Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

Have You Tried Twined Knitting? Check out This Tutorial

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Twined knitting tutorialRemember earlier this week when I said I know enough about knitting to know that I still have a lot to learn? One of my knowledge gaps that I am well aware of is twined knitting, a technique that uses two colors of yarn, alternating each stitch. The difference between twined knitting and more conventional stranded colorwork is that you deliberately twist the yarns as you go, twisting in the opposite direction on each round so that your yarns get twisted and the untwisted around each other.

It’s good to have a visual tutorial for this technique, and the Chilly Dog has a great video tutorial for twined knitting, which goes with a sock pattern she’s designed.

In the picture you can see how to sock looks from the inside (which is how it is knit) and the outside. It produces a really interesting texture and I imagine it’s also pretty warm.

Have you ever tried this technique? I’m thinking about giving it a go!

[Photo via the Chilly Dog.]

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Comments

  1. I haven’t tried twined knitting. But now you have me intrigued. Thanks for bringing this technique to the top of my list. I’m about to cast on for my second double knitting project. If I can do that, I should be able to learn twined.

Have you read?

Knit a Fish Pouch, for Reasons

I can’t resist a pattern that’s both useful and a little silly, and that’s exactly how I feel about the Rybka pouch pattern from the delightfully named Rat and Sea Witch.

I know you’re going to ask, because I did, too. Rybka means little fish in Polish. (And because you’re also probably going to ask, Rat and Sea Witch comes from people’s attempts to say the designer’s name, Ratasiewicz, which if you say it fast kind of sounds like rat and sea witch.)

It’s easy to make a little fish bag in different sizes to suit your needs. The pattern has specific instructions for an Airpods Pro case and a pencil case, but you could change the length easily to hold more stuff, and change the size in general by working with a different weight of yarn.

The pattern calls for sock yarn and mohair held together to make a fingering weight gauge, but you could try it with heavier yarn and see what size bag you end up with.

Whatever size you make it, this looks like a fun project for holding trinkets or everyday items. The mouth of the fish is the mouth of the bag, and it closes with a drawstring that is also the strap. I wonder, too, if you could make one of these with a small clasp frame that could be the fish’s mouth and then you could just work I cord straps that would attach to the sides of the fish.

I could also see stripes, or fish of different colors to use up your yarn leftovers. How about a sunglasses case with a little loop to attach to your bag? Once you start thinking about all the ways you could use a fish-shaped bag in your life, I think you’ll see that you probably need more than one.

If you make one of these I would love to know how it went!

You can grab a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Rat and Sea Witch]