Weaving-knitting

So, I've been fascinated by the idea of weaving-knitting lately (knitting that takes ideas and techniques from weaving). This all started when I couldn't make it to TKGA in Portland this fall. I was looking at the course list, trying to decide if it would be worth 6 hrs of driving (round trip) to make it down there for one day.

In the course listing, was a class that offered to teach weaving-knitting. Now, what could that be?

I've done weaving stitch before, which is a slipped stitch method that makes a fabric very much like woven cloth. I really like the texture, though I haven't used it much. But, a whole class on weaving techniques? Hmmm...

Unfortunately, it wasn't on a day that I could make. So, I tried to forget about it.

Ever noticed how trying to forget about something is guaranteed to make you obsessed with it?

Well. I did some searching, and didn't find a whole lot. But I did find the Yarn Harlot's post about the Mitts of Rovaniemi, and some posts by Tsarina about her mitts, and subsequent change-ringing sweater (gasp!).

Apparently, the Mitts pattern has been written up in the Jan/Feb 2008 issue of Piecework magazine, but they're all sold out and I couldn't find a copy.

But it didn't look very hard. In fact, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what they were doing. So, here's my rendition weaving-knitting:



My favorite part about it is how perfectly simple it is. It just makes sense. What more could you want from a technique than making both sense and a beautiful pattern?

We took advantage of some sun yesterday afternoon to take pictures for a tutorial on my reverse-engineered version of the process. I was planning to post them tonight, but I think it's going to take a little longer than I am up for right now. But it is coming, should you be interested.