<p>When I saw your question my first reaction was, you kept the yarn to tight between the stitches taken with it, which makes that the different sections in that one colour are pulled towards each other.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you leave your yarn at the back to loose it might get knotted and as such begin to bunch up, but this is much less likely.</p>
<p>If you can face a bit of extra work, try knitting a test piece where you use only two colours and test out how tight the yarn needs to be in the back. Working with many colours will make the matters worse if you make mistakes with the tension.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-11-28T12:44:11.267Z
Thank you! It was too tight at the back, as you mentioned. I also decided to partition the work so that I had two separate balls for each colour (there were 3-4 colours per row) and this reduced the need to have so many floating strands. Now much better with looser tension. Thanks!
graceface
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-11-19T19:17:12.027Z
2022-11-19T19:17:12.027Z
Willeke
<p>I've been working on a jumper with a pattern for Christmas. It involves using a few colours. I've been weaving the colours on the back of the work as this was what I saw on YouTube tutorials etc., but the part with the main pattern has gone very thick and lumpy, presumably because there are so many layers of yarn at the back. Unfortunately I can't upload a photo as they keep being over the maximum file size!</p>
<p>Is there a way to avoid the jumper being so lumpy?</p>
<p>Thanks :)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-11-16T22:31:26.063Z
Welcome to Arts & Crafts. A picture would be really helpful on something like this. I don't know what the filesize limits are, but if you don't have a way to save a smaller file, you could try saving it directly at imgur.com, or another file sharing site like mega.com, and post a link to it in a comment, or add the link to the question. Someone here can get the file and add the image to the question.
fixer1234
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-11-17T06:39:13.050Z
Another trick to reduce file size: open the photo in any generic image app. On a Windows computer that's the Paint app. Click the "change size" button and try 50% or 25% for huge pictures, then click "File" -> "Save As" and just add a 1 to the end of the file name. That saves a copy and if the size is still too big, you should reopen the original and repeat the process with 10% size. On Android devices there are various photo apps and not all of them have a resize function. You'll have to search the menu of your specific app.
Elmy
<knitting>
Knitting with multi-colours: why has the piece gone so bulky/thick?
graceface
# Knitting with multi-colours: why has the piece gone so bulky/thick?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-11-16)

I've been working on a jumper with a pattern for Christmas. It involves using a few colours. I've been weaving the colours on the back of the work as this was what I saw on YouTube tutorials etc., but the part with the main pattern has gone very thick and lumpy, presumably because there are so many layers of yarn at the back. Unfortunately I can't upload a photo as they keep being over the maximum file size!

Is there a way to avoid the jumper being so lumpy?

Thanks :)

**Tags:** knitting

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Welcome to Arts & Crafts. A picture would be really helpful on something like this. I don't know what the filesize limits are, but if you don't have a way to save a smaller file, you could try saving it directly at imgur.com, or another file sharing site like mega.com, and post a link to it in a comment, or add the link to the question. Someone here can get the file and add the image to the question.  
> **username_2**: Another trick to reduce file size: open the photo in any generic image app. On a Windows computer that's the Paint app. Click the "change size" button and try 50% or 25% for huge pictures, then click "File" -> "Save As" and just add a 1 to the end of the file name. That saves a copy and if the size is still too big, you should reopen the original and repeat the process with 10% size. On Android devices there are various photo apps and not all of them have a resize function. You'll have to search the menu of your specific app.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2022-11-19. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

When I saw your question my first reaction was, you kept the yarn to tight between the stitches taken with it, which makes that the different sections in that one colour are pulled towards each other.

On the other hand, if you leave your yarn at the back to loose it might get knotted and as such begin to bunch up, but this is much less likely.

If you can face a bit of extra work, try knitting a test piece where you use only two colours and test out how tight the yarn needs to be in the back. Working with many colours will make the matters worse if you make mistakes with the tension.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thank you! It was too tight at the back, as you mentioned. I also decided to partition the work so that I had two separate balls for each colour (there were 3-4 colours per row) and this reduced the need to have so many floating strands. Now much better with looser tension. Thanks!  

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