stitches remaining on the needle are in a different colour. This is really helpful for the final braid, where the braid itself is pale grey, but the stitches on the needle need to be orange ready for working the remainder of the mitten, as in the image above. If you are reading this on our email service, you will need to click the YouTube Link here to view the video: Vikkel Braids
There is already a lot of brilliant chatter over in The Knitalong Hub about this month’s pattern. There are finished mittens and a pair of socks already! Do come on over and join the conversation, you’ll find this month’s knitalong here: CK Vikkel Braids
Vikkel braids are one of those techniques where you need to keep going for a bit, and see how it looks once you have worked a longer stretch. It’s very easy to think that it’s messy at first, but it really settles down once you’ve worked on a bit, so don’t despair!
The second top tip is that when you are working the two-colour Vikkel braid, it may be a bit looser than the one-colour version, so be sure to give your stitches an extra tug.
Image @ Jen Arnall-Culliford
I’m so enjoying knitting on my Burnished Mittens in the alternative colourway, dyed up for us by spectacular Lilith from Old Maiden Aunt. You can purchase the yarn for this version in our Alternative Choice Summer Kit, over in our online shop. And of course, if you’ve not yet purchased Confident knitting, you can find the print + eBook bundle (£20) and eBook only version (£19.99) on sale in the online shop. When you purchase, you’ll receive the Burnished Mittens pattern + in-depth Vikkel braids photo tutorial, as well as the four other patterns + tutorials released to date and all new patterns and tutorials as they’re released. Print books ship in September 2021.
I hope you’ll enjoy adding horizontal interest to your knitting with Vikkel braids. Happy knitting!
All images © Jesse Wild unless otherwise noted.