I recently came across a suggestion on another forum to knit two sweater sleeves at the same time on the same needles in order to make them absolutely identical. I have no idea how this would be accomplished, but I want to try the technique for a pot-holder. Any suggestions,anyone?
Two Identical Pieces, One Needle?
It’s a great way to do sleeves and cardigan fronts among other things. Use two balls of yarn and work each sleeve with a separate ball. After you work a row of sleeve one, drop the yarn and pick up the yarn for sleeve two and work sleeve two with that yarn. Just remember to complete the row on [I]both[/I] sleeves before turning to work the next row. Otherwise, one sleeve will have more rows than the other and you defeat the purpose of knitting two sleeves at the same time.
So if I’m understanding you correctly, the items both go onto the needles consecutively and from there it’s just a matter of remembering which ball of yarn goes to which item?
That’s pretty much it - you can put a marker or tie some yarn on the needle between the 2 sleeves so you know where the middle is and you need to work to an end before putting it down. If you stop in the middle both yarn ends will be there and you can easily forget which direction you’re going.
Thanks so much you guys! I’m going to go try it out with two halves of a pot-holder pattern I have!
If I have to stop after knitting only one of the sleeves (or pot holders), I tie a slip knot in the yarn I should pick up next. I reminds me which direction I’m going and which sleeve I should be knitting.
I’ll move on to sleeves (and the stuff they attach to) after I master pot holders, dishcloths and scarves. Thanks for all the great tips!
OMG…this is one of the best ideas ever. I never thought to do this, because I always end up with one sleeve that’s perfect and then I end up frogging the other sleeve over and over agian trying to get it to come out right.
Yes, this works great. Here’s how to knit two mittens at a time on straight needles.
http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/2-needlemitts.html
Here’s how to knit two socks at a time on one circular needle using magic loop.
If you’re going to knit two socks at a time like this, you’ll need a really long circular needle. I would say longer than a 32 inch. Fyi, if you have the Knitpicks Options interchangeable set, you can buy a tiny metal connector that will link two of your cables into one long one.