Issue 17 of Knit Now features this gorgeous double knit blanket from Kathleen Sperling. The magazine also includes a detailed tutorial from Debbie Tomkies on double knitting, but Kathleen used a slightly unusual cast-on for her blanket - so we're sharing her instructions with you here on our website!

double knit blanket

The cast-on recommended for this pattern is extremely similar to the long-tail cast-on, except that instead of the two strands used being the working yarn and a long tail (as they would be for a regular long-tail cast-on), your two strands will be C1 and C2. The other difference is that although half of the stitches are created in the usual long-tail way, the other half are created backwards from that usual way.

Step 1

Step 1: Make a slip knot with the two colours together. Note that this slip knot is just temporary, in order to keep the yarn in place as you start casting on stitches  you will be undoing it later on.

Step 2

Step 2: Hold MC1 around your thumb and MC2 around your index finger as you would for a long-tail cast-on.

Step 3

Step 3: Move needle through the thumb loop by going under the left strand left-to-right.

Step 4

Step 4: Move needle through the index finger loop by going under the left strand right-to-left.

Step 5: Pull strand that youve just captured from the index finger loop through the thumb loop by going under the left strand of the thumb loop right-to-left.

Step 6

Step 6: Drop loops from thumb and index finger and pull two strands snugly to create a MC2 stitch.

Step 7

Step 7: Resume holding MC1 around your thumb and MC2 around your index finger exactly as you did in Step 2.

Step 8

Step 8: Move needle through the index finger loop by going under the right strand right-to-left.

Step 9

Step 9: Move needle through the thumb loop by going under the right strand left-to-right.

Step 10

Step 10: Pull strand that youve just captured from the thumb loop through the index finger loop by going under the right strand of the index finger loop left-to-right.

Step 11

Step 11: Drop loops from thumb and index finger and pull two strands snugly to create a MC1 stitch.  Repeat Steps 2-11 until you have the desired number of stitches. Undo the slip knot and slide it off the needle once all the stitches have been cast on.