Starting soon, and running through the summer, TECHknitting will feature a series on double knitting. Double knitting can mean two things: a reversible fabric, or a weight of yarn. This series is about the fabric, not the yarn. The series starts with the basics, then goes on to show new and strange methods of creating double knitting.
To prep, today's intro post shows
- getting stitches ON the needle
- getting stitches OFF the needles
- working the SIDE EDGES (if working back and forth, rather than in the round)
Just to be perfectly clear: this post does NOT actually show how to double knit. The how-to begins with the next post--I will put a link here when that post goes live. Today's post shows the basics of top, bottom, sides, so you'll know how to deal with those when we get there.
Just as learning plain cast on comes before learning plain knitting, so learning double knitting cast on (and cast off and side) comes before the actual double knitting itself.
On the other hand, if you already do know how to double knit, perhaps today's methods may add to your bag of tricks.
Basic method for getting stitches ONTO the needles for double knitting
Materials:
- Yarn in color A
- Yarn in color B
- Three circular needles:
- the project needle suited to the size of the yarn--needle #1
- a circular needle in the same size or next size smaller--needle #2
- a circular needle in a much smaller gauge--needle #3
- A pair of yarn stoppers (or, two rubber bands will work just fine)
- Crochet hook
Step 1: Using the project needles #1, and any cast on you prefer, cast on the required number of stitches in color A.
Step 2: If using long tail cast on, work an additional two rows in stockinette. If using any other cast on, work an additional three rows in stockinette. SLIP the FIRST or the LAST stitch of every row--makes no difference which you choose, but be consistent. Slip the stitch "open," meaning, not twisted. (More on slipping below.)
Step 3: Leave the stitches of color A on the project needle, and place the yarn stoppers on the needle tips.
The below illustration shows the work after step 3. Note the "open" (untwisted) slipped edge stitches. You can tell which these are because they stretch over two rows. The stitches cannot fall off because of the yarn stoppers (a rubber band twisted round each needle tip works just as well).
Each bottom-most stitch is marked with a blue dot.
Step 4: Take the fabric in hand and hold it upside down, smooth side facing you. Arrange the second color of yarn so that it has a lengthy tail. Insert the crochet hook as shown, from front to back, to pick up stitches right through the bottom-most stitches (blue dots). The stitches are picked up using the tail yarn, as shown. Place each loop onto the circular needle #2 as soon as it is formed. The first illustration below shows the act of picking up these stitches, the following shows the picked up stitches on the second circular needle.
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| Picking up white stitches through bottom stitches of red, in progress: crochet hook + circular needle #2 |
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| Picking up stitches completed: all red stitches on circular needle #1, all white stitches on circular needle #2 |
Step 5: Turn the work and ➡KNIT⬅ the first row of picked up stitches: this makes these stitches appear as ➡PURLS⬅on the smooth stockinette side of the fabric. Then, work two rows above the purled row. Again, SLIP either the FIRST or the LAST stitch of each row. The below illustration shows the situation. The running yarn (stretching back to the skein) protrudes from the same side for both fabrics. Note again that the first row of white stitches appears in purl from the front (smooth stockinette) face.
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| Look closely: the first row of white is purled as seen from the smooth stockinette side |
Step 6: Fold the fabrics in half, cast on towards the bottom, and hold them back to back (purl sides together). You will find the fabric folds nobly at the purl line. Hold the needles one in front of the other. (Preview: in the upcoming series, some forms of double knitting have the set up end at this step.)
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| Hold the needles one in front of the other, purl sides together |
Step 7: Setting up for classic "alternating stitch" double knitting requires all stitches to be along one needle. This is done by alternately slipping the stitches onto needle #3 (the very small gauge circular needle). First slip a red, then a white, then a red, and so on. Finally, slip the stitches one last time, this time putting them where they will stay: on the project needle. The stitches are as below: alternating along the cable of the project needle, right arm of each stitch forward. Along the top, the fabric should look like the illustration below.
Below, the default basic cast on in real life cast on, shown both sides. This is a non-flaring edge because the stitches next to one another in the fabric are next to one another on the needle during the cast on itself. The alternating intervening stitch isn't added until some rows up, where it can't stretch out the cast-on.
The purl row makes a nice fold. In planning your project, keep in mind that only the side cast on first has this contrasting color edging. The other side (white in below photos) has a neat sort of folded edge, almost like a picot cast on, but no contrast.
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| Basic purl cast on IRL |
Other ways of casting on are coming up later in this series, but this basic default method makes a non-flaring edge with good tension and a good appearance.
Basic method for getting stitches OFF the needles after double knitting
The top of a double knitting project is generally grafted shut. To have the top match the bottom, several rows each side are worked in one color stockinette, to make a match for the bottom border. Then, the top is grafted shut in purl pattern. There is already a whole post about purl grafting on a stockinette background: follow those directions.
Here is a photo of all edges of the red and white project shown above. The bottom edges, front and back are the purl cast ON, while the top edges, front and back, are the purl cast OFF.
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| Four-way matchy-matchy: purl cast on and purl cast off, front and back |
Other methods for casting off come up later in this series, but this basic method is tidy, matches well with the default cast on, and gives non flaring edge.
Basic edge method for double knitting worked flat (back and forth)
Like magnetism and gravity, stockinette curl is a force of the universe. The most basic method for double knit edges harnesses this force, setting up the edges of both fabrics to simply curl against one another. Here is a photo gallery of this sort of edge. At lower left (red frame) you see the edges pinned open, but in all the other photos (white frames) you see the edges stay tight curled shut.
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| Click here for closeup |
There are only two rules for this kind of basic edge.
First, the edge three stitches of each fabric--front and back--are ALWAYS worked in the same color, that being whatever color they started off in. The design does not begin until past these three stitches. For a project with a color design right to the edge, add six stitches, so you can always keep the three edge stitches each side in one-color stockinette. Not only does this yield a pleasant looking border, but it also gives you a three-stitch run at the beginning of every row, to get back into tension before starting into the color work. Tension irregularities at the edge (nearly impossible to avoid) hide better in a single color border, than if the color work went right to the end.
This three-stitch border goes nicely with the little bottom border you get from the basic cast on. The basic cast off also features a little border. In this way, all four sides are "framed," a tailored effect.
The second rule is, the very edge stitch gets slipped either at the beginning of every row OR at the end--the only caution here is to be consistent. The edge stitch is slipped "open," meaning, not twisted. This was already started in the very first rows of the cast on, and illustrated in the first section of this post. A slipped edge is also called a "chain" edge, here are illustrated directions. Stretching the edge stitches over two rows encourages the fabric to consistently curl inwards for a smooth and un-knotted edge. The red-framed photo at lower left has the edge fabrics held open, the slipped edges on both fabrics showing (and you can see why it's called a "chain" edge).
One more time: you might think that leaving three stitches unattached on each edge will let the fabrics flop open, but not a bit of it. That stockinette curl which knitters spend so much energy trying to tame will flip those edges right under, holding them tight shut against one another for all time.
Other variations for edges are coming up later in this series, but this is the default--the simplest edging I know for double knitting. Looks pretty good too, IMHO.
--TK
talk to me about this post on Ravelry TECHknitter forum
Resources:
--Opening elephant design adapted from "Elephants never forget" pattern by Keri'd
