seeing double, knitting double

It has been a rough week in these parts. My LSH and I have spent every waking hour on a campaign against a new business ill-suited to our town, and I am seeing double with exhaustion. We had a town meeting last night that was somewhat encouraging, but it's hard to know just where this will end up.

Political action is not my usual mode of operation. I am very much a "you have your views, and I'll have mine" sort of person -- though my children may beg to differ -- but that's what happens when you are married to a person who belongs to the opposite political party. I was hoping that, at the very least, the boys would be inspired by my civic engagement. Instead they complained non-stop about the lack of clean clothes and home-cooked meals.

So let's talk about knitting instead, shall we?

I finished my first double knitted project last week, which I think is destined to be a Christmas present for Primo, because it is in his school colors. Double knitting is a technique that allows you to knit the front and back of an object at the same time, producing a reversible item that is actually two layers of knitting.

This was one of those projects I couldn't put down. It was so much fun to watch the pattern develop, even when I had to rip out rows due to mistakes when I wasn't paying enough attention.

Please excuse crappy knitted object photos.

Exhausted, no time, blah blah blah.

But at least the kid is cute.

It took me a while to figure out how to hold the yarn most efficiently for my knitting style. I finally ended up with the picking method recommended by StitchDiva but you can see problems with my tension on the reverse (red) row and I gave up on getting jogless joins on the stripes.

The switch in tension is pretty obvious on this side,

especially the bottom band.

I don't think it really matters though. Secondo and Terzo, both of whom had to lend their heads for sizing, really liked the hat. Of all the hats I have made, this one is definitely my favorite. If you want to try the technique yourself, I highly recommend this pattern, with this explanation of how to work the decreases at the top.

Since this is a late Wednesday pre-turkey post, I'll go ahead and say: Happy Thanksgiving to one and all! I hope you have many things to be thankful for tomorrow.