Four-needle double-knitting vs. four double-pointed needles *DISAMBIGUATION*

 What's going on?

Shakespeare famously asked "what's in a name?" Evidently, the answer around here is "confusion." To explain...

TECHknitting is in the middle of a series about DOUBLE KNITTING. 

...a two-faced fabric, completely reversible

Double knitting makes a two-faced fabric, completely reversible, like the practice squares above.

Classical double knitting uses one set of needles (two working tips, one left, one right) and is worked on alternating stitches. 

Classic double knitting: alternating stitches worked on one set of needles, meaning two needle tips

--white stitches are knit, creating the white fabric face

--green stitches are purled, creating a separate green fabric on the back

Stitches for both layers lay side-by-side

Stitches for each layer are always interrupted by stitches for the other. 

TECHknitting recently introduced a new and different way to work double knitting with two sets of circular needles, meaning four needle tips. To distinguish it from the classic (two-needle) method, this new method is called "four-needle double-knitting."

Four needle double knitting: four needles in hand, two operational at any one time.

--each fabric layer gets its own needle. 
--no longer interrupted by stitches for the other side, the stitches next to one another in the fabric are also next to one another on the needles.
No interruption = easier to see what is going on.

"Four needle double knitting" is a descriptive name, an alert that this new trick differs from classic (two-needle) double knitting. Yet this name unfortunately leads to confusion of a different kind.

Confusion!

 Due to the words "four" and "double" and "needles," knitters are writing to ask whether

--> four-needle double-knitting <-- 

is related to sock knitting on 

--> four double-pointed needles <--

The answer is no. 

Same words, it's true, but in different order with different meaning.

same words, different order, different meaning

The set-ups and results are different. One is...

            --reversible fabric via four-needle double-knitting on two sets of circular needles

while the other is... 

--knitting little items like socks on four double-pointed needles (dpn's).

Similar names, different set-ups

But, it can get even more confusing. "Double knitting"does mean the reversible fabric and the process for making it, BUT it also refers to a weight of yarn.

 

More confusion with "double knitting"

Whew. No wonder there's confusion!

DISAMBIGUATION
Four-needle double-knitting is a new and easier way of creating two-sided fabric with reversible designs on both sides, using two sets of circular needles: it is not double-knitting weight yarn, nor knitting little items like socks on four double-pointed needles. 

_____________

Where we've been, where we're going
In this series on double knitting, the most recent post is about four-needle double-knitted horizontal tubes called "baffles." These are knit via the "picking" method of four-needle double knitting and can be stuffed like the baffles of a puffer jacket. The next post covers four-needle double-knitted vertical baffles. See you then.

--TK

Questions? Feedback? Contact me at 

Blue Sky  @techknitter.bsky.social or  talk to me about this post on Ravelry TECHknitter forum