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Corn on the Nod

Corn on the Nod is finished.
This little guy used one full skein of Crystal Palace Maizy in Bittersweet (dark purple) and about a half a skein of Crystal Palace Maizy in Neptune (variegated blues, purples and greens). I knit it on US#1/2.25mm needles.

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From the hem to the top of the argyle, I used one method of double knitting in which both the front and back of the knitting are knit in a single row. This produces a fabric that is double thickness, reversible and attached, so that the two sides cannot be separated.

For the striped areas, I used a second form of double knitting that allows you to knit in the round on straight needles. You knit the front on one row, then turn and knit the back. The front and back sections are not attached to each other. It's the same method I use to knit the fingers on my Hooray For Me Gloves. Once I started the shaping, on the crown and ear flaps, I separated the stitches onto two circulars and knit in the round per the standard two-circs method.

In the argyle areas, the two sides have reversed color patterns. In the striped areas both sides are identical. This gives both sides of the hat a unique but unified look. I thought I'd like the mostly purple side more, but now that it's finished, I'm lean a little more towards other side. Luckily, I don't have to choose.

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As you can see here, my seaming is a bit wonky in areas. In hindsight, I should have worked the selvage stitches slightly differently in the first double knit section, so that seaming would be easier.

Thoughts on the yarn

Maizy is a great option for people who want a plant fiber yarn with a little memory. The corn is soft and comfortable to wear against the skin and the elastic content gives the fabric just enough memory. This yarn seems to be geared towards sock knitters but could certainly be used in a variety of applications.

There are a few things about which I'd caution you. Firstly, is blocking. I have not touched iron to this fabric but I've seen swatches of corn based fibers that looked decidedly melted in spots. I would be hesitant to use this for anything lacy that would need serious blocking. Additionally, the yarn is pretty splitty which means you do need to keep an eye on what you are doing, but it's certainly manageable. Finally, this yarn is horrible for seaming. I would highly recommend subbing out Maizy for some embroidery floss for any seaming you might do. Otherwise, though, it's a great yarn and the hat even passes Leo's stringent standards for comfort.

Thoughts on double knitting

I like how even my colorwork looks with this method, and I suspect I'll use it again sometime, but I find it a slow process and wouldn't want to have to do it with any regularity. Still, it was fun to work a project in a technique I have not used much before.

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Comments (21)

Jan:

Gorgeous hat!

amy:

Would you consider writing up a pattern for your hat? And/or, as Nik, asked a picture tutorial for the kind of double knitting you described for the argyle part - where the sides do not separate?

I'd be one, probably of many, grateful readers.

Donna:

that isw just the cutest hat - is a pattern on the way? I'd certainly love to by it. That double thich hat would be perfect fo Chicago winters. I normally don't like color work - either to knit or wear - it just doesn't appeal to me that much but this is just adorable.

Nik:

It looks great. You should do a tutorial on double knitting. Or have you already done it and I just need to look around more.

Hey Lady,

this is brilliant and gorgeous! i don't think you know HOW to knit anything prosaic?
anyway, pretty please may i post your pics and link to you for our cpy blog??
ps. there's a panda silk contest [last month of 4] ongoing, so do come comment on top post.

blessings, :L
ps i adore your color choices. i'm using the same two on a sock but i think your design puts me in the shade. i'd love to visit through the looking glass into your imagination!
pps was ill and unable to give my talk on twining and i don't think the last-minute substitute used your great BOMBSHELL bikini pics. now you have me wondering about twining the hat as an alternative.

Wow, that is a gorgeous hat and I am inspired that you used our Maizy for it! I love the way the printed Neptune color forms the argyles on the solid background.

Did you design it?

You may hear from Laura Andersson, our SocksAndMore blog/sock guru to ask if we can show it off with a link from our blog.

Congratulations on a lovely project!

Susan Druding
Crystal Palace Yarns

You used corn yarn! You are so cool. I spent last week in Hawaii, and managed to find the only yarn store on the island of Kauai, and bought some bamboo there. I'm going to be boring and make socks, but I'm so proud of my sister. She sort of accidentally bought some baby alpaca for a scarf. Right now, she's just wearing the hanks around her neck around the house. Now I need to get some corn yarn. I think it's my life's purpose to own at least some of every yarn there is. Buffalo and camel are next. And if someone figures out how to make yarn out of flowers.

This is amazing - I love it! Beautiful, clever, and really cute!

Jody:

It looks wonderful! I bet it will be nice and warm for those Mt Hood hikes!

yogahz:

That's a brilliant use of double knitting. Especially in the round on the straight needles for the top of the hat.

I love the way that you decide you want to try out a new technique and then just go. Great hat - it's super cute. I may do something similar in a baby hat. I've been considering doing a bit of fair isle for a little flap hat, and the reversibility of this technique is really appealing.

That hat looks so warm and cozy- and I love the colors together! Thanks also for sharing your impression of the corn- I've been curious.

Very nice! The colors you picked out work well together. And the earflaps are a cute touch!

mick:

Very cute! I've been wanting to try double knitting, but I'm somewhat terrified of it. This turned out great!

Lani:

Beautiful! It's so cool that it's reversible!! I may have to try this double knitting thing. :)

amy:

Very cute hat. And thanks for the review of Maizy. my local shop just started carrying it, and I've been considering it (just to try it).

By the way, great action shot of Panda in the last post.

Yes..lovely....has me feeling the need to try some of this double knitting technique!

That looks fabulous! Well done!

I haven't used any corn-based fiber, but I've definitely heard that it will melt with heat.

mai:

that looks awesome. double knitting and argyle together, two of my favorite things!!

Cute hat! I'll have to try those double knitting techniques... some day.

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on January 22, 2008 4:19 PM.

The previous post in this blog was Corn on the Nod.

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