Double-Knitting Adventures - The Chess Set - Bishops and Rooks

“Bishops and Rooks" is the fourth pattern release from the Chess Set of double-knitting patterns.

You can knit hot pads or coasters with these patterns, or you can use the charts to embellish larger projects.

Other patterns in the Chess Set:  

• “Kings and Queens – The Royal Couples”

• “Knights! – Champions of Honor”

• “Pawns! Attack… or Defend?” (free pattern!)

Size estimates for some suggested yarns and needle sizes:

• worsted-weight yarn (one skein each in dark and light),

at a gauge of 21 stitches and 30 rows in 4 inches

(about 5.25 st/in and about 7.5 rows/in),

with U.S. size 3 (3.25 mm) or 4 (3.50 mm) needles

will produce a hot pad measuring about 6 ¼ inches square.

suggested yarns –

Hobby Lobby “I Love this Cotton” (100% Cotton)

Knit Picks Wool of the Andes (100% Wool)

• fingering-weight yarn (one skein each in dark and light),

at a gauge of 30 stitches and 38 rows in 4 inches

(about 7.5 st/in and 9.5 rows/in),

with U.S. size 0 (2.00 mm) or 1 (2.25 mm) needles

will produce a coaster measuring about 4 ½ inches square.

suggested yarn –

Cascade Heritage (75% Wool, 25% Nylon)

Choose 100% cotton or wool yarns to make your Chess Set squares heat-resistant and moisture-absorbing. 

Knitters have many techniques for casting on, binding off, and finishing edges in double-knitting. The Double-Knitting Group on Ravelry is a helpful resource of ideas.

My worsted-weight samples, pictured to the left and below, used Sarah E. White’s “Two Color Cast-on for Double-Knitting,”  and Sockmatician’s “Slip-Stitch Edges for Double-Knitting.”

I like combination knitting to help achieve even double-knitting tension. Ellen, “The Chilly Dog,” has a fantastic article and video on combination knitting that explains why you would want to use the technique and shows how to do combination knitting for both English-style and continental-style knitters.

I used a simple sewn bind-off for these samples – instructions follow: 

For Row 47 (not shown on the charts) you will be knitting the front and back layers together. You start Row 47 with 33 dark/light pairs (33 double stitches), then knit a dark stitch and light stitch together (k2tog) across, so that you end Row 47 with 33 single stitches.

To finish binding off, use Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Sewn Bind-off, as described at the end of Knitty’s  Summer 2006  “Techniques with Theresa” feature, on binding off in knitting.

Complete your project by hiding yarn ends in between the front and back layers. For Chess Set squares in kitchen cottons, be sure to treat for color fastness! 

Block as appropriate for your yarn, shaping your hot pad or coaster into a square or nearly-square shape.

This "Bishops and Rooks - Shields of the Realm" double-knitting pattern is available as a pdf for immediate download. The pattern includes written instructions, links to tutorials, and separate front and back charts for knitting the King and Queen (four charts are included in the pattern). You may use the pattern to knit for yourself, for gifts, or for charity. If you sell items made from my pattern, please credit Janet Bailey Designs. You may not sell the pattern itself, or give it away. Thank you for supporting my designs!


Instant pdf download on Ravelry.
Instant pdf download on Etsy.

I hope you enjoy knitting and using your "Bishops and Rooks" and I would love to see your project photos on Ravelry!

Double-Knitting Adventures - The Chess Set - Kings and Queens

“Kings and Queens” is the third pattern release from the Chess Set of double-knitting patterns.

You can knit hot pads or coasters with these patterns, or you can use the charts to embellish larger projects.

Other patterns in the Chess Set:  

• “Knights! – Champions of Honor”

• “Bishops and Rooks – Shields of the Realm”

• “Pawns! Attack… or Defend?” (free pattern!)

Size estimates for some suggested yarns and needle sizes:

• worsted-weight yarn (one skein each in dark and light),

at a gauge of 21 stitches and 30 rows in 4 inches

(about 5.25 st/in and about 7.5 rows/in),

with U.S. size 3 (3.25 mm) or 4 (3.50 mm) needles

will produce a hot pad measuring about 6 ¼ inches square.

suggested yarns –

Hobby Lobby “I Love this Cotton” (100% Cotton)

Knit Picks Wool of the Andes (100% Wool)

• fingering-weight yarn (one skein each in dark and light),

at a gauge of 30 stitches and 38 rows in 4 inches

(about 7.5 st/in and 9.5 rows/in),

with U.S. size 0 (2.00 mm) or 1 (2.25 mm) needles

will produce a coaster measuring about 4 ½ inches square.

suggested yarn –

Cascade Heritage (75% Wool, 25% Nylon)

Choose 100% cotton or wool yarns to make your Chess Set squares heat-resistant and moisture-absorbing. 

Knitters have many techniques for casting on, binding off, and finishing edges in double-knitting. The Double-Knitting Group on Ravelry is a helpful resource of ideas.

My worsted-weight samples, pictured to the left and below, used Sarah E. White’s “Two Color Cast-on for Double-Knitting,”  and Sockmatician’s “Slip-Stitch Edges for Double-Knitting.”

I like combination knitting to help achieve even double-knitting tension. Ellen, “The Chilly Dog,” has a fantastic article and video on combination knitting that explains why you would want to use the technique and shows how to do combination knitting for both English-style and continental-style knitters.

I used a simple sewn bind-off for these samples – instructions follow:

For Row 47 (not shown on the charts) you will be knitting the front and back layers together. You start Row 47 with 33 dark/light pairs (33 double stitches), then knit a dark stitch and light stitch together (k2tog) across, so that you end Row 47 with 33 single stitches.

To finish binding off, use Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Sewn Bind-off, as described at the end of Knitty’s  Summer 2006  “Techniques with Theresa” feature, on binding off in knitting.

Complete your project by hiding yarn ends in between the front and back layers. For Chess Set squares in kitchen cottons, be sure to treat for color fastness! 

Block as appropriate for your yarn, shaping your hot pad or coaster into a square or nearly-square shape.

This "Kings and Queens – The Royal Couples" double-knitting pattern is available as a pdf for immediate download. The pattern includes written instructions, links to tutorials, and separate front and back charts for knitting the King and Queen (four charts are included in the pattern). You may use the pattern to knit for yourself, for gifts, or for charity. If you sell items made from my pattern, please credit Janet Bailey Designs. You may not sell the pattern itself, or give it away. Thank you for supporting my designs!


Instant pdf download on Ravelry.
Instant pdf download on Etsy.

I hope you enjoy knitting and using your "Kings and Queens" and I would love to see your project photos on Ravelry!

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!

Learning new ways - Distitch Edge Coasters

There's always something new to learn when you knit, crochet, or weave! Today, I'm waiting for the arrival of a new book by Assia Brill, Distitch: A New Knitting Concept. 

I'm finishing the first in a set of two of Assia's "Distitch Edge Coasters," a free pattern she shared on Ravelry, to introduce her new technique. Another of Assia's free patterns is her "Distitch Edge Scarf."

Coaster #1, in Denim Blue has the distitch "open" edge. Next, I want to try the distitch "closed" edge in Dove gray.

The coasters are in colors to match my "2020 Happy Double Knitting New Year!" project.

Have you tried distitch? I'd love to hear what you think of the technique!

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Double-Knitting Adventures - The Chess Set - Knights!

“Knights! – Champions of Honor” is the second pattern release from my Chess Set of double-knitting patterns. You can knit hot pads or coasters with these patterns, or you can use the charts to embellish larger projects.  

Other patterns in the Chess Set:

• “Kings and Queens – The Royal Couples”
• “Bishops and Rooks – Shields of the Realm”
• “Pawns – Attack… or Defend?” (free pattern!

These are my size estimates for some suggested yarns and needle sizes:

• worsted-weight yarn,

at a gauge of 21 stitches and 30 rows in 4 inches

(about 5.25 st/in and about 7.5 rows/in),

with U.S. size 3 (3.25 mm) or 4 (3.50 mm) needles

will produce a hot pad measuring about 6 ¼ inches square.

suggested yarns –

Hobby Lobby “I Love this Cotton” (100% Cotton)

Knit Picks Wool of the Andes (100% Wool)

• fingering-weight yarn,

at a gauge of 30 stitches and 38 rows in 4 inches

(about 7.5 st/in and 9.5 rows/in),

with U.S. size 0 (2.00 mm) or 1 (2.25 mm) needles

will produce a coaster measuring about 4 ½ inches square.

suggested yarn –

Cascade Heritage (75% Wool, 25% Nylon)

Choose 100% cotton or wool yarns to make your Chess Set squares heat-resistant and moisture-absorbing. 

Knitters have many techniques for casting on, binding off, and finishing edges in double-knitting. The Double-Knitting Group on Ravelry is a helpful resource of ideas.

My worsted-weight sample, pictured to the left and below, used Sarah E. White’s “Two Color Cast-on for Double-Knitting,”  and Sockmatician’s “Slip-Stitch Edges for Double-Knitting.”

I like combination knitting to help achieve even double-knitting tension. Ellen, “The Chilly Dog,” has a fantastic article and video on combination knitting that explains why you would want to use the technique and shows how to do combination knitting for both English-style and continental-style knitters.

I used a simple sewn bind-off – instructions for this method follow: 

For Row 47 (not shown on the charts) you will be knitting the front and back layers together. You start Row 47 with 33 dark/light pairs (33 double stitches), then knit a dark stitch and light stitch together (k2tog) across, so that you end Row 47 with 33 single stitches.

To finish binding off, use Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Sewn Bind-off, as described at the end of Knitty’s  Summer 2006  “Techniques with Theresa” feature, on binding off in knitting.

Complete your project by hiding yarn ends in between the front and back layers. For Chess Set squares in kitchen cottons, be sure to treat for color fastness! 

Block as appropriate for your yarn, shaping your hot pad or coaster into a square or nearly-square shape.

This “Knights? – Champions of Honor” double-knitting pattern is available as a pdf for immediate download. The pattern includes written instructions, links to tutorials, and front and back charts for knitting. You may use the pattern to knit for yourself, for gifts, or for charity. If you sell items made from my pattern, please credit Janet Bailey Designs. You may not sell the pattern itself, or give it away. Thank you for supporting my designs!

Instant pdf download on Ravelry.
Instant pdf download on Etsy.

I hope you enjoy knitting and using your "Knights!" and I would love to see your project photos on Ravelry!

Double-Knitting Adventures - The Chess Set - Pawns! (free pattern)

Pawns!” is a free pattern from my Chess Set of double-knit patterns. You can knit hot pads or coasters with these patterns, or you can use the charts to embellish larger projects.

Other patterns in the Chess Set:

§  “Kings and Queens – The Royal Couples”

§  “Bishops and Rooks – Shields of the Realm”

§  “Knights! – Champions of Honor”

These are my size estimates for various suggested yarns and needles:

§  worsted-weight yarn,

at a gauge of 21 stitches and 30 rows in 4 inches
(about 5.25 st/in and about 7.5 rows/in),

with U.S. size 3 (3.25 mm) or 4 (3.50 mm) needles

will produce a hot pad measuring about 6 ¼ inches square

suggested yarns –

Hobby Lobby “I Love this Cotton” (100% cotton)

Knit Picks Wool of the Andes (100% wool)

§  fingering-weight yarn,

at a gauge of 30 stitches and 38 rows in 4 inches
(about 7.5 st/in and 9.5 rows/in),
with U.S. size 0 (2.00 mm) or 1 (2.25 mm) needles

will produce a coaster measuring about 4 ½ inches square.
suggested yarn –

Cascade Heritage (75% Wool, 25% Nylon)

Choose 100% cotton or wool yarns to make your Chess Set squares heat-resistant and moisture-absorbing. 

Knitters have many techniques for casting on, binding off, and finishing edges in double-knitting. The Double-Knitting Group on Ravelry is a helpful resource of ideas.

My worsted-weight sample, pictured to the left and below, used Sockmatician’s “Alternating Two-Color Long-Tail Cast On” and “Slip-Stitch Edges for Double-Knitting.”

I like combination knitting to help achieve even double-knitting tension. Ellen, “The Chilly Dog,” has a fantastic article and video on combination knitting that explains why you would want to use the technique and shows how to do combination knitting for both English-style and continental-style knitters.

To keep your Chess Set squares looking looking like new, be sure to treat kitchen cottons for color fastness and block them to shape!

I had fun designing “Pawns!”  I hope you enjoy knitting and using them.

If you are on Ravelry, you can add the free pattern to your Library and link it to your Projects. Here is a link to the free pattern on Ravelry.

If you are not on Ravelry, you can use this link to download the free pattern from my Google Drive. (Updated 12/29/19.)

"The Knights - Champions of Honor" will be released soon.
(Update: "Knights" was released on 12/26/2019.)