Progress? Most definitely. "When under pressure teach yourself a completely new technique" is not a motto that most people would agree with. Good for you though, I love double knit fabric, just haven't tried it myself yet.

Oh, progress for sure. After all, you have actually started 6 hats (if you consider that it is truly DOUBLE knitting) and ripped out 4--so on the Alison perfection scale of ripping out each project, you are way ahead! Don't you just love my new math?

Oh yes - I think that's progress all right. Plus it's really, really cool - I actually went "ooh!" when I saw it separate like that. Nicely done.

I think that massive progress has been made!! Were you actually knitting it in the round? I can't wait to see the finished item!!!

Oh yes, Kimberly, I forgot to mention that. I did get it going in the round. It's way neat. Knitting it is really fun. It's got the back and forth motion of moss stitch, which I really enjoy. It just takes forever. Especially when you keep ripping it out and starting over. Arrgh!

Have you been knitting continental style lately? How is your tension? I also knit continental, but find that whenever I combine knit and purl the result is uneven looking stitches. You were talking about this a few days ago. Any conclusions?

that is very cool, Alison!

Wow, very cool fabric! I love the colors too. Hmmm, something new to try perhaps? I think I'll attempt to finish my own sadly lagging gift list however!

Is that what you were attempting to do?!? Here I thought you were just having issues with casting on and I was thinking "hmmmmmmm, hasn't Alison cast on about 10,000 times in the past year?" *teehee* Now it all begins to make sense. Glad you're not losing it after all. Double knitting looks so cool! Yeah for you! :)

If you know how to purl continentally, you can do one round all at once, if you purl the inside color with the outside color held in front. I had a hell of a time learning to purl continentally, till I learned Norwegian purling: http://www.knittinggeek.com/howto/norwegianpurl.htm

Good luck!

Hi Alison... Where did you get the info on how to double knit? I want to make the Diva a poncho in dk, but not sure how I am going to execute this.

What are the "rules" of this gift list k-along? Thinking about being on it, but a already have two down.... Is that fair?

It will be a great hat !

I'd love to join the Phil'Fall knit-along, since I am knitting a jacket from this magazine... I know it's late, I just realized it...

Ha ha, Kerstin! With all the mistakes I make at Knitsmiths it wouldn't be too surprising if I spent the whole three hours messing up a regular cast on row. But this time I was actually trying something new.

Rose, the instructions I have are from the Harmony Guide to Knitting (the first book). It's just a half column about double knit, but it's very clear.

Tasha, thanks for the tip. Most of the instructions for double knit seem to imply that you'd be knitting both sides at once. The way you explain it, it makes sense to me now. But I think it's actually faster for me to follow the Harmony Guide's instructions and slip the stitches in the other color each time. My hands seem to like that rhythm too.

Rose, I've added you to the knit-along. It's good that you've got a headstart. Brava! How many more presents left to go? Clemence, I've added you too. Are you almost done with zipper on that cardigan?

Okay, so every time I've tried doing corrugated ribbing (ribbing with two different colors, each a different ball of yarn), I wind up with double knitted fabric, just like what you're doing with this hat. It's cool and now I've made some stuff with it, but how is this different from what I've been TRYING to do....corrugated ribbing??

Thanks so much if you can answer this....I have been trying for months to figure this out (pathetic, I know....no, haven't taken it to the LYS, just haven't gotten there recently)

Karen

Progress, knitting lessons learned, spending time knitting with friends. All in all, a win-win situation I'd say!
You did it in the round? I thought it was being knit flat. Shows how much *I* paid attention.
And just so you know you are not alone, I had to rip out all the wonderful progress on the mitten that I made at knitsmiths. A funky looking stitch was spied when I got home WAY down. crud.
Try again!
I am now tempted by double knitting.!

Hey Karen, interesting how your corrugated ribbing is turning out as double knit. I guess the difference is that with corrugated ribbing you're producing only one thickness. Instead of knitting both sides, you'd be carrying the color not in use across the back. So knit 2 in color A (for example), then drop color A, pick up color B and purl 2, then pick up color A again and knit 2 (now a strand of A is hanging across the back of those B purls). I haven't done corrugated ribbing before, but that's how I've always pictured it. Sounds like you're just doing more work than is needed. Very ambitious of you! :)

It's a fun technique, isn't it? It will be a very warm hat!

Now that is a nifty knitting technique. Looks terrific!

Progress? Heck, yeah! With every redo you understand the technique a bit more, right? This is allowing you to better understand the nature of double knitting so you'll know how to apply it in different ways for future projects. Redo's rule :-)

i love it and the calmer lace hat. i wish i was on your x-mas list.

i have a friend who does reversible hats by knitting a hat in the round and then when it's finished, she picks up stitches at the bottom and knits a whole other hat in the round and pushes one inside the other - so it's warm and reversible.

Hello Roseanne, I missed your question in there! I've been knitting english style recently because it's still quite a bit faster for me and I'm hoping to crank out these Christmas gifts as quickly as possible. I did find that twisting the first purl stitch helped when knitting continental and switching from knits to purls, but knitting the ribbing with my right hand was much better. So I think for now I'll still be choosing specific projects to knit continental style (ones that don't have too much patterning and where the yarn is a little forgiving of uneven tension) and will do all my ribbing with my right hand. It's good to be able to use both hands, so you can switch back and forth to get the best result!