Double-Knit Tutorial, Part 3: The Actual Pattern

Okay! Hopefully at this point you've got your cast-on and first two plain rows down, so let's move on to the meat of things... double-knitting a decorative pattern!

(In this case, pawprints. It is the Pawprint Blankie, after all.)

Here's progress on the third (green side) row, knit up to the point where the pawprint pattern begins. This first part is the tips of the toes on a downward-facing pawprint.

Ready?

Okay, we're knitting one of the 'facing' stitches, which are all still green at this point.

Loop the cream around instead of the green... hey! We're making a cream stitch on the facing side!

Now, bring the working yarns to the front for your next purl, which is paired with the knit stitch before it...

...and will, therefore, be worked with the green, ensuring that the same pattern shows up on both sides of the reversible fabric.

Look, your first pair of stitches in pattern! Keep working for a bit, and you'll start recognizing the pairs as you read your work.

If you look closely, you can see that there are four 'pattern' stitch pairs on the row being worked now. These are the tips of the toes.

Let me know if you have any more questions about the double-knitting process, and good luck!

Double-Knit Cast-On Tutorial, part 2: The Edge

The edge I specified for the Pawprint Blankie is essentially a selvedge with the front and back yarns held together, but it was pointed out to me last night that I may not have been clear enough in my original instructions. (Thanks, Emily!)

So, here we go: the edge of the Pawprint Blankie!

Here is the end of the first completed row of the chart, which is all MC (in this case, green) on the facing (worked knit) side, and cream on the reverse (worked purl). The edge stitch - actually one loop of each color, which would therefore be a pair of pattern stitches if it were part of the chart - is sitting there on the left needle, all alone and waiting to be worked.

Stick the right needle through both of those loops and knit with both working strands...

...like so. One fat, bicolor stitch at the end of your row of otherwise neat, alternating single-strand stitches.

Now turn the work, and bring the right needle behind both working strands.

Slip the two-stranded edge stitch purlwise.

...and bring the strands of working yarn back behind the needles after you've slipped the first stitch of the new row. Congratulations! You've got your tweedy selvedge started.

This puts you on the side of the work with the cream facing, and green on the reverse. Double-knitting like this is essentially 1x1 ribbing with multiple strands playing together to form a fabric with stockinette on both sides, so you'll be knitting the cream with cream on this row, and purling the green with green.

Part 3 of the tutorial will demonstrate the art of working the pattern from the chart, so stay tuned!

Double-Knit Cast-On Tutorial

Beginning a Simple Double-Knit Project

First, start by casting on the requisite number of stitches (42 for the Pawprint Blankie, for example) with both colors of yarn held together.

Your completed cast-on row may look a little... jumbled, but that's okay.

Now, let's start knitting! Turn the work around, and slip the first stitch of BOTH colors purlwise, with yarn in front.

Bring both strands of working yarn back behind, between what you just slipped and the stitches about to be worked...

Now you're ready to begin working your first double-knit row! Keeping both strands behind the work, knit the MC loop from the cast-on stitch using your working MC strand.

(For this tutorial, MC is green, and CC is cream.)

Now bring BOTH working strands to the front, and purl the CC loop from that cast-on stitch. This is the first stitch on the reverse side of the work.

Keep working this way, knitting the MC and purling the CC, always keeping both working strands on the same side of the work, and soon the double-knit fabric will begin to form!

^ There's a good start. If you have any more questions about double-knitting, feel free to ask!

A beginning; the Pawprint Blankie chart.

The repeat is between the red lines. I did nine repeats on the original, but feel free to do as many as suits your tastes.

Pattern instructions:

Yarn: roughly 70-75g of worsted weight yarn in two contrasting colors.

Needles: size 7, or whichever size is comfortable and produces a solid fabric. I find double-knittng works up a bit more loosely for me than 'plain' knitting, hence going down a needle size.

Cast on 50 stitches with both yarns held together. I used long tail, but you can use any cast-on method you prefer.

Begin every row by slipping the first stitch of both colors together purlwise with yarn in front, and knit the last stitch of every row (again, both colors) with both yarns held together.

One row is a pass along one side of the blanket. Odd rows will feature MC as the background color, even rows will feature CC as the background.

The chart begins and ends with two plain rows on either end; don't leave those out, it keeps the edges from looking cramped!

Follow the chart from the bottom up, repeating the section marked off by red as many times as you wish. I did nine repeats, and it made a blanket that fit on one couch cushion just so.

Once your blanket is long enough, and you've knit the end of the chart (don't forget the two plain rows!) loosely bind off all stitches with both yarns held together. Weave in ends, block if you like (or not, cats don't really care) and enjoy!