As a quick aside, I'll note here that most colorwork is done on a stockinette ground. The reason for this is the part of the stitch that shows for knit stitches versus purl stitches. Knit stitches emerge from the front of the stitch below, so that only the loop which actually forms the stitch is visible on the right side of the fabric, and if another knit stitch emerges from the top, only the two legs of the stitch remain visible. Purl stitches, however, emerge from the back, which means that the top of the loop below and the strand of yarn between stitches are both visible. This leads to a dotted or dashed appearance at the transition; if you've never observed this in your own knitting, go look at the inside of a commercially knit sweater with horizontal stripes.
This mixing of the colors, which is inherent in the structure of the stitches, is unavoidable, and is the reason most colorwork is done in stockinette, so that the transitions between colors is crisp and clean. There are some exceptions to the all-stockinette rule, but you'll find that they're generally done in a way that takes this effect into account, and minimizes its appearance. As an example, when knitting a striped ribbed sweater, it's common to knit the entire first row of the new color. This disrupts the ribbing only in the purl valleys, as the knit ribs would have been knitted anyway, and is remarkably unobtrusive, as the knit stitches tend to recede into the purls, just as a single purl row on stockinette will pop forward.
Hello. I just found your blog via your backwards knitting tutorial in Knitty, and I just wanted to tell you that your work is a wonderful find! I have been on a kick of knitting bears for Mother Bear Project, and with all the small rows of ten stitches, kniting back backwards is really going to help. I'm sure I will be checking your blog again for more tips and info. Thanks so much...
Posted by: Sarah | July 22, 2006 at 12:11 PM
hi :: happy to have found your site via Knitty.com :: a quick question re: the info on "double knitting" :: do you think the scarf on the homepage of Sweaterscapes (a link on your site) is an example of double knitting ? :: they don't talk about it on that site :: I love the look :: look foreward to learning a lot from your informative site ::
Thanks :: Born Again Lapsed Knitter ::
Eileen
Posted by: eileen | July 28, 2006 at 12:32 AM
Eileen, that is a great question! And for those following along, the scarf she's referring to is pictured on this page.
It's often a little tricky to analyze knitwear from a picture, especially a small one like this, but I'm inclined to think it's not double-knitting, but simple intarsia in a garter stitch fabric. I think that I see horizontal ridges, which would indicate garter, and that would be difficult to do in double-knitting. While you would indeed see the dashed effect I talked about at the color changes on this, it would largely be hidden by the way garter ridges collapse together, except when the fabric was stretched, so it wouldn't be obtrusive. I also think I see a slightly ragged effect at the edges where the colors change between rows, and I would expect to see some of that in garter intarsia; again, it's going to be mostly hidden in the ridges, but I think you'd get a hint of it.
That's my take on it, but I think I'll check with the Sweaterscapes people and see if I can get more information; if I do, I'll be sure to add that here!
Posted by: explaiknit | August 02, 2006 at 11:51 AM
Lynne at Sweaterscapes confirmed my supposition: the striped scarf is intarsia on garter stitch. She also said that this pattern will be included in a book due out next year, so you can watch for that if you're interested!
Posted by: explaiknit | August 02, 2006 at 02:18 PM