This post has links to techniques and tutorials I use for knitting and crochet. 

Links to Techniques and Tutorials
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For Beginning Knitters and Crocheters:

http://rovingcrafters.com/2016/01/10/crochet-lessons-for-knitters/

http://rovingcrafters.com/2016/01/04/knitting-lessons-for-crocheters/

Casting On and Binding Off in Knitting:

Alternating Long-Tail Cast-on
http://knittingnuances.com/resources/Tutorials/Alternating_Long_Tail_CO.pdf

Double-Chain Cast-on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qe5Spoes-s

Ann Kingstone, “Double-Chain Bind-off”
https://annkingstone.com/obsessive-cast-off/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns30iCTkNFg

Sarah E. White’s Three-Strand Two-Color Cast-On
https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/two-color-cast-on-2115691

This cast-on can be used for double-knitting. See also the Double-knitting heading, below.

Impeccable Knits I-cord Cast-on
https://impeccableknits.wordpress.com/tutorials-tips-tricks/i-cord-cast-on/

I-cord on All Four Sides
http://confidentknitter.com/2s2p/i-cord-puzzler/

Elizabeth Zimmerman’s (EZ’s) Sewn Bind-off
http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/FEATsum06TT.html
(scroll to the bottom of the article)

“Ribbed Sewn Bind Off: 1 x 1 |Purl Soho”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY0xEX7A6RQ

Design Inspiration:

https://web.archive.org/web/20170204155304/http://www.aemma.org/onlineResources/bayeux/bayeuxIntro.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20170106190833/http://www.aemma.org/onlineResources/bayeux/bayeuxIndex1.html

“How to Knit a Mitered Corner WITHOUT Wrap and Turns - part 1”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcgDBGAiP2o

http://alessandrina.com/category/circles_squares/

Charts:

Ariel Barton, “Charts Are Your Friends”
http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter04/FEATcharts.html

http://rovingcrafters.com/2016/09/14/knitting-with-charts-part-1/
http://rovingcrafters.com/2016/09/15/knitting-with-charts-part-2/

Color-work and Stranded Knitting

Suzanne Bryan, “Stranded Knitting – Methods of Holding Yarns”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSzvGSlMU94

Ashley Little, “Colorwork Help: How to Hold Your Yarn for Stranded Knitting”
https://www.mybluprint.com/article/holding-yarn-for-stranded-knitting

Brooklyn Tweed, “Stranded Colorwork 101”
https://brooklyntweed.com/pages/stranded-colorwork-101

Double-Knitting

Introduction to Double Knit Colorwork by Ellen Thomas from The Chilly Dog  https://www.thechillydog.com/2021/04/double-knitting-english-and-continental.html  

Ellen Thomas demonstrates two ways to hold your yarn for double knitting.

Two-Color Chained Cast On by Ellen Thomas from the Chilly Dog  https://www.thechillydog.com/2021/04/two-color-chained-cast-on.html

Ellen Thomas shares an easy and beautiful two-color cast-on that can be used for double-knitting.

Two-Color Gathered Bind Off by Ellen Thomas from the Chilly Dog  https://www.thechillydog.com/2021/05/two-color-gathered-bind-off.html

Ellen Thomas gives instructions for a bind-off, similar to a regular in-pattern bind-off but better.

Combination Knitting and Four Reasons to Try It by Ellen Thomas from The Chilly Dog
https://www.thechillydog.com/2018/12/combination-knitting-and-4-reasons-to.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WP2MlICOWU

This article and accompanying video explains combination knitting and some of the many ways it can be useful. I like combination knitting for my double-knitting projects to make it easier to hold colors in both hands. 

A Sockmatician Tutorial: Two-Colour, Alternating Long-Tail Cast On for Double Knitting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO-maaxl8Rc

A Sockmatician Tutorial - Slip-Stitch Edges for Double-Knitting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLZQEXQl4Yw&list=PLdPP9lsNMc-Q1e14kuw5GXEEsFTnlTHoc&index=4&t=0s

Double-Knitting Techniques
http://www.zpag.net/Artisanat/patterns/english/doubleknitting_techniques.htm

Mosaic Knitting - Keep on Trying! (Designing Your Own Projects)

Mosaic knitting is such a fun technique. Working with only one color at time makes it easy to do color-work knitting. Designing your own mosaic-knitting projects can be easy and fun, too.

This brief tutorial explains how I designed my "Moose and Squirrel - My Moose Hero" mosaic-knitted towel pattern by using templates for copying and pasting dark-colored and light-colored areas in Microsoft "Excel."

You could use similar steps in other spreadsheet programs like Apple "Numbers" or Google "Sheets" to do the same things.

(Google "Sheets" is a free program on line - you can read about it at https://www.google.com/sheets/about/)

If you're already familiar with mosaic knitting, you know how each color is used, one at a time, for two rows. (If you're new to mosaic knitting, I recommend J.G. Miller's tutorial, "Mosaic Charts Explained," free to download on Ravelry.)

I will be talking about mosaic garter-stitch in this tutorial; in a future tutorial, I'll talk about mosaic stockinette-stitch.


Here are two charts for mosaic garter-stitch, made with 1s and 0s and "conditional formatting":

In this chart, the background is light and the foreground dots are dark. Each light-colored row in the chart is knitted across in the light-colored yarn for two rows.

The "dotted" rows are worked with knit stitches for the dark dots and slipped stitches for the light background in between the dots.

In this chart, the background is dark and the foreground dots are light. Each dark-colored row in the chart is knitted across in the dark-colored yarn for two rows.

The "dotted" rows are worked with knit stitches for the light dots and slipped stitches for the dark background in between the dots.








By copying and pasting from one chart to the other, you can "paint" a design. Here's an example.

Copying the elements from one chart and repeatedly pasting into the other chart let's you create shapes, as long as you paste elements in line with their matching rows and columns. 

Note: these Excel mosaic coaster templates will be free on line through my Ravelry store soon.

For "Moose Hero," I "sketched" in large blocks of dark color for my Moose's body, face, and antlers. Then I added his top hat, his magic bunny, and details for his eyes and his tuxedo coat.

I took my time and worked with my Moose until his arms, legs, and feet were in a proportion I liked before I knitted a sample to test my design.

"Moose Hero" has meaning for me because, no matter how many times he tried and failed in the past, he tried again and "Pulled a rabbit out of his hat!"



His "Squirrel Buddy" has been a design challenge for me, but I'll "Keep on trying!"



If you would like to knit your own "Moose Hero," the pattern is available for immediate download in my Ravelry store:

          https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/moose-and-squirrel---moose-hero

The pattern includes written instructions, helpful tutorial links, full and expanded charts and complete row-by-row stitch counts.

You may use the pattern to knit for yourself, for charity, or for sale (please credit Janet Bailey Designs for the pattern).

You may not sell the pattern or give it away. Thank you for supporting my designs!

I hope you will enjoy knitting and using your own "Moose Hero" towel!

Double-Knitting Adventures - Iguana Iguana

Iguana Iguana started with a cute textured-knitting pattern, Spülirätsel Leguan, by Mamafri on Ravelry.

It seems there used to be a group called "Creawelten" (I think this translates as "creative worlds") where members shared knitting patterns. Mamafri seems to have been a leader of this group and she shared "mystery patterns" which gave instructions day-by-day for knitting project that would reveal themselves little by little. Members could guess what the knitted image would be, having fun with guesses that were more, or less, close to the mark.




Sadly, the group seems no longer to be active. Still I think it honors designers to keep their ideas alive by making new projects.

Mamafri's Spülirätsel Leguan is represented by three textured-knitting projects in Ravelry and I love them all. 

Some of Mamafri's other designs are in double-knitting, so I decided to chart double-knitted version of a Leguan (Iguana). 








It was a fun design to knit and I learned a lot from working with the iguana image about positive and negative space in two-color double-knitting.

I hope one day some Creawelten group members decide to curate Mamafri's design collection so knitters continue to make her patterns!

Double-Knitting Adventures - 2020 and Non-reversible Double-Knitting

I love double-knitting, but double-knitting words or numbers that can be read from both sides was a challenge that seemed far in my future until I read a discussion about reading charts in the Ravelry Double-Knitting Group.

I had just finished this "Skog" hot pad project using two charts, one for the back and one for the front. The two layers are knitted at the same time so that when a stitch is red on this side, the reverse-side stitch is gold, and the layers interlock where the colors change.

The discussion was about why reading charts can be difficult.

I have to make my own charts because most patterns only provide a single chart, with the knitting read from right to left for the front, and from left to right for the back. 

I was constantly getting confused, trying to sort out left-right, back-front, dark-light. Having two charts let me focus on holding my yarns and getting even tension instead of on reading and interpreting a single chart.

With two charts, I know, if I knit a dark stitch for the front, I next purl a light stitch for the back. That doesn't work for for a chart like 2020 because knitting a dark stitch on the front isn't always followed by purling a light stitch for the back. 

Here are the charts I made for 2020. Gray means dark on the front a light on the back, and white means light on the front and dark on the back as in normal double-knitting. 

Gold means that both the front and back stitches are light. Blue means that both the front and back stitches are dark.

It was fun figuring out how to use Excel to make the charts. It turned out to be an easy process once I understood how to set up Excel's "conditional formatting."

I still had my two charts, one for the front and one for the back, so that I could read my knitting from right to left as usual.

The proof would come if I could knit up what I charted...

By the time I reached the halfway point, I knew my charts were working but I still have a long way to go on my tension. Where the color is the same on back and front, the unused color is carried inside the two layers. It looks like I will need to put more tension on the unused yarn so that it does not show in between the opposite color stitches.

Here is the front side of "2020 Happy Double-Knitting New Year!"


My Ravelry project notes are here.









Here you can see that 2020 reads correctly on both sides - not a reverse image - this is a "non-reversible image."

And here is the back side.

This was a rewarding project. I learned a lot and hope to improve more as the new year unfolds!

Dachshund Cloths - On Their Way

Frank and Phoebe, 
the Dachshund Cloths I knitted for my son and daughter-in-law are on their way as a late holiday gift. Since Max, another mini-doxie, joined their family, it looks like I have another Dachshund Cloth to knit!

My project page tells a little about how I wrote the pattern. I had to test-knit several designs to get the body shape and the face I wanted with textured knitting in garter-stitch ridges on a stockinette background.

I use these little cloths to save on paper towels. I like the rectangular shape and they're the perfect size for wiping up spills or drying and polishing glassware. I hope my son and his wife like their cloths!

Update 1/3/2020: Darling Son and Daughter-in-Law say they love their "Weenie-Dog Cloths"!

A Dachshund Cloth in Textured Knitting - Free Pattern

Designing pictures in textured knitting is challenging. Horizontal purl stitch rows pop out against the stockinette background (as they do in welting), but vertical purl stitch columns recede (as they do in ribbing). What looks good on a chart may translate as a different image when knitted.

The design for this dachshund cloth was test-knitted and revised several times. I wanted my dachshund’s body, feet, and tail to be in scale with each other, and I wanted a wagging tail with at least an indication of ears. The dachshund’s face was challenging since one stitch difference on nose or ears can make the design look like a mouse or a bunny! You can see two versions of the face on the gold and brown dachshunds in the photo. The chart is for a face more like the gold dachshund.

The samples are knitted in cotton worsted-weight (standard weight 4) yarn on size 6 needles (4.0 mm) needles. Gauge is not too important but you want your stitches to be dense so that the design shows clearly. For the samples, my gauge was 5.5 st/in and 8.5 rows/in (22 stitches and 34 rows in 4 inches). At that gauge my cloths were about 10 ½” wide and about 5 ¼” tall.

You might want to go up to size 7 needles if your worsted cotton is more like an aran-weight. Or you might want to make a smaller cloth in dk-weight cotton on smaller needles. Have fun with your dachshunds!

Dachshund Cloth in Textured Knitting - Free Pattern Download on Ravelry.com

To keep your dachshunds looking frisky, be sure to treat kitchen cottons for color fastness and block them to shape!