Spin-Off – September 2019

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PROJECT

Twined Knitting Basics

Twined knitting is done with needles one size or one-half

size smaller than for the same yarn in regular knitting.

It is also knitted more firmly, so I tug gently on the just-

knitted yarn after every stitch. Because it’s easy to knit

increasingly looser as the fabric grows, I knit mitts or

socks two at a time when trying to create a matching pair.

The technique is quite slow compared to regular knitting,

but a twined-knitted garment will last a lot longer.

For this reason, twined knitting may actually be more

efficient in the long run. Twined purling is even slower

than twined knitting and harder on the wrists. Therefore,

twined knitting is almost always done in the round.

Stockinette in Twined Knitting

I hold both yarn ends in my right hand. For even

tension, I loop the yarns around the base of my right

pinkie. To twine knit, I insert the needle in the stitch

knitwise, pull the yarn end closest to me, and throw it

over the needle as I would for a typical knitted stitch. I

pull the yarn through the stitch and drop the old stitch,

and I have knitted my first stitch. I tug the just-knitted

yarn end slightly so the fabric doesn’t grow looser and

looser. After the first stitch has been knitted, the other

yarn end is closest to me for the next stitch.

Crook Stitches and Crook Rounds

Crook stitches can make surface patterns on a twined-

knitted project and are unique to the technique. Crook

rounds will create a fabric that is slightly narrower than

stockinette and is therefore a good choice for the wrist

of a mitten.

I place one yarn end on the front of the work and

one on the back, with both yarn ends still looped

around my right pinkie. For one round, I purl with the

front yarn and knit with the back yarn. This creates the

same pattern on both sides of the work, only mirrored.

For the next crook round, I knit the purl stitches

and purl the knit stitches. In a row with both twined

stockinette and crook stitches, I need to move the yarn

ends: both to the back for stockinette and one end on

each side for the crook stitches.

Crook rounds and crook stitches are typically

marked O–O (k1, p1, k1) in a pattern. The “–” is a knit

stitch and the “O” is a purl stitch with the purl yarn in

front of the work and the knit yarn in the back. The

next row should then be knit –O– (p1, k1, p1) to make

the lovely squiggly surface pattern typical of twined-

knitted textiles.

Watch Your Tension

Knit both mitts at the same time. Really. If you knit

one at a time, you will run a great risk of ending up

with mitts of different sizes. That’s what I did for my

first pair of twined-knitted mitts (sadly lost on the

Stockholm Metro), and I struggled to knit a second

mitt the same size. You can felt the larger one to match

the smaller one if disaster happens, but it is a lot easier

to just knit the mitts simultaneously.

Center-Pull Balls

Make one center-pull ball of yarn for each mitt. I

prefer to wind mine on my thumb, but you can just

as easily use a nøstepinne or a ball winder. When you

twine knit, you will use both ends of one ball of yarn

for each mitt. Since you twine the yarn ends, the yarn

closer to the project will get untwisted and the yarn

For crook stitches in twined knitting, the yarns are held on

each side of the project: the purl yarn on the front and the

knit yarn on the back.

For twined knitting, the yarns are held in the right hand.

The yarn closest to the knitter is lifted and thrown over the

working needle. The next stitch will be knitted with the

other yarn end (which is now closest to the knitter).