I’m currently brainstorming a new stranded colorwork pattern, and I was wondering what the general consensus is on carrying more than 2 colors at a time. It would let me add in a lot more detail, but is it too much? I’m not sure how common it is to have patterns call for carrying 3 strands of yarn at the same time.
I personally have only done 2 strands, BUT I’m not a big fan of doing knit stranded color work, so I’m not the best to answer… I feel like I’ve seen 3 colors, but I do think it is a little less common… Good luck
i made something where i carried 3 strands and it turned out ok, so i think it would be fine to carry 3
I’ve done one knitting project so far with 3 strands–it was the first time I did it, so there are bound to be mistakes, but it still turned out quite well (puckering, yikes). So yes, I believe it would be quite okay for most people familiar with stranded knitting 
3 strands is ok, but it really depends on the pattern. I made the Sinister Catigan and it used three colors, but not through the whole thing which made it nice. Sometimes three (or more) can get away from you and you end up with a mess.
I have found that using a color work knitting ring (see corinalunita dot com) has hugely improved my tension in color work and made it a lot easier to carry multiple colors.
Wow I’ve never seen a stranded knitting ring. I just looked it up and it looks so useful! Thanks for sharing that tip!
Glad to help. There are a few different ones out there and total transparency…my daughter makes them.
She’s sold over 400 of them and you can choose how many colors you want to work with as they’re custom made.
That’s amazing! Is corinalunita dot com her site? I checked it out and her pieces are amazing!
It is. I’m a super proud mama
