Casting On and Twining

Wind the ball

Wind a center-pull ball with a nøstepinne or ball winder so both ends are free, one from the inside and one from the outside ¹. For two colors, wind one, then wind the second onto the outside of the same ball ².

Because the strands always twist the same way, they build up into a cord between your hands and the ball. Throw one or two half hitches with the strands around the ball so it can hang by its own weight and spin the cord out ^{1 2}.

The swatch

Twined fabric hardly stretches ³, so the mitten has to be knitted to size, and that needs your gauge. Knit a swatch in the round on your 2.5 mm needles ⁴, about 40 stitches around and 5 cm tall, wash it, let it dry, and count stitches across 10 cm. Lesson 3 turns that number into a mitten.

The cast-on

Twined knitting is cast on with the two strands and one more; there are three common ways ¹. The class teaches a decorative two-colored one ⁵. Spin Off’s version ²:

1. Make a slipknot of the contrast color about 4 inches from its end and put it on the needle. It doesn’t count as a stitch.
2. Make a slipknot of the main color about 2 yards from its end and put it on the needle. That’s stitch 1.
3. Take the main-color tail over your left thumb as for a long-tail cast-on, and hold the other two strands in your right hand.
4. Knit through the thumb loop with the contrast strand, passed under the main strand.
5. Pick up a new thumb loop and knit through it with the main strand, passed under the contrast.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5, alternating colors.

It looks like a long-tail cast-on in alternating colors ². Divide the stitches over four needles and join in the round. Leave the tails; on mittens they’re often braided into a decorative tie ¹.

Knit and purl

Hold both strands in the right hand, separated by the index and middle fingers, and throw each stitch, English style ¹:

• Knit: both strands at the back. Put the needle into the next stitch knitwise and knit with the back strand, bringing it over the front strand with your index finger ¹.
• Purl: both strands in front. Put the needle in purlwise and purl with the back strand, bringing it under the front strand ¹.

Every stitch uses the strand you didn’t use for the last one, and the strands twist once between stitches, always the same way ^{6 1}. With Z-plied yarn the strands untwist a little near your hand and overtwist toward the ball; stop and let the ball spin whenever it gets hard to pick up a strand ³. If you’re using S-plied yarn, reverse the direction of the twist ².

It’s slower than ordinary knitting, because the yarn is laid around the needle rather than flicked off a finger ⁷. Expect the first evening to feel clumsy.

The crook stitch

Relief patterns come from working with one strand in front and one behind: purl with the front strand, knit with the back strand ⁶. A crook stitch is three stitches: purl one, knit one with the purl strand left floating in front, purl one. The floating strand makes a slanting bar across the knit stitch ¹. A whole round of crook stitches is a crook round, krokvarv ⁶.

A deep stitch is related: knit one stitch with the back strand while the front strand runs across in front ¹.

Chain path

Two crook rounds one above the other, the second shifted by one stitch, make a chain path, kedjegång: a row of linked slanting bars ^{6 1}. Charts mark purls with a dot and the floating strand with a slanting line.

For the cuff: after the cast-on, work a round of twined purl to keep the edge from rolling ², a few rounds of plain twined knitting, a chain path, a few more plain rounds, and a second chain path. In two colors the same stitches make bright patterned bands, like the Floda mittens in lesson 1.

Try it

On the swatch, after a few plain rounds, work one crook round and look at the right side. Then work a second, shifted by a stitch, and watch the bars link into a chain. If the bars slant the wrong way or don’t link, check that the floating strand is the one you just purled with.