Double Knitting and Tiit's socks

I was always intrigued by double knit items. Lately I've seen a few scarves, and a wonderful Baby blanket, as well as an afghan on ravelry, which inspired me to give it a try. Instructions for double knitting can be found online, but it was not enough to get me going. I bought Lucy Neatby's scarves pattern first, and the instructions made my head spin. So I bought her DVD as well. Two hours of how to double knit, with all the trouble shooting, and what else you can do with it (stuffing the pockets for instance). I like listening to her instructions, I think she's doing a great job. This is my first How -To knitting DVD, and I liked using it. It's easier for me to SEE what I'm doing.

I'm knitting a scarf, but not one from Lucy's designs, I wanted to do my own. As soon as I got Knit Picks Comfy in the mail, I cast on. Well almost.

First I had to learn how to do a tubular cast on. My scarf is 21 stitches wide, and belief me, I'm ever so glad, that I didn't make it wider.

So I had 21 stitches on my needle, and wanted to start knitting, when I remembered reading, that you need to cast on double the stitches, because you are double knitting here, duh! See the little blip in the middle of the cast on row. I twisted the yarns somehow, and couldn't get them back in order. Instead of starting over, I kept going, lazy me. Now every time I look at the thing, my eyes zoom in on this blip.

The above photo shows my efforts of one day. Impressive, huh?

I had the slight suspicion, that double knitting and I were not going to be friends easily.

Next morning, I grabbed the needles again, and somehow it went a little faster, and easier I thought. But hey, what's that (see arrow pointing)? Yeah, what is it? Again, somehow I twisted the yarns incorrectly (I think whenever I work with more than one yarn, it plays tricks on me, and twists like crazy, to see how long I can stand working with it). The other side was fine, nothing to see there. Yes, it took me a few rows to see it, but imagine me, all concentrated, with tongue in cheek, trying to get the design right. Anyway, at first I wanted to ignore it, but it bugged me too much, so I ripped it back. By that time, I ne for sure, that this would be the one and only double knit scarf I'll ever make, and not just because of that tiny color spec on the wrong side, but because I messed up something in every row. A crochet hook is my best friend right now. With my first mistakes I tinked back, but soon took Lucy's advise and let down the offending stitches.

All the frogging seemed to have no effect on the yarn, but I felt sorry for it all the same. It's really soft and comfy, appropriate named.

I thought I was going to have a non scratchy scarf at last, but guess who thought that those are awesome colors together? Yeah, DH is going to get a new scarf for next winter.

I'm a little further along now, but boy, that's slow going. I can truly say, that double knitting will never be a passion of mine.

And now, I present to you: Tiit's socks - finally. They've been done for a while now, but there was always something else I wanted to show you first.

pattern: Tiit's socks by Nancy Bush from "Folk Knitting in Estonia"

yarn: Knit Picks Essential - green

Jojoland Melody (not superwash) color # y23 (that's the yarn I used for my first Mohana shawl)

needles: cuff 2.5mm, leg 2.25mm

start: first sock Dec. 21 2007

finished: first and second socks, March 11-16

The instructions are perfect. I was so surprised how the gusset area turned out, I just followed the instructions blindly. This was an easy stitch pattern to remember, and I don't know why I didn't finish them right away. They certainly are thick and warm and fit quite well. They are not perfect though, I could have done better. Sam thinks so too:

If there weren't so many sock patterns out there, these would be a pair I would make again, just to see how a different set of colors would look like.