I’ve tried two color knitting before. I really wanted to make the Huntington Castle Pullover from Interweave, but I couldn’t get it to look decent. The floats just wouldn’t work.

Now, in the Olympic Spirit, I have decided that it is time to Conquer My Fear and Frustration. This time I’m better prepared: I got a book. It’s called Fair Isle Sweaters Simplified. I bought it for the three pages of instructions – there isn’t a pattern in there that I want to make. They are not to my taste. Also, that would be two layers of wool in the entire sweater. It doesn’t get cold enough for that.

The three pages of instructions have been worth the investment! This is my first practice piece:

You can see me getting better as I go along.

You put one color in each hand and work two different kinds of stitches per hand: the first kind (odd stitches) is regular, the second kind (even stitches) is to anchor the unused yarn. This means there are no floats! The only bad thing is that the book only tells you how to do knit stitches because all of their sweaters are worked in the round. This is fine for now, my Olympic hat and mittens are in the round.

Again, I’m getting better as I go along!

And the inside?

See? No floats!

It turns out that this is fun! I am feeling much better about the whole thing. I feel so much better about it that I am a little concerned that I have under-shot my Olympic goals . . . but I didn’t know that two colors wouldn’t be a hideous experience! I may be speaking prematurely: you never know how the actual project is going to go, M’s mom and sister are coming the week after next, I’ve never made a person-sized mitten (weird, I know), and I am notorious for starting over when things aren’t going well.

Next on Yarn Miracle:
Beginning the Checks and Charms Hat and Mittens.