Twined knitting with two colours

Twined knitting, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

I do like swatches, but it's also nice to combine swatching with making something you can use.

The other day I saw super knitter Tålamodspåsen's phone case and thought I'd make one for myself to test a couple of pattern ideas for twined knitting.

For easy comparison I like having different versions of the same idea in a swatch, in this case a pattern with knit stitches and then with both knit and purl stitches. Not only do they look and feel slightly different, the one with purls is thicker too.

Twined knitting with two colours looks a bit like mosaic knitting, but there are major differences. In mosaic knitting you knit with one colour at a time and slip stitches to make a pattern; in twined knitting you knit with both colours and cover stitches with the strand you don't knit with to make a pattern. I haven't knitted much mosaic knitting, but it seems to me it tends to curve (depending on the pattern) in a way twined knitting doesn't. Not that it's a bad thing necessarily - I can see how it could be an effect you'd want to achieve.

All the twisting makes it necessary to unwind the two strands every now and then.
Having just one ball of yarn makes it easier: you just let it hang in the air.

Edited to add: how I wish I could draw like Mattias!

Lace knitting

"Bressay Hap Wrap" in progress, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

Here's my new lace project, "Bressay Hap Wrap" by Sharon Miller, a free pattern from Rowan. The yarn is also from Rowan, a blend of merino and alpaca called Fine Lace and I got it from Wincent in Stockholm. Thanks, Eva!

Speaking of lace knitting, as mentioned in a previous post I will be leading a couple of workshops with GarnGalleriet in Uppsala. The dates are settled, October 16 (all day) and 29 (afternoon). For more information, write to info@garngalleriet.se

(It feels rather silly writing this in English - as if anyone would even consider travelling from another country for a workshop - but changing languages in the middle of a blog post would also feel silly!)

But first a twined knitting workshop at Litet Nystan to warm up! I'm having fun preparing material and sort of relearning the techniques (studying what my fingers to more or less automatically by now) to be able to explain them well.

"Bressay Hap Wrap" by Sharon Miller

And they lived happily ever after

Here's the shirt my colleague made for me and the cardigan I made for her. We'd like to see this as proof we're so good at co-operation that our salaries should be raised dramatically!

Grafting "Viften/The Fan"

Grafting "Viften/The Fan", a photo by Asplund on Flickr.

I like avoiding seams as far as possible, not only because I don't like sewing, but also for comfort: why have welts at the back of the neck and under the arms if you can avoid them?

For this project I have learnt how to graft garter stitch. I have grafted stocking stitch before ("Kitchener stitch") and was happily surprised garter stitch was easier. Excellent instructions here. (Of course, this is a form of sewing too, but I don't mind it that much when the resulting seam looks like knitting.)

I have been asked how I modified the decreases knitting the border.

Here are the four kinds I've used:

1. "knit two together" for decrease to slant to the right.

2. "slip one as if to knit, slip one more as if to knit, put both back on left needle and knit them together through back loops" for decrease to slant to the left.

3. "slip one as if to knit, slip one more as if to knit,knit one, pass slipped stitches over the stitch just knitted" for a double decrease when the middle stitch is top of a purl ladder (to avoid a purl on top). You could simply knit three together (the knit stitch to the left would end up on top instead of the one to the right) but that decrease feels slightly more like a bump in my picky fingers' opinion.

4. "slip two together as if to knit, knit one, pass slipped stitches over the stitch just knitted" for a double decrease where the middle stitch end up on top of the other two.

Same but different

Here's the first "Viften/The Fan" I knitted a couple of years ago (blue bourette silk) and the third one I'm currently making (yellow merino wool) for comparison. There are a few differences apart from colour and fibre:

1. I decided to cast on a lot more loosely for a more pronounced scalloped edge.

2. There is an extra row (purls on the right side) to make the edge curl slightly.

3. Border pattern two repeats instead of three (to save yarn to be on the safe side).

There are sleeve modifications too:

1. Border five repeats wide instead of four to make the sleeves less narrow. This will make modified raglan shaping necessary, but I've decided to wait with calculations until I get there.

2. Sleeves knitted in the round to avoid a seam. When I get to the armholes I will start knitting back and forth for the raglan shape, though.

3. The instructions allow you to choose between short and long sleeves, but these will be medium length instead (like the previous one I made).

What else?
I'm quite excited about a twined knitting workshop I will be leading at Litet nystan in a few weeks! Equally exciting is planning a couple of lace knitting workshops with GarnGalleriet in Uppsala in October - will write more details about that when we've made more decisions.