Monday, April 21, 2008

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.

My creation

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:

My creation

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.

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't believe how lovely those socks are: little yellow flowers in green fields. I am pretty sure Sam is just amazed!!!

Kim said...

Love those socks - they are beautiful!

sgeddes said...

I love those socks! Those ar e great. way to go at trying the double knitting! That will be a nice scraf when you are finished.

Michelle said...

Wow! Those socks are amazing! I can't believe how quick you knit them!

Agnes said...

Lovely! If I have the right yarns with me, I would make these too.

Tracy Purtscher said...

See? I told you, you'd find a better rhythm, but I still totally understand about this scarf being your last dk project! As for the offending single stitch....I'd probably wouldn't have ripped back I would have used a black permanent marker to fix it! LOLOL

Those socks are amazing. It boggles my mind that you had other things to show us first. They are fabulous, but then again everything you do is fab so I guess it must be difficult to decide what to post about first! :o)

Anonymous said...

Hi Monika,
this is very funny, because yesterday I ordered wool in aqua and chocolate for my newest project- double knitting! It is for a sweater I still have to design, so many moons will pass before I'll wear it...
I found you via Knitting Daily and am glad I did :-)
Have a nice day
Daniela

Anonymous said...

Those socks are wonderful! I need to commit to knitting all the socks in that book - I love it!

Anonymous said...

Those are some real beauties, Monika.

lexa said...

Gorgeous socks! Great colors. :)

Mr Puffy's Knitting Blog: said...

The socks are fantastic!! Nice knitting. I like watching the knitting Youtube videos - I agree with you it is much easier to learn a technique by watching it being done.

Anonymous said...

Neat socks. Nimitz gets that same look when I throw knits and a camera at him. The double knitting looks good. Something that I've heard (and haven't tried yet) is knitting the front first while slipping the back stitches. Then turn and knit the back while slipping the front stitches. Some people find this easier because it's one layer at a time. I started with a hat in the round so I did both layers at once. Double knitting seems to take three times as long as knitting the same item "normally". :-) I love the scarf so far!

Linda 'K' said...

Lucy does some fabulous DVDs. I've taken her classes in person - way fun because the sense of humor comes through stronger. Re the double knitting...I rip back constantly when I think I'll be driven nuts by some blip or mistake, but for those times when you want to just charge ahead? Sharpie markers are your FRIENDS! When you're lucky enough that one color is black, just color that little blippie out!

CelticCastOn said...

ohhhh lovely lovely lovely socks!!!
I',m intrigued by double knitting but not sure I want to tackle it yet.

hakucho said...

I'm not wild about double knitting with a design...plain's ok ;)
Your tilt socks are lovely...I can see why you would want to try another pair :)

Kris B said...

The first time I saw double knitting used was when I was watching a knitting show called knitty gritty. I haven't seen it again till now. It looks very interesting.

Your socks are awesome.

Strickfimmel said...

Oh Mann, die Socken sehen wirklich toll aus! Das glaube ich gerne, dass man vile Geduld für dieses Muster braucht. Aber die Mühe hat sich gelohnt. Double Knitting habe ich vor Jahren auch mal versucht, aber irgendwie fehlte mir die Geduld dafür.

Anonymous said...

I love, love, love the socks. I've been planning to make them for a while, but your gorgeous green ones are so inspirational!

You're enjoying the DVD? I've been wanting to try some of the Lucy Neatby Dvd's so it's good to hear positive reviews.

Anonymous said...

I love the sock's. These are on my wishlist also.

You don't have to like all the knitting techniques. For me laceknitting is very difficult but I love to work with a lot of colors.

But it is a good thing you tried, now you know that you definitely don't like it.

Tina said...

I think the double knitting is not meant to be fast done but with a warm windproof result… I have tried a swatch once years ago but also was never patient enough to do it for something bigger… It is very nice, though!
I like those socks, especially the gusset area and the toe with all the patterning going on!

Tara said...

The socks look great! I've got to queue that pattern on Ravelry :)

T-Mom said...

That's a hilarious picture of Sam: Yeah, yeah, another pair of socks, big deal. *I*'m impressed, though, and yeah, it would be really interesting to see them in another color combination.

Knitters once published a pattern for an entire baby afghan in double-knitting with elephants that were one color on one side and another color on the other. It was really cute, but I'm not sure I'd want to tackle it. You'd be an expert double-knitter by the end of it, for sure!

BeatrixB said...

double-face knitting dauert zwar ein bissi eh man rein kommt, aber mit geduld und spucke sind die resultate nicht zu verachten. http://strickwut.blogspot.com/search/label/double-face


lieber gruß

bea

Angelika said...

Ok, now I'm getting scared of the whole double knitting idea. I was going to give it a try, but I think it might just have to wait a while now. Back to the lace.

herzlichkreativ said...

Ich bin sprachlos....
Die Socken sind der absolute Hingucker.
Ein wahres Kunstwerk hast du da wieder vollbracht.
Meine Bewunderung hast du !!

Yankee Girl ~ Missy said...

I just wanted to say that your post you did on tapestry crochet really inspired me to step out of my bubble and try something new and challenging. However designing my own piece for my first project was not the smartest thing I have ever done. I tried to use the pattern in Fair Isle knitting and it worked really well however it was huge, and then I noticed your post on double knitting and decided to try it with that. Now it's going really well and is the right size. Thank you Ma'am for being so creatively inspiring!

Anonymous said...

huhu monika, wegen dem blip im schal: versuch doch mal eine dünne stricknadel oder nen stabilen draht in die anschlagreihe einzuführen und vorsichtig nach unten/vom hauptgestrick weg zu ziehen - auf der ganzen breite. vielleicht hilft das, etwas auszugleichen... (mache das bei meinen maschinengestrickten socken, damit die erste reihe schön gleichmässig aussieht) hoffentlich geht da was! schöne grüße jedenfalls, chris

Windyridge said...

They sure look nice!

Unknown said...

If you can knit those complicated two-stranded socks... you can do double-knitting with no problem! hehe
(and I love Lucy's DVDs)

Gloria Patre said...

I am in awe of your Tiit's socks!! Such pleasant spring colors!
Double Knitting?? Hats off to you!! I will gladly applaud your finished scarf but can't see myself walking down that road - I have enough trouble with simple lace!!

Violiknit said...

Wow, double knitting; I'm so impressed! Your DH is right, those colors are definitely great together. Those Tiit's socks are stunning!

Anonymous said...

I find that double knitting is easier if you seperate the two sides onto seperate double pointed neadles. I tried doing it with the method you are using and was frustrated also.
If you seperate them there is less to keep track of, and it comes out with less mistakes.