two-handed revelation

Some days you learn something so cool you just have to run out and tell all your friends. Today, I was reading Dances with Wool's blog. She shows us her gorgeous twined-knitting, embroidered, wrist warmers. Those alone would leave one satisfied to have visited her blog, and her usual thoughtful comments leave one happy.

In addtion, today, she sends us to Philosophers Wool for a video on two-handed color knitting (one color in each hand).

I have done two-handed color knitting. My knitting project that comes the closest to being a tour de force of anything I've knit was done with two-handed color work. But I had no idea about "stitches 3 and 4" as taught by The Philosopher. That twist-in-the-back thing is a revelation, for sure, and I am grateful to Lene for sending me to see it.

My 90-yarn sweater was one of those projects that is very significant in one's creative life. It began with a yarn swap by my local spinning guild. I can't remember any more how many people participated, but I want to say over 40. We swapped spun yarn -- one ounce, maybe -- the details fail me. Anyway, that was a good start. Then various spinning friends, one as far afield as New Zealand, sent me more handspun. I added several yarns of my own (and really enjoyed being able to dye up some bright yellow, when I needed it). In the end, I used over 90 different yarns.

I had decided I would use *every* yarn I'd been given, even the ones that I didn't like. This was a real challenge, as they varied incredibly in every way. I learned an enormous amount about color and value as I knit this sweater. The first sleeve took me forever. Knit two inches, rip one and a half, repeat, repeat, repeat. Then the summer happened, and I didn't want to knit a heavy wool sweater. I messed around with fabric over the summer, and when I picked up the sweater in the fall, it flew off the needles. My new comfort with color and value helped me know just what should come next, with far less ripping. (The second sleeve is MUCH more alive than the first, which is much more rigid, visually speaking.......)

I learned far more from knitting this sweater than from any other thing I've made.

The other aspect of this project that stands alone for me is that I wrote up the swap and the sweater, and my article and photos were published in Spin-Off. To date that is my only writing for which I was paid.

As I look at the sweater now, I find the gestalt unsatisfying. I would like to do it again, with alllllll yarns that I love. There are too many places in this sweater where there are yarns/colors that do not float my boat. In addition, it's too short, and really would have benefitted from some shaping.......

For those of you into technical details, it is cuff-to-cuff, and is all knit/purl, no slip stitches, only two colors in any row. It looks much more complex than it is, because of the purling. When you change colors, the color-change row looks totally different when purled than when knit......

Should you want to try two-handed color knitting, I suggest you start with a bunch of different yarns. When the yarns vary in size and fuzziness as well as color, no one can tell when your tension isn't perfect..............

Without further ado, I give you the 90-Yarn Sweater: