Adventures in Double Knitting

I decided to take a break from my larger projects since I am getting to the point of having to force myself to work on them, and knit, you guessed it, a hat. I'll admit that I probably own way too many hats at this point, half of which I don't even wear, but, oh well, I enjoy making them. Some people make dishcloths when they need a break, I knit hats. I have been considering signing up for some craft shows next year to get rid of the excess of FOs.

I've been wanting to try double knitting for a while now, but I never got around to it and, except for a blanket, I hadn't seen any pattern that I truly wanted to knit. Plus, searching for a pattern is a bit annoying, since many people tend to use the label double knitting when they mean the yarn weight rather than the technique.

 So, when it started to snow before Halloween, reminding me rather painfully of last year's Christmas tree cutting trip, I decided to create my own pattern. It wasn't a terribly complicated pattern, but I'm happy with the results.

Here is Side A:

Here is Side B:

Not the best photos, since I still need to block it and I took it indoors at night, but you can at least see the general idea.  The hat itself isn't perfect. You can actually see an error on Side B if you look closely, but it isn't too bad for a first attempt.

I'm thinking about making matching mittens, since I have 1 1/2 skeins of each color left in my stash still.

I'm also thinking that next time I try double knitting, I might try making it with two different patterns, just to mix things up.   

Back to the Frog Pond.. Ribbit, Ribbit

Or rather, rip it, rip it.

I have spent a portion of two days last month trying to clean my room and find space for all of my knitting related items. I've had to decide what I want to keep and in what form, and what should be consigned to the dust bin and what should be given to new victims... I mean recipients.

Joking aside, the last was relatively easy, as my family has a habit of "shopping" in my FOs and the excess hats in washable yarns are going to be donated to Cancer Care of Maine or another society. The only yarn I got rid of was acrylic that had started to yellow .

The first was the part that every knitter both loves and hates- frogging failed projects. I love it because I'm destroying something that has been quietly mocking me for months and now I have more yarn to play with. I hate it because I'm destroying that I spent a lot of time on and now I have more yarn to store. If that seems about as clear as mud, then oh well, at least it is somewhat cathartic and entertains cats (so much yarn, so little time to chase it). Plus, I don't know about other people, but I tend to feel guilty if I spend a lot of money on yarn for a project only to have it sit as far out of site as possible. At least I can reuse it for a gift or something that will at least be used.

So which projects met their maker?



The first was the first sweater I had ever designed, which I had been holding onto more out of sentiment than anything.

 As you can see by the numerous bulges it highlights on me, it isn't exactly flattering. Mostly because I had tried to take my own bust measurements and apparently trying to contort enough to measure your own back and boobs means that your measurements will be significantly off and any shaping below that will now be equally off. Plus, I used worsted weight pima cotton, so it sags... a lot. I almost saved the bottom lace section and turned it into an infinity scarf, but the knots/mats I used to secure the yarn looked awful. Here is what it looks like now:

 I might turn this into a baby blanket or some storage baskets.

The other item I frogged was this infinity scarf that has more problems than a good blocking could fix:

For whatever reason, it didn't occur to me as I was knitting this to go up a needle size or two for the middle portion, so the edging is much wider than the middle and even stretching the middle out isn't enough to make it lie flat. And, it wasn't reversible.

Here is what it should have looked like, though admittedly the black makes it difficult to see the edge cables in the picture:

This one uses bigger needles, reversible cables, and garter stitch, so it is flat, reversible, and not distorted. My sister actually took this one from my FO stash, so I'm guessing that means she likes it. No one has ever offered to take the other one off my hands. Oh well, now it will be made into something I might actually use, like mittens or another hat (apparently 20 isn't enough).

What projects have you frogged?