Foray into Double Knitting

I've wanted to learn how to double knit for about a year now. I first discovered this technique when I went to a Japanese book store to buy a stitch book (what can I say, I love all things related to knitting and all of the patterns are charted - universal language!). I picked up a book that showed 6 different ways to knit a heel and had a double knitted scarf pattern. Oh, how I wanted to know how to read Japanese then!

I read about the technique...somewhere...and it seemed really difficult. I mean, really, knitting two sides at once?! Are you nuts? And forget about knitting 2 socks at once, one inside the other. As far as I was concerned, that's extreme knitting, no doubt about it.

After a very long hiatus from my knitting group (summer, kids, dogs, etc.), I finally was able to get away. One of my friends there started a double knitting project and I overheard her chatting about it with another knitter in our group. I couldn't help myself...I asked her about it, and God bless her, she offered her project to me and told me to try it. Wow, easy as pie. Cool, I thought, I could make a purse like this, and not have to seam it! One hitch though, it was only one color, slip one, purl one. What if I wanted to use more than one color? She said that I would knit it the same way, only with two colors...Hmmm, that's too easy an explanation....

So I went home that night and with my obsessed little fingers, I went onto Ravelry and typed in double knitting. I found the hat that was mentioned by one of my friends in the group, the 35 mm hat. Interesting, but not interesting enough. None of the hats really held my interest. I limited the patterns to scarves and bingo. There it was, Honka, by Eeva Saviranta. I loved the way the organic pattern undulated in the variegated yarn in one side and in a solid color in the other. It looked like an exciting, albeit challenging, project to knit.

I looked up Double knitting on YouTube and found a really good tutorial by LiatMGat. She posted 3 parts, starting from casting on to reading a chart, using 2 colors:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WogzsFulE4Q

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA8iQkhXV0I

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SJ8qd713_g

So, I decided to make the scarf using a rainbow colorway from Plymouth Encore Colorspun, contrasted with white (same yarn). Luckily, I bought 5 skeins of the rainbow colorway to make a sweater for my daughter. I changed my mind to use it for this purpose, and instead am making a sweater for my 4 year old niece. The other 2 skeins, I will use to make the scarf for her mother.

I casted on yesterday and it took getting used to. I am used to knitting from charts, as I enjoy knitting lace. However, using a chart in double knitting is more difficult, as I had to remind myself that I had to read it left on all odd rows and right on even rows. The pattern in Honka makes it that much more difficult, as each row is different from the previous. Several times, I forgot to read in the correct direction and had to frog back. However, several rows in, it's taking shape and I am really enjoying the process. I am looking forward to knitting again...Now, if I can just finish the darn scarf that is supposed to match the Jacques Cousteau hat that I knit for Trent. Aargh.