Knitting two pieces at the same time:
Double knitting can cause some frustration but is fun to master both technically and conceptually. Once you understand what you are doing it is easy to accomplish. Essentially one is knitting two pieces at once by working every other stitch with one strand of yarn, slipping the unworked stitches, which await the next strand, and carrying the yarn in between the two layers. You can find basic instructions for this in many knitting books (e.g., The Harmony Guides “440 more Knitting Stitches”) and on the Internet (PDF introduction at: www.annkingstone.com/files/Double_knitting.PDF)Many of the knitting whizzes found in the YouTube videos work each row with both strands at the same time, but my skills are not there, so I worked one strand at a time and concentrated on learning how the piece is formed rather than the technical skill.Italian or tubular cast on:
The usual long tail cast on can be used, but the Italian or tubular cast on using two colors produces a better result with each cast on stitch alternating in color. This cast on method can be seen on YouTube at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN2bS5WNNzw
or www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQmkBeKCLSM
There are a couple of things to note with the Italian cast on:
• Every other stitch sits backward so to create a straight stitch you need to work into the back of those stitches.
• Also, the cast-on stitches have a knit side and a purl side, which are alternated. That is, when you cast on, the stitches are arranged knit, purl, knit, purl, etc.
• Because of the alternating knit, purl arrangement this is a favorite cast on for ribbing and also works for double knitting because the first set of stitches (the front side) is knitted and the second set (the back side) is purled in order to create knitted surfaces on b
oth sides.
• At the bottom of the piece, the tubular cast on creates a continuous knit structure from one side of the double knit to the other.
or www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQmkBeKCLSM
There are a couple of things to note with the Italian cast on:
• Every other stitch sits backward so to create a straight stitch you need to work into the back of those stitches.
• Also, the cast-on stitches have a knit side and a purl side, which are alternated. That is, when you cast on, the stitches are arranged knit, purl, knit, purl, etc.
• Because of the alternating knit, purl arrangement this is a favorite cast on for ribbing and also works for double knitting because the first set of stitches (the front side) is knitted and the second set (the back side) is purled in order to create knitted surfaces on b
oth sides.• At the bottom of the piece, the tubular cast on creates a continuous knit structure from one side of the double knit to the other.
• Design patterns are created with double knit by crossing colors over between front and back. I learned that if I want a color change in the first row of double knitting I need to switch the knit/purl arrangement in the cast on by doing an extra twist of the two strands before the intended color change. You can spot the change as you knit the first row because two stitches of the same color will sit together where the extra twist was applied.
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