Woe is Me!

I have been working on Marsha's socks when I watch TV in the evenings. I keep my work-in-progress in a basket by my chair.

It rained today and the dogs were in the house. They were like little kids -- constantly wanting attention and bored. I don't know which dog found the knitting and pulled it across the floor. It may have been a different dog that ate my favorite #1 hickory needles from KnitPicks!

Mud or no mud, the dogs are now outside in the dog pen. I am trying to untangle the yarn -- and not cry over my lost needles.

Anybody want a trio of dogs???

Best Friends Forever and Socks

The kids use the term BFF for Best Friends Forever, as if they invented the term. Every generation has best friends of course, and some of us do get lucky and have a few Best Friends Forever. My friend Marsha and I met when we were 10. Fifty-two years later, we're still good friends. Here's a picture of us taken this summer.

I finished my tabi socks in September. The first person I had to show the new socks was Marsha. She asked me to make her some socks. We had a great afternoon selecting yarn. She found so many colors that she loved, I can see I'm going to have to teach her to knit so she can have all the socks she wants. Now won't that just hurt us to have to get together regularly for lessons?

Exploring the Mystery of Double Knitting

Hat rolled in up position

Some of the ladies in my Kansas Knits group wanted to know how I double knit. This is the answer I gave. You can find the pattern at http://alison. knitsmiths. us/pattern_ double_knit_ cap.html

The designer used a bigger needle and cast on a different number of stitches, but I find 72/144 on size 5 needles works for worsted weight yarn. Your mileage may vary depending upon how tightly or loosely you knit.

Double Knitting as I Do It: Basically you are carrying two unrelated items on your needles at the same time. The only thing the two parts of my hat have in common is the cast on row. After casting on, the front and back grow independently. I just knit them simultaneously. You don't knit one row, purl one row. You do them stitch by stitch -- one stitch knit, one stitch purl.

I know -- clear as mud.

I'll describe my hat. It takes 72 stitches on size 5 needles to go around an average head. Therefore I cast on twice that number of stitches in my alternate (inside) color. 144 stitches.

After joining the circle, I begin double knitting. I tie in the primary (front) color and knit every other stitch with the primary color. I carry this yarn in my right hand and knit American with it. At the same time, I purl the off stitches with the alternate color. I carry this yarn in my left hand and form the purl stitches by Continental knitting. The switching between American and Continental knitting is not required. It just helps me keep my yarns straight.

A row works like this.

Knit one with primary color. Pull yarn to front.
Purl one with alternate color. Leave yarn in back.
Pick up primary color and form the next knit stitch.

The back side of each row goes to the inside of the hat, so it is important that you develop the rhythm for bringing your primary yarn to the front so it lays inside against the purl layer, and the alternate yarn to the back so it also rides between the layers. You don't want to wrap that loose yarn the wrong way or it will show on the outside layers of the hat. Continue around.

At first the hat seems way too big because you see all of the 144 cast on stitches. After a few rows are on the needles the two layers have separated and the hat miraculously fits a head. Half the stitches are riding behind the other half forming the inside layer of the hat.

Once you get the rhythm, it's fun to do double knit, but frustrating because everything takes twice as long to make. The last hat I made I wanted to have done for a birthday. I figured if I sat up watching a movie, I would finish it about 2 AM. I ended up watching 4 movies and saw the sun come up. The hat was finished at 8:30 AM. Expect double knit to take extra time -- oh and don't watch interesting movies. I think I lost track of the knitting in there somewhere and got engrossed in the shows. :)

Hat in down position

One comment about length. I rarely make the hat the length given in the original pattern. My son wants to roll the cuff twice over his ears for maximum warmth, so I generally have 9 inches (or more) between the cast on row and the first band of alternate color. The orange hat above is about that long. Perhaps I'll add a couple more inches next time so we cannot see the grandson make rude gestures with his mouth.

Simple Knitted Slippers

As with many of my patterns, this isn't so much original, as a reworking of an old standard. I am putting it in writing for those who remember the pattern but can't find a copy anywhere. The pair shown were knitted with two colors. I will give directions for them at the end of the main instructions. The pair in the picture were knit one at a time. This caused me to run out of yarn before the second slipper was finished. I had to improvise the purple toe of Sock #2. To prevent this, knit both slippers at the same time.  I have found knitting socks two-at-a-time on a 40 inch circular is a breeze!

SIMPLE KNITTED SLIPPERS.

2 skeins bulky or super bulky yarn (2 more skeins of second color if doing multicolored slippers)

Size 10 1/2 long circular needles

1 yarn needle

Knit two at the same time: *Using the Long Tail Cast on Cast on 32 stitches from 1st skein. Make sure you have a tail at least 8-10 inches long hanging down.* Drop yarn. Repeat between ** for 2nd slipper. You now have both slippers started on your circular needles. The long tails will be used to sew the heels when the slippers are finished.

Row 1: Knit across first slipper. Drop yarn. Knit across 2nd slipper. Turn.
Row 2: *Knit 10 stitches, Purl 1, Knit 10, Purl 1, Knit 10*. Drop yarn. Repeat between ** for 2nd slipper. Turn.

Repeat Rows 1 and 2 until the fabric is 5" long.

Row 3: *K2, P2* across first slipper. Drop yarn. Repeat between ** for 2nd slipper.

Repeat in pattern until slippers are 1/2 inch shorter than the foot that will wear them. Cut yarn leaving a 12" tail. Thread tail of the first slipper into a large-eyed yarn needle. Work stitches off the knitting needle onto the tail using the needle. Draw up toe. Secure it by sewing through the loops one more time.

The two parallel rows of knit stitch that run across the sole mark the "bend" for turning up the sides of the slippers. They should be on the outside when the slipper is finished. Turning slipper to the wrong side, sew the seam from the toe across the arch to the beginning of the garter stitch section. Secure yarn and cut off extra. Repeat for second slipper.

Sew up heels using the tails from the cast on. Add a pompom over the arch of each slipper, if desired.

To make colored slippers:

Full stripe: When you start the rib stitch section, tie in color B and knit 2 rows. Drop yarn at end of row. Pick up color A and knit 2 rows. Drop A, Pick up B and repeat until you have stripes to the end of the slipper. I had about 5 rows of Color A and 6 rows of Color B.

Saddle shoe slipper: When you start the rib stitch section, tie in color B and knit 2 rows. Drop yarn at end of row. Pick up color A and knit 2 rows. Drop A, Pick up B and repeat once. You will have 2 bands of each color. Drop A and cut yarn. Continue to end of slipper with Color B.

The original pattern for this slipper uses worsted weight yarn. If you chose to use worsted weight and you do not double the yarn, you may need to use a smaller needle. Test the 32 stitch cast on to be certain the sole is large enough for the foot that will wear the slipper. If it is too narrow, increase the three sections evenly, two stitches at a time.

Winding Yarn

My mother and I learned to knit together. She had a few months head start on me, but we pretty much fumbled around, learning stitches and trading tips with each other. I miss knitting with Mom. It was always a joy to discover new yarns together and to puzzle out new patterns. Now I'm teaching my daughter and granddaughter (as well as their friends) to knit. Mom, I'm carrying on the tradition.

When Mom and I learned to knit you had two choices for yarn: animal fiber (spell that "wool") and plant fiber (cotton.) Synthetic yarns hadn't been invented yet. The best feature of animal fiber yarn is it's springiness, it's memory. If stretched, it returns to it's shape when the tension is removed. Think of how a sweater stretches when it goes over your head, to see springiness in action. Remember a cotton sock that won't stay up, and you'll remember yarn that has lost its spring. One thing Mom learned early was that there is a trick to winding yarn. If you wind yarn too tightly, it loses its memory and loses its spring. That can be a disaster to a sweater or sock.

The trick to winding yarn, is to do it loosely. If you are winding by hand, always wind the yarn over two fingers. When the fingers are removed, the yarn has some room to return to it's original state. Putting a core at the center of your yarn ball can help you wind easier. If that center is a small balloon, you can pop the balloon later and create a center-pull ball. (See my ball-winder post early in my blog for full details.)

Commercial yarn winders are easier. They create little "cakes" of yarn that are wound on a spindle as you turn a crank. You keep a steady, but not tight, tension on the yarn as it goes onto the ball. When it comes off the spindle, the tail you anchored to the spindle becomes the center pull end.


You can use this sort of winder in combination with a Swift. The swift looks like a hat rack married to an umbrella. It holds a skein of yarn (the circle kind, not the center-pull kind) while you shape the yarn ball. This allows one person to wind yarn evenly when doing it the old-fashioned way requires two people -- one winding, and one holding they yarn.