Playing with double knitting

 
I love color (who doesn't?), and I love things with lots of colors and things going on.  I like to get lost in patterns and color.  Noodling around on Ravelry, I saw a bunch of interesting patterns that were double knit.  If you don't know what that is, it's basically making a double-faced item, with colors reversed on front & back.  Here's a Rainbow Scarf on Ravelry by Eline Sanders that is just gorgeous, knit using Kauni Effektgarn.  I wasn't ready to jump in on the whole scarf, so I took some Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride and Plymouth Boku that I had left over from a hat I knit, and decided to make a hot pad to learn the technique. 

 It's tough to photograph black, the reverse side shows up better!

I'm knitting it on big needles (10.5), and I'll throw it in the washer to full it once I'm finished.  If you look closely at the needle, you'll notice that every other stitch is black (except where the color changes).  Basically what you do is a knit 1, purl1 sequence, with the colors alternating.  All the knits show up on the "front" side, and all the purls show up on the other side - looking like stockinette on both sides.  This is the coolest thing!  It's VERY fun.  You slip the 1st two stitches on every row, then knit 1, move BOTH strands to the front, purl 1, move BOTH strands to the back, knit 1 and keep going.  Eline's instructions for the scarf explain it very nicely.  It's addictive.  Doesn't hurt that I adore the Boku with its sexy color changes.  Yum.  Just look at that color blending, mmm mmmm mmmm.  :)   Good eye candy.

Plus, depending on how you twist the 2 strands during the more solid portions, you actually get 2 layers of cloth.  Sort of a mind bender.  I haven't done it, but maybe this is like those magic mittens that people knit, one inside the other, knit at the same time - finish knitting and pull out the inside mitten!  A great magic trick.  Double knitting is great for scarves and hats - double warmth, and I can see making a reversible vest and oh, all sorts of things!  Imagine doing a hat or mittens with the inside layer as cashmere or angora for super soft, super warm. What decadence!