Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Separation Anxiety: Adventures in Double Knitting

I've been working on the lower body of my re-vamped Petrova. The double-knitted pockets always seem to take forever, but at the same time they're so much fun it's easy to forget to be careful. One lapse of concentration and the two layers could end up fused instead of separate. Usually, every now and then during the knitting I pull the two pocket layers gently apart, to test that fusion has not occurred. Still, I hold my breath when it's time to separate the layers. First, I thread a length of waste yarn through the front layer of stitches. These are the ones destined to be finished off for the outer top of the pocket.

Next, I knit across the back layer, dropping the front layer of stitches off as I go. Then I gather both ends of the waste yarn holding the front layer and tie a knot.


When the rest of the garment is done, I'll come back and finish these pocket tops by simply returning them to a dpn and casting off loosely (I'll use a needle larger than the size I used for the body.)

Made a trip up to Westport on Sunday. Gorgeous early fall weather--sunny, low humidity, comfortable temps in the high teens, crickets chirping gently in the background.

 I restrained myself and didn't touch that ripe tomato in the foreground.