Double knitting

Double knitting is a form of knitting in which two fabrics are knit simultaneously with two yarns on one pair of needles. The fabrics may be inseparable, as in interlock knitted fabrics, or they can simply be two unconnected fabrics. In principle, an arbitrary number n of fabrics can be knitted simultaneously on one pair of knitting needles with n yarns, as long as one is careful.

History

The most famous example of double knitting is the pair of socks knitted simultaneously on one set of knitting needles by Anna Makarovna, the nanny in Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace

When the pair was finished, she made a solemn ceremony of pulling one stocking out of the other in the presence of the children.

Double knitting became popular within 1970s fashion; in the 1989 Grammy Award-winning song "Parents Just Don't Understand," Will Smith comically excoriates his mother for forcing him to wear outdated, 1970s-era "double-knit reversible slacks."

Methods

There are several methods for double knitting, including flat knitting on doubled-pointed knitting needles; after one row has been knit with one yarn, the crafter slides the stitches to the other end of the needle and begins the next row with the next yarn. Only half the stitches are knit with any one yarn; the rest are slipped. After both rows are done, you then turn the work and begin another pair of rows.

Another common method is to alternate a knit stitch of yarn A with a purl stitch of yarn B. Since the yarn is held to the back for a knit, and to the front for a purl, this results in two sheets of stockinette stitches, with the wrong (purl) sides facing each other. Switching colors ties the two sides together for a single double-thick fabric. This method is often used for elaborate two-color designs, as there are few constraints on how the colors may be used. The finished item from this method is reversible, each side holding the negative image of the other.

References

• June Hemmons Hiatt (1988) The Principles of Knitting, Simon and Schuster, pp. 233-247. ISBN 0-671-55233-3
• Kory Stamper 2006 "Extreme Knitting: 2 socks in 1", Knitty.com, [1]