Customer Reviews

Double Knitting: Reversible Two-Color Designs

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Many years ago, I made a double knit reversible afghan. Fell in love with the technique and for years have searched high and low for instructions on how to use this technique in clothing. Well, my search is over. This book is absolutely amazing and lives up to its title in every way possible. I could not get to the local yarn shop fast enough and my needles and hands are ever so happily knitting away. There is no subject or question left unanswered in this book. The Author did herself proud in every respect. I would give this book 10 stars if it were possible. I am ordering more for my knitting friends for Christmas gifts. Am also ordering a second for myself jut in case something happens to first copy. Author also gives permission to enlarge graphs to make it easier for us who wear trifocals. I highly recommend this book to anyone considering learning a new (but old) technique in the most up to date version possible.

B'Lou Babker's book is a keeper! She covers every aspect of Double Knitting in a clear, concise manner: easy for everyone to follow -- even knitters for whom Double Knitting is new. There is a great variety of patterns and Meg Swansen's photography shows them at their best. This is a book knitters will keep on their shelves and refer to many times in the future.

I own, oh--maybe 700 knitting books. Amazon.com loves me. I teach knitting a lot and enjoy having a library from which I can draw resources for nearly anything one of my students is interested in. I have done a bit of double-knitting, notably a baby afghan inspired by Elizabeth Zimmermann, and the horse from Beverly Royce's NOTES ON DOUBLE KNITTING (an amazing piece of design work, btw). I am a handspinner and rarely knit with millspun yarn, except for socks. In addition to knitting possibilities, I do look at designs from the standpoint of how my handspun might work with them. This book is FULL of possibilities for me, but also for any adventurous and curious knitter. The designs include perfectly classic ones, like the Fair Isle vest on p. 38 and the child's cardigan on p. 54. There are also artsy but very beautiful designs like Central Park and Crop Circles. This is a beautiful and inspiring book. I'm thrilled!

Very guide resource for all techniques associated with double knitting. The explanations and tutorials as well as the patterns are well thought out.

Sorry, this really isn't a review, but for the poster below who was having trouble getting the technique.

To E. Richards, herself" who was having trouble, don't give up. If you know how to knit and purl, you already know how to do this stitch. Most of the challenge of double knitting is understanding what it is. It's just a double thickness that's smooth on both sides. You'll be knitting that double thickness simultaneously.

You know how in single knitting the front is a smooth knit surface and the back is bumpy purls? Well to see what finished double knitting will look like, put two cardigan fronts together, wrong sides together. A finished piece of double knitting is like that, both sides smooth as when you put those cardi fronts together.

You'll have the stitches for both front and back surfaces on the needle at the same time, but it takes a few inches before you can really see what's happening. While you're knitting this, all you're doing is knitting a front surface stitch with the yarns in back, followed by purling a back surface stitch, yarns in front, alternating like that until you reach the end. It helps to place a safety pin or colored piece of yarn on the side you choose as the outer surface so you don't get confused as to what side you're on. Some people hold the yarns in the left hand, one around thumb, the other around a finger of choice and just dip the appropriate finger for each stitch as you go along.

If you make a potholder, that's a good way to learn this stitch. It's also a good size for a gauge sample and to see how you like the drape of the fabric. Remember to twist the yarns around each other at the beginning and end of each row to make smooth edges. You could experiment with not twisting the yarns at the row ends and see what happens. Not twisting would be useful if you wanted to cast on stitches along the sides to make a two sided edging, for example. Once you get the technique, you won't believe how easy it is, and you'll have a huge range of possibilities for using it.

If you have trouble learning double knitting from this book, many stitch dictionaries have this stitch and once you know it you can make up your own patterns. Also, because it's a little less flexible than single knitting, taking a gauge sample is crucial. For items where you want the fabric to flow such as a wrap, you may want to use larger needles to make the stitches bigger so the fabric won't be stiff.

It's easy but time consuming because you're knitting a double thickness instead of the usual single. Once you get good at it, you can have whatever surface you like, knit or purled or a combination, cables, color patterns, the front one color, the back a different color, whatever. The nice thing is that for pieces where you work in multiple colors and don't want the thread mess to show such as in a scarf or wrap, double knitting makes a double sided fabric that looks very finished- no thread mess in the back.

You have to think about why you'd want to double knit - is a double sided surface important for that particular piece? Is there another way to accomplish what you want - embroidering a pattern using duplicate stitch for example? Intarsia or fair isle? Sewing in a lining? Also, remember, double knitting takes double the yarn, so not only is it more time consuming, it's also more expensive. I think for many sweaters, it's a waste of yarn and time. You could sew a lining in for less expense and time. For scarves, wraps, certain blankets, edges where the inside will show, it's great and for things you want to be reversible. You can use it as well on just part of a sweater, a cardigan for example, where you want to have facings, a thicker fabric in other words, to maintain the garment shape as in front edges of a cardigan jacket and collar, just as you'd have facings in sewng. You can double knit just those areas and do the rest in single knit. This will make them finished at the edges so when they're open, all you see is a smooth finish. You can also make them in a contrasting color for fun or a different type of yarn.


I designed a double knit long mohair A-line vest for my mother-in-law with a darker shade of pink on the outside and a lighter one for the inside and put a one inch wide I- tube of quarter inch horizontal stripes of white,black, yellow, aqua and fuschia around the edges. I just carried the yarns on the inside of the tube and grafted it to the garment as I knit it. I made the sweater such that both outside and inside were in knit. I knit in the round up to the armholes and used kitchener stitch at the shoulders so it looked seamless. Took forever but looked awesome.

I also made a Fair Isle style cardigan and wanted a knit surface on the collar with both sides being in smooth knit with each side in solid but different colors. So I knit the body in the usual fair isle, single knit technique and picked up stitches to make a double knit collar. Then I cast off in a third color in picot stitch. I could turn the back of the collar up for a splash of color. Looked beautiful. You can really have fun playing with this.

If you really want to spring the cash for a whole double knit sweater, in sewing seams together, if you use kitchener stitch to join shoulders stitches and take care in joining side seams, you'll have a truly reversible piece, no seams evident. Make sure you join only the front surface stitches to front surface stitches and back ones to back ones for both shoulders (and side seams if you didn't knit in the round).

Hope this helps.

I selected this book because I'm really interested in creating double sided knitted garments.

The good: The commentary and suggestions in the book are well written and easy to understand.

The bad: The patterns are just not my style. The picture on the front cover shows a cool geometric shaped jacket. I expected more styles like that, but it's the only one. Many of the patterns have a cat,dog or mouse motif. I'm not sure why.

If you want to learn to double knit and you really like cats, this book is for you.

I love, love, love this book. The cast-on is amazingly easy and much more efficient, and the edge created is beautifully straight and firm. The patterns are absolutely wonderful. I started immediately on Camilla: A Fair Isle Vest with yarns from my stash (only need 5 colors although you can use as many as you like). I plan to make the Sonia Henie: A Norwegian Yoke Jacket next. I can't say enough about this wonderful book other than to say you simply must add it to your knitting library. It's the definitive guide to double knitting - excellent!

I got a chance to see this book last night and actually talk with the author.

This book is a delight for the senses! The pictures of the projects are incredible. The shapes of the garments are inspired. The patterns on the garments go from whimsical to take your breath away.

Even if you never knit a single thing from this book, which would be a travesty in itself, you have got to get a copy just to take a look at what M'Lou has created!

I promise you will not be disappointed!

I took a class for the double knitting. I wanted to try knitting another project and discovered this book. It has great designs and the instructions are clear. The writer reminds you that any project takes twice as much yarn as a single garment.

I grabbed this book because the patterns looked great. I am an advanced knitter and was dismayed that actual technique gets one page and four little photos. The instructions are absolute fail. You put both strands back and knit one, then draw one forward and perl that. The whole thing looks like tweed seed stitches. I spent about 6 hours on and off trying to get my knitted sample to look even remotely like the photos. I had to give up. I'm going to have to look around on youtube and ravelry for an explanation of what to do.