Knitting -- the Double Knit three times

In old books I saw references to double-knitting but no explanation of how to do it. After some research, it turns out there are three versions of the double knit. 

The old one is perfect for working in the round: I found it on page 8 in The Art of Knitting from 1892, published by Butterick which is now better-known for sewing patterns. You can see that it looks as if it is knitted on both sides. 

https://archive.org/details/artofknitting00butt/page/n11/mode/2up

You bring the yarn to the front, SS purlwise, take the yarn to the back, knit the next stitch. On the next round or row, you knit the slipped stitch and slip the knitted stitch. 

The new one, Johnnie Vasquez shows on his website. You work it back and forth instead of in the round. Notice that it looks as if it is garter stitch on the back but knitted on the front.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDRDvGDO8LY

Cast on an odd number of stitches. I recommend multiples of three if possible.

K1, slip purlwise (yarn in back), K1

K1, P1, K1

These are not the same as brioche. Brioche uses a genuine yarn-over; the old double knit wraps the slipped stitch. Johnnie's double knit does neither. But the Butterick book does have something it calls "the patent stitch" which sounds like a description I've heard of brioche: “This method is frequently used in knitting children's underwear. It is worked as follows: * Throw the wool forward [this would be a yo in our terminology], slip one, knit two together, and repeat from * across or around the work. In knitting on two needles, work back in the same way.”

The third version is a two-color technique which is reversible, has two layers, and works the same design on each side but in reversed colors. Joanne shows you how to cast on and how to start a design.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JroP84tUmJA

And here is the example. The reverse has green around the yin/yang. There are mistakes on this; you may be able to see them. I finished it in the wee hours so I could go back to another project and I was pretty tired. You've been there, I know you have.

Some guidelines.

1.         When you cast on, don’t worry about getting the stitch colors in line. You will fix that when you do the first row.

2.         You need to have both strands of yarn in one hand or you will forget to move both of them at the same time. Use English knitting, not Continental.

3.         How do you follow a pattern? I had to start my first pattern over again 4 times. Follow the pattern from one side to the other, then in the reverse direction, just as if you were doing cross stitch.

4.         BUT when you reverse direction, you reverse colors. If you had a row knitted in color A with purls for color B, in the next row you knit color B and purl color A.

5.         Whichever color is supposed to show up on the side you are looking at in the current row you are working, that color gets knitted. The other color gets purled.

6.         Whichever side of the pattern you are on, if the next stitch is supposed to show color A on that side, knit it, even if you are knitting into a stitch of color B. This causes two adjacent stitches of the same color when you change from A to B in a given row. Finding these double stitches will help you find where you are in the pattern.

7.         MOST IMPORTANT, work the pattern bottom to top. That way most of us will get less confused about what row we’re on or what stitch to do next.

This technique has limited applications, most of the things being square or rectangular. 

You can make great hotpads or pot holders. 

Make six blocks, each in a different color with a different design, join them three at a time, and add lace above and below, and you have sturdy kitchen curtains. 

Make a bunch of squares in different colors with different designs or some repeated designs, and sew them together into a patchwork quilt. You can use the obverse and reverse of repeated designs in different places of the quilt and have both sides look the same.

Make a tote. Plan how big a tote  you want and what the pattern will be. Choose a sturdy yarn -- Dishie for a large weave, Lindy Chain for a small weave. Work from bottom to top, as I said. When you finish the pattern, knit the end stitch and the one after it in whichever of the two colors you want the welt at the top to be. Move the next stitch onto a holder, knit, move, and on around to the other end. Knit the last stitch as usual. Use the circular needle you worked the tote with, to knit all the stitches off the holder. Now knit 5 to 10 rounds, depending on the weight of your yarn. Do seed stitch at the top and bind off. Insert a lining if you want; you can put pockets in this, just make sure they are on the inside of the tote and not between the lining and the fabric of the tote. You can glue the lining to cardboard for extra stiffening. Attach a strap and some kind of closure. You may think that this won't work, but when I unraveled a few rows to fix a mistake about the middle of my first pattern, I could see that there was indeed an inside that went down to the initial cast-on.

This is not a good technique for a jumper. I need 1430 yards of worsted yarn for a jumper and most skeins of worsted yarn are far smaller. You would have to work in wool and do the invisible joins; knots in linen, cotton or silk would have to be tucked into the inside of the piece and might be irritating. The double fabric is very warm so you would want to work in lace or fingering weight yarn. The best recommendation I can make is a patchwork in multiple colors with different designs on different blocks.

While googling for videos, I found another site with Men Who Knit, Arne and Carlos. I'll talk about them next time.