First Double Knitting Homework: Double Knit Duvino Headband

I already mentioned that I am following a double knitting class from Craftsy. There are some very nice projects to make in the class and during the week I've been doing the first class project: a double knit, reversible headband.

I already dabbled a bit in double knitting when I was doing my Christmas double-knit coasters, but taking this class gave me better tips on how to cast on and bind off in a neater way, and also how to have cleaner edges (in the case of flat double-knitting), and I'm still only at the end of lesson 4 out of 10, so I'm hoping to learn a bit more from it.

One thing you need for double-knitting is A LOT of patience. This is a very slow process that requires focus so not something to do while watching a movie (better switch to an easier project!). I haven't been able to knit more than 4 or 5 rows a day (each row has 3 repeats of the pattern and a total of 111 stitches) because I would have been on the verge of losing my mind. Even though I love the effect achieved by double knitting, this is not a knitting technique I would recommend for big projects.

So here we go, I present you the Duvino Headband, designed by Alasdair Post-Quinn and knit by my own ten nimble fingers:

Now I'm going to knit something simple before I get back on the double knitting horse because my brain needs to rest a little, but then again, I might just decide to get on with the next lesson tomorrow!

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My Etsy Shop

I opened my Etsy shop a few weeks ago; guess the name: Sophie's Knit Stuff!

I only have a few items on there for now, but planning on adding many more in a few weeks' time, since I'm giving up my customer care job at last (as can be witnessed by my colleagues/neighbours, I'm not a people person, I would much rather write than interact with people on the phone).

What I am planning to do is looking after my children, knit, knit and knit some more; and if I can earn some income from this, there won't be a happier person in the world than me!

What I have in my Etsy store right now is not much, but it's a start; ideas of new things I could knit are flying around in my head, and I need to write them all down before I forget.

I have also created a Facebook page for all my knitting related business, and I would be really grateful for any Likes and Shares that you can spare for Sophie's Knit Stuff.

To visit my store on Etsy, go to Sophie's Knit Stuff.

I will now leave you with a few pictures of a goodbye gift I've made this week-end for one of my colleagues at the call centre, to apologize for all my violent mood swings - never at her expense - as I have to admit there's been an awful lot of swearing/ranting/wanting to hit my head off my computer mouse.... on my part after finishing some calls (anyone working in a call centre will understand):

Knitted Mouse Pad

The mouse pad I had bought from my computer store is not the best, and as I didn't want to buy a new one (these things are expensive, especially if you are looking from something else than the traditional blue mouse pad that everybody is using or had used at some stage), I decided to make myself one.

As it needed to be thick enough to be stable on a desk, I decided to experiment with double-knitting, and even though it was a slow start and took double the time to knit, I really enjoyed making this reversible hand-knit mouse pad, using some of my leftover "Art of Knitting" yarn.