The Socks are a Little Longer

It does slow me down to handle two yarns at once. Now that I've been knitting them for a while, I wish I had cast on the inner sock differently from the outer one. If I had started it knit side out, instead of purl side out, I would not have to flip the inner yarn. Then I could purl the front sock and knit the back sock without ever moving the yarn between the needle points.

One of the things I have heard over and over about double knitting, since I started doing it, posting about it on various groups, and talking about it, is "But it's so tedious - you have to keep flipping the yarn between the needle points."

Well, A) That's not necessarily true, and B) people don't bring that up (passing the yarn between the points of the needles) when they talk about moss / seed / rice stitch, or about K1 P1 rib. If you are comfortable doing K1 P1 rib or moss stitch, you are flipping the yarn anyway.

There are actually four ways to knit a tube on two straight needles via double knitting. Two create a tube with the purl side out, and two create a tube with the knit side out. Let me copy my list from the Double Knitting Yahoo group (Files section):

#1. Yarn back, knit 1, yarn forward, slip 1 as if to purl.
(As I do this, I say to myself, "flip, knit, flip, slip".)
The tube made this way forms with the knit side out. If you look down at your needles, the yarn travels clockwise around the tube, and you are working on the front of the tube.

#2. Purl 1, slip 1 as if to purl. (Yarn stays forward.)
Tube forms purl side out. Yarn travels clockwise around the tube, working on the front of the tube. (This is the method I use the most.)

#3. Knit 1, slip 1 as if to purl. (Yarn stays back.)
Tube forms purl side (yes, purl side) out. Yarn travels counter-clockwise around the tube, working on the back of the tube.

#4. Yarn forward, purl 1, yarn back, slip 1 as if to purl.
Tube forms knit side out. Yarn travels counter-clockwise around the tube, working on the back of the tube.

Way #1 and way #4 both involve the flipping-between-the-points, and form knit side out. Ways #2 and #3 form purl side out, but you don't have to move the yarn.

Another thing I read about double knitting was "You must always have an even number of stitches." ? Why? If you want to knit a 9-stitch tube on two straight needles, on one side, start by knitting stitches 1-3-5-7-9 (slipping 2-4-6-8). On the other side, you slip the odd stitches (so you start by slipping) and knit the even ones, ending with an odd-numbered and slipped stitch.

In Other News

Freecycling stuff out of my house went slower than I had hoped. I posted a list of things to my local Freecycle group, and only had one picked up. People emailed me about the others, but then they couldn't schedule to pick them up. After two weeks, I reposted what was left, and again heard from people who couldn't manage to come and get them. Finally I posted them to a neighboring group, and the same day, had three items spoken for and picked up, and another gone the next day. Hooray! Now all I have left is this bag of books, which I'll try one more time to "gift" away on Freecycle, and then they are going to the thrift store.