This week I take a foray into designing my own mitts, and talk to Karen Neal, who is light-years ahead of me.
Twisted Stitches
There are two major ways to twist two knit stitches across each other, that I have found. If you are going to the right, you simply knit the two stitches out of order. You knit the second stitch on the left-hand needle, then the first. This crosses the one over the other. You can also knit the two stitches together, leaving the stitches on the left-hand needle, then knit again into the first stitch on the needle, and finally dropping both stitches off. I read about the second method in Barbara Walker's Second Treasury of Knitted Patterns, after I had already knit most of a twisted-stitch mitt.
I tried both methods, then. The second method is faster and easier for me to work, except for when my stitches were twisting in between double-pointed needles. At those moments, I just used the last needle I had been working off as a cable needle, and put it in the back of the work while I knit the first stitch on the next needle. The advantage of this method is that it prevents loose stitches in-between double-pointed needles.
Conversation With A Knitter
Karen Neal of Karendipity talks with me this week about, well, a lot, but mostly technique, designers, learning, and using spreadsheets to help you with your knitting. She goes by just plain Karen on Ravelry, so she's easy to find. I have linked to most of what we talked about below. There are so many topics that I've divided them out, by subject.
Yarns & Yarn Shop
Linie 194 Solo (the ruffled yarn)
The Studio Knitting and Needlepoint in Kansas City
Designers
Books and eBooks
Alice Starmore's Tudor Roses
Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks: New Twists on Classic Patterns
Weldon's Practical Needlework Books
Barbara Walker's Second Treasury of Knitted Patterns
This Week's Guest
Karendipity on Etsy
2010 Uses for Gauge Swatches
Number 15: To test which method of twisted stitch you prefer.
