Double knitting help please

How-to Questions
1

I’ve just recently started to learn double knitting. I’ve watched the video we have here on KH about this topic. Unfortunately it doesn’t go into much detail about the problems I am having with this tech.

Some examples:
When knitting the “Uncle Argyle Scarf” from ‘Sons of SnB’:
~the finer points of switching which color will appear on the ‘RS’ confuses the hell out of me. I have tried knitting something much simpler as an exploration of this tech. by knitting a checkerboard pattern with two colors. I did fairly well with this, but on both sides of the fabric, the first time I alternate colors I get loose stitches between the two cells of color running all the way up to the needle from the bottom, but I DON’T get these ‘ladders’ when I change back to the initial color. (This swatch only had 3 ‘cells’ of color across each ‘row’, so I assume that if I had four ‘cells’ that I would get these ladders again after the third color change.)

Is this a symptom of how I twist the yarns between color changes? Or maybe something different?

~Also sometimes I end up with purl ‘bumps’ when the fabric should appear to be stockinette on both sides. I’m having a lot of trouble figuring out what causes these issues as this is a new technique to me.

Are there any video tutorials that go more in depth with double knitting that anyone knows about and can link me to? I own knitting for dummies, but it barely mentions double knitting. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Unfortunately the Double Knitting video here on KH isn’t sufficient.

Maybe if I pray to Amy she will make a more detailed tutorial on this. :wink:
-Igklico

2

Have I worded this poorly? Lots of people looking, no one seems to have an answer…

3

I probably shouldn’t get involved with tackling this question. I haven’t done any DK for a long time, except I just tried it again and it is coming out okay. I’ve only done the heart potholder and a couple of hats in DK, but that was quite a feat if I do say so myself. :lol: I love the scarf you mentioned but never tried that.

Are you only working with 2 colors at a time and are they always one color on one side and the alternate color on the other side, doing the same thing but reversed in the colors? That is the way I’ve done it. You always work with both colors in your hands. There are two totally different techniques for DK one involves slipping stitches and one uses knits and purls. I have not done the slip st technique.

When you were trying to make the checkerboard pattern are you doing lets say 4 sts of red and then 4 of blue and then 4 of red again and then 4 of blue, all this on one side and the opposite side reversed in color? (because that is what I did :slight_smile: ) And are you having St st facing out on both sides? If this is what you are trying to do here are my observations.

On the first row lets say you start with red on the side facing you and blue on the back side. Begin by holding both yarns in back and knitting with the red, then bring both yarns to the front and purl with the blue. The first stitch you work each time will be knit and it will be the one that faces you, then you purl the next stitch which makes it turn out knit on the outside on the back. So always knit the stitch with the color you want facing you and purl with the stitch you want in back. You don’t really need to twist anything to make this all happen.

Here is how you do a checkerboard of 4 red stitches, 4 blue, and repeat those. Wyb( with yarn back–always move both the yarns front and back together) k1R(knit one red), wyf (with yarn front) p1B (purl 1 blue), wyb k1R, wyf p1B, wyfb k1R, wyf p1B, wyb k1R, wyf p1B. Now you have 4 red on the front, the next stitch will be blue on front so (wyb K1B, wyf p1R,) repeat 3 more times. Now you have 4 blue in front. So you are ready to switch to red in front again. (wyb k1R, wyf k1B) repeat 3 more times. Then switch to blue again. (wyb k1B, wyf p1R) repeat 3 more times.

What to remember is that stitches are done in pairs always a knit and a purl beginning with the color you want facing you as the knit and the color that will be in back as the purl.

~Also sometimes I end up with purl ‘bumps’ when the fabric should appear to be stockinette on both sides.
This is probably because you a purl or a knit in the wrong place. I think of it as if I’m making two pieces at once, the one facing me is all knit and the one away from me is all purl. If you make a mistake it is not that hard to fix it, just keep the sides separate and fix each side as a unit.

I did a Google search for “how double knit” and some videos came up on youtube I think as well as some other things. I don’t know if they are any good. I have dial up connection and don’t look at videos just to check them out, takes too long.

4

I’ve been playing with my DK swatch some more and doing some research on Ravelry. Ravelry has a Double Knitting group that I belong to. They had some videos made by members. There are some on YouTube by a user named lababla. I believe that is the name she uses on YouTube as well. I got the impression that she used the slip stitch technique (might be good), but I don’t know for sure. Here is a link to a video by a guy in the DK group. He has a couple others too. LINK This video is almost 7 minutes long. I don’t know which technique he uses.

Regarding:

I did fairly well with this, but on both sides of the fabric, the first time I alternate colors I get loose stitches between the two cells of color running all the way up to the needle from the bottom, but I DON’T get these ‘ladders’ when I change back to the initial color.

I noticed this happening on my swatch as well. The DK projects I’ve done were not done in blocks like this and such as issue didn’t emerge. When you change colors you have 2 stitches done with the same color in a row. I think if you pull the second one a little that may help. :?? But I also found that as I got some more knit that the “ladder” seemed to recede between the two knit stitches and not really be a problem. So the problem may be more apparent than real. Hopefully.

5

Since posting this I have finally figured out the basics of double knitting and I am several rows into my scarf/swatch (don’t know if I am going to turn this into a full project).

As it turns out I was simply having trouble reading the pattern. I originally wrote myself a little legend: x=knit =purl(and inverse for wrong side rows), this was my fatal mistake. I reexamined the pattern and learned that the markers should have been linked to the respective colors.

A tip to those who are trying this tech out for the first time: read the pattern carefully! If you are working DK to end up with ST st. on both sides, ALWAYS! knit the color that should show on the side of the fabric you are working on FIRST, and purl the reverse side color second. Treat it as K1,P1 ribbing and it will be much easier to wrap your head around it.

Also, I found that written directions are much easier to follow than the grid pattern (at least for me). So after completing each row, I now write out the sequence for the next row as follows:

Lets say you are working in two color argyle:
colors: Brown and Green
Knit Green/Purl Brown 7
Knit Brown/Purl Green 1
Knit Green/Purl Brown 1
Knit Brown/Purl Green 1
Knit Green/Purl Brown 7
etc. etc.

If you are just starting out this is much simpler to follow and check off each iteration of KG/PB as it is done, than to keep counting stitches and referring back to your grid pattern. Even if you are experienced with this technique, on the more complicated patterns (especially with more that 2 colors) this will be of great assistance.

Just thought that I would share this now that I have figured out a way to make it easier. Now that I say this I might just post this as a suggestion in it’s own thread as a primer to those who might be having the same difficulties as I did. Though most people wouldn’t over complicate it as I did in the beginning.