Knitting

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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.]

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 Mosaic Shawl Inspired by Mythology

Sometimes when I’m scrolling through Ravelry a pattern will catch my eye as much because of the name as the look of the design (which is a little hard to see in those little thumbnails sometimes, anyway). 

So it was with the Stellify shawl by Paola Albergamo. Stellify means to turn into a star, and the name and the story behind the shawl come from the story of Ariadne. The better known part of her story is that she helped Theseus escape from the Minotaur, but he then abandoned her. What comes after in many stories is that Dionysus found her, fell in love with her and later married her. 

When he threw her jeweled crown into the sky, the Corona Borealis constellation was formed. 

What does all this have to do with shawl knitting? 

The shawl itself looks like it has a scattering of stars on it, as if it, too, has been stellified. The shawl begins with an I-cord tap and is shaped into a triangular shawl with both lateral and central increases. I-cord edging is incorporated into the sides, and the colorwork is done with mosaic knitting, which means this shawl is easier than it looks. 

Mosaic knitting has you working with just one color per row, slipping stitches that appear in the other color to make the colorwork visible. Even better for people new to this kind of colorwork, the pattern includes written and charted instructions throughout so it should be easy to follow along. 

The pattern comes in two sizes (the larger one is shown here) and calls for two colors of fingering weight yarn. It looks great in black and yellow, but don’t miss the other projects on Ravelry to see other fun and beautiful color options. 

You can find the pattern in English and Italian on Ravelry. 

[Photo: Paola Albergamo]