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?

Book Review: The Wandering Knitter

Knitting and travel are two hobbies that are highly compatible. Travel often involves waiting or time spent on planes, trains, boats, etc., time that can easily be filled by knitting, a portable and productive craft you can do most anywhere (and yes, you can take your knitting on a plane most of the time). 

Krista Ann combines knitting and traveling regularly and ended up visiting every continent in 2022 with her knitting needles along for the ride. The Wandering Knitter explores travel, knitting and learning new knitting skills no matter where you are. 

This isn’t a book for beginners, but if you’ve wanted to learn techniques like brioche, cables, lace, colorwork, mitered squares and short rows, there’s a set of more beginner level patterns followed by ones that are bigger, more detailed or required a little more skill. For example a brioche washcloth is the beginner pattern, while a brioche sweater (with unexplained exceptionally long sleeves) is the stepped up project. A basic mesh lace scarf becomes a more complex lace kerchief. A giant mitered square cowl graduates to a mitered square tote bag. 

Interspersed among the patterns are essays about traveling to different continents and what she saw there. There are also tips for traveling with your knitting and tips for reading charts, but no tutorials for knitting skills (other than a written explanation of how mosaic knitting works). 

Some of the projects would be useful to have when traveling, such as fingerless gloves, a warm headband or a colorwork hat. The travel angle is an interesting hook for a book, but I would have enjoyed essays more about specific incidents or shopping for yarn in a different country or something more than the general essays about things she’s liked and places she’d like to go back to. 

Still, if you’re looking for a skill building book that doesn’t focus on the basics but gives you some wearable, attractive accessories, this book is a good one to check out. Just maybe make the sleeves shorter if you knit the sweater. 

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 20 patterns. Published 2026 by Quarry Books. Suggested retail price $24.99.