kitty: Children at Play Sock

Name: Children at Play Sock Fibers: Dragonfly Fibers Dragon Sock (Dragon Berry & Sailor Take Warning) Neighborhood Fiber Co. Cashmere (December Sock Club) Needles: US1

MG always reminds me that I never post about projects that are really failures. So here goes a failure that you would probably never have heard about if it wasn't for her request. Well, I really love this sock but bottom line it has a major flaw. I found out the hard way that when ever I try to do colourwork I have a tendency to do Tvåändsstickning / Twined Knitting / Two End Knitting. The end result is that there is no way in the world that this sock is going to go on a real foot. I barely got it on the blocker after soaking in water for an hour. So sadly this will go to the single pile of socks that will never get finished. There is also no real way to rip yarn that has been Twined Knitted. So I have shared the charts that I came up with for the design below. I am sure you will see paper dolls and silhouettes again in my designs. When I was studying fashion design faces were one of my favorite motifs. The works of Elsa Schiaparelli, Paul Poiret, and Erete always served at motivations. I always loved the depiction of a human face or parts of the body either as caricature or faithful depiction. The jacket to the left is one of the most famous suits of Elsa Sciaparelli. Schiaparelli in a rare co creation with Jean Cocteau from 1937. The jacket is a natural linen and depicts a drawing done by Cocteau. The figure is of a reclining woman with gold beaded hair. And of course Skeleton Motifs - Elsa Sciaparelli dress from 1935, far outdating the scandalous Mc Queen Skeleton designs of resent years.

Close up of the Children at Play Sock...

Two girls for every boy are around the top of the sock.

The boy and girl paper dolls is a a modified version of a chart in the 1950 edition of Odham’s Encyclopedia of Knitting.

My lovely twinned stitches on the back. I really do think they are beautiful and the nice thing is you will not snag your toe on the loops.

A dancing girl.

I know I have seen this girl somewhere in some book from some time period, but I just charted it from some random inspiration for the sock.

And of course children at play need a fun elephant on the heal flap, just for fun.

kitty: testing Tvåändsstickning / Twined Knitting and Brioche Stripes

Tvåändsstickning / Twined Knitting and Brioche Stripes - larger size photo

Some actual knitting content... Since I have been spinning so much lately I have really been trying to evaluate what kind of hands puns I really like to knit with. Here is a swatch that I was testing burl spun yarns and Tvåändsstickning / Twined Knitting and Brioche Stripes. The very cool thing is the other side appears to be just vertical stripes.

kitty:Tvåändsstickning / Twined Knitting / Two End Knitting Mittens

What a good day for a new pair of mittens!

kitty: Tvåändsstickning / Twined Knitting / Two End Knitting Three Thread Cast-on

In Anne-Maj Ling's book she talks about the fact that there are three typical Tvåändsstickning / Twined Knitting / Two End knitting cast-on's. One of them is pictured here on the Tvåändsstickning Swedish Two End Knitting site. Here is another one that creates the cute little contrasting line that you see on a lot of the traditional mittens. The thing that makes me really intrigued by this cast on is that everyone talks about the fact that it will not roll. That the three threads creates a sturdy cast on that won't suffer the unsightly roll if you don't have ribbing or garter stitch as your stabilizing edge. The third cast on I have yet to see any visual references on how to do it and I haven't figured it out yet.

The first step is to create a center pull ball of yarn that is wound so that you can use the center thread and the outer thread at the same time. You will also need to pick a third thread either in the same colour or to add a colour accent at the cast on.

Create a simple slip knot with the two ends of you main colour and a contrasting third colour thread. The slip stitch will be taken off after you finish casting on. (It is not your first stitch.)

The Third colour will be carried on the left side of the needle and used in a continental cast on, while the main threads will be carried on the right hand side of the needle and twined during the cast on.

With the gray thread, cast on one continental stitch onto the needle. (Or make a backward loop cast on stitch and hold it loose)

Hold that stitch rather loosely on the needle and

hold it steady so it doesn't slip off with the left hand. Then with the right hand, take the thread on the right over the thread on the left.

Then wrap that yarn around the needle and pull the gray thread over the stitch and

tighten the slack of the two threads to form the stitch.

Cast on another continental stitch with the left hand and

while holding that stitch stable take the thread on the right over the thread on the left. These two threads have switched places from the previous stitch.

Make sure that you always take the thread over the bottom thread when you are going knit wise and under when you are going purl wise.

Make a loop over the needle

and pull the continental cast on stitch over the white thread,

Once it is over the main white thread tighten both threads to obtain a nice tight and easy cast on.

This is the front side of the cast on. You can easily see if you make a mistake because the gray line doesn't look like you have woven it between the white threads.

The back side of the cast on looks kind of like you have created a little braid.

kitty: first mitten done

Happy Valentine Day!!!! And I am in love....

First Mitten Done I may have just fallen head over heals in love with Tvåändsstickning / Twined Knitting / Two End Knitting now after the class. Something about locking your threads just seems magical to me. Though after doing lots of research in the last couple of days I found out that I am actually doing the Japanese form for Twined Knitting and not the Sweedish because of how I wrap my yarns.

Groups Twined Knitting - Yahoo Group Colour Photos from Anne-Maj Ling Anne -Majs Stickning (amazing photos) Magazines Piecework Jan/Feb TVÅÄNDSSTICKNING: Sweden’s Two-End Knitting The traditional knitting technique of tvåändsstickning has been producing dense, warm, sturdy, and beautiful fabric since at least the middle of the seventeenth century. Nancy Bush Books Two-end Knitting (Paperback) by Anne-maj Ling Twined Knitting (Hardcover) by Birgitta Dandanell TVÅÄNDSSTICKA by Anne-Maj Ling TVÅÄNDSSTICKAT by Birgitta Dandanell, K Gustafsson. TVÅÄNDSSTICKAT Vackert Slitstarkt Varmt by Birgitta Dandanell, Ulla Danielsson. TVÅÄNDSSTICKNING Grunderna by Berit Westman TVÅÄNDSSTICKNING by Kerstin Jönsson. Z twist - Yarns Mora Yarn - Wooly West Techniques Twined Knitting Part 1 by Knitting in Color Twined Knitting Part II by Knitting in Color Twined Knitting History Part I by Knitting Kninja Twined Knitting History Part II by Knitting Kninja Twined Knitting by Theresa Vinson Stenersen Tvåändsstickning How to knit from the inner thread and outer thread without going mad Kits: Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill The Twined Mittens Pattern by Beth Brown-Reinsel The Twined Socks: Zig-Zag and O's Pattern by Beth Brown-Reinsel Other People's Blog Post Knitting With Cats - Twined knitting Little Dragon's Knitting Den - Twined knitting Needle Exchange - Tvåändsstickning Sepia Salax - Tvåändsstickning = Love Loom Knitting - Tvåändsstickning Goldfinches and Fiber - Tvåändsstickning Rapport från kurs i tvåändsstickning 2006 Tvåändsstickning Stick a Brin - Randiga vantar Smatt och gott - Tvåändsstickning igen

I think my favorite part has to be the purl side of the knitting.

kitty: don't pinch me...

... Please don't pinch me, I don't want to wake up. I really want these dreams to continue. This past week was a dream come true in so many ways. I feel like a different world of techniques and skills has just been opened to me. If I had my way I would be catching a flight to Fallen, Sweden to study Tvåändsstickning/Twined Knitting in a heart beat or maybe Haapsalu, Estonia to study Estonian Lace or Orenburg to study traditional Lace patterns. I too want to drive a car across the Baltic Ocean in my quest of knitted wonders of the world. A girl can dream can't she, but at least I had the next best thing.

(Orenburg Lace Border with the first short row corner)

Last weekend I had the great fortune to take a class with Galina Alexandrovna Khmeleva on the basics of Orenburg lace Tradition. The class consisted of 12 glorious hours of knitting Orenburg lace. Basic techniques, history, and stories of yarns of the women of Orenburg. Then the I wonders continued on Wednesday and Thursday when I got to take 3 classes with Nancy Bush; Estonian Lace, Heels to Toe, and then thursday Tvåändsstickning/Twined Knitting/Two End Knitting. I can officially say that I am obsessed with Tvåändsstickning. If you are wondering what the next book Nancy Bush is working on.... Estonian Lace due out hopefully this fall.

(Click for larger image)

A few fun links: Anne-maj Ling's work Twined Knitting By Theresa Vinson Stenersen Tvåändsstickning Twined Knitting - History Pt. 1- Knitting Kninja Twined Knitting - History Pt. 2 - Knitting Kninja Two Books in English - Twined Knitting by Brigatta Dandanell & Two-end Knitting by Anne-maj Ling

Check the lovely little braided Tvåändsstickning cast on. It is done with three threads and forms a little line against the twined edge.

My very first colourwork in all its glory. As you can tell the second pattern rows look a lot better.

I folded the glove inside out so you can see how beautiful the inside of the glove is as well. In Sweden they have found gloves inside out in tombs.