Matt & I are heading to Sweden just over a month so I’m a little obsessed with all thing Swedish right now. Which means despite the fact I have my Amsterdam socks still on the needles & three (or is it four) quilts in the works I cast on for the Ulla Twined Socks in Northern Knits.
I love striped socks & was intrigued by trying the twined knitting technique. Here’s twined knitting it a nutshell, you use two strands of the same yarn in each row alternating which strand you use on every stitch. So, each stitch is knit with the strand that is furthest from the tip of the needle, twisting the yarn between every stitch. Now with these socks, not only am I using two strands of each color but I’m switching color every row so I’m working with 4 balls of yarn. If you have ever done any color knitting I don’t have to tell you how twisted my yarn is getting. I basically have to stop at the end of each needle & untwist. That is more time untwisting than knitting. Then let’s look at the finished effect…
Doesn’t look any different that regular knitting does it? Yes, it is slightly thicker but, I could get that by just using thicker yarn or knitting with two yarns at the same time. Plus, it is so hard to keep your gauge knitting this way. Maybe I need to practice it more but I find it looks really sloppy especially where you switch colors. To top it off, even though my gauge is smaller than the one the pattern calls for, the socks are still way to big for my ankles (can’t stand saggy socks!).
Ok, these are getting ripped & I think I’ll try to create my own version of them. Bet I can whip them up in no time.
Anyone else ever tried Twine Knitting? Did you feel it was worth it?
© 2005 – 2011 Kathy Lewinski & Susan Cornish
Oh my goodness. I had not heard of this.
You have a lot going on!
I tried twined knitting and I thought what a total waste of time. You can slip stitch a thermal stitch, or any other method that won’t take 40 hours to untwist it for such a very little result! Much not have been much to do in the old Swedish winters.