March 2024 Twining
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Meet and Cross
What happens when twining threads meet? This month we explore the possibility of crossing the threads. We begin with a motif Carol saw in the German Textile Museum. Initially it looked to Carol like the knitting pattern known as Argyle. On closer examination you see vertical stripes of red, blue. and green. On top of those vertical stripes are thinner lines of yellow and white. The thin lines drift to the right, and then back to the left. This is Motif A for this month. When two pairs of stitches set out, twining in opposite directions, you have a special stitch where traveller thread meets a fetched friend. Now, it is possible to have those twining lines not only meet, but cross over. That is the idea behind this month's Motif B. You will find a video that helps you with the cross-over technique. When you have this traveller-meets-a-fetched-friend, and at the same time the twining lines switch places, Carol uses a short-hand notation and calls this The Grand Cross. |
This is a photo of Carol's replica of a bonnet from the collection of the German Textile Museum in Krefeld, Germany.
Collection number 00202
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Motif A
Here are the instructions for the motif you see above. On row 12 there is a stitch that may be new to some of you. On row 12 there is a dash that is extra long, joining 4 squares. This is a stitch that uses 4 threads, the double stitch: pick up 2, put 2 down. |
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Motif A2
For an additional challenge, try this version of the faux Argyle motif. This version has double lines of twining threads, that's two pairs of threads. The traveller or fetched-friend has a bit farther to go. |
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Motif B
It is possible to have the twining lines cross over each other. That is what happens in this month's Motif B, what Carol called the candy stripe. There is a complicated stitch, a stitch where traveller meets fetched friend, and the twining threads cross over ... this very complicated stitch (or set of stitches) Carol shorthands this all to "Grand Cross" If you need to see how this happens, watch the video at the right.
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What happens when the twining threads get to the very edge?
Here again is that video from January. |
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