A certain little lady has requested a heart scarf in pink or purple for the holidays. After much hemming and hawing over yarn I finally settled on Dolly in Stroll Hand Painted and White in Stroll Sport. I wanted to makes sure it would still be pretty easy to wash (especially after I imagined it getting dunked in a sloppy puddle or dragging on the ground behind her as she runs for the school bus) and both Strolls are machine washable, perfect for what I had in mind.

When I heard the magic word “hearts!” I knew I wanted to tackle From My Heart, a free scarf pattern by Karen S. Lauger. It looked like the perfect, simple colorwork pattern to try my hand at double knitting for the first time. I have to say, I cast on and knit two inches before I gave up the idea of double knitting an ENTIRE SCARF, even if it is for a wee five year old. I loved how thick the fabric was working up and that there was much less yarn being wasted as floats along the back compared to when I do stranded colorwork, but it just took so much time!

I would love to try this pattern again with, say, a worsted weight yarn and a less constrictive timeframe (yes, yes I know, it isn’t even Halloween yet!) but for now I decided to rip out what I’d worked on and start again, this time working the hearts in the round. I’m much faster this way even if it isn’t as neat and tidy as double knitting. I love how these colors are working up and I can’t wait to see her wearing her new, cozy scarf! I’m still using the hearts motif from the From My Heart pattern, it’s so easy to memorize and makes such nice, plump hearts.\

Have you tried double knitting yet? Have you found any tricks or advice that helped you start? Hopefully, I’ll be able to tackle the Struktur hat patter from Extreme Double Knitting by Alasdair Post-Quinn someday! For now, I think I’ll stick to my hearts…