Double Heelix: Taming your yarns

As the first wave of early adopters casts on their Double Heelix projects, another question many of them have been asking is: "how do you keep those 4 strands from becoming a tangled mess?"

Well, it does take a little doing, but less than you might think. There are three things I do that seem to keep the tangle at bay.

#1: Maintain consistent yarn positions relative to the work. This project is not a good one to knit while on the go. You can't toss all your yarn into one bag or basket without asking for trouble.


So, if you're this dude...

Your yarn 4 balls would be placed like so, relative to your work (and your person).


#2 Twist your work in the opposite direction that the yarn twists.
As demonstrated by this quick (0:20) Youtube video.


#3 If all else fails...
The little balls of yarn should be small enough that you can unwind them and pull the all the way out of the tangle. Then you can manually disengage the 2 large yarn balls from each other, and then wind up your small balls again.

Keep those questions coming, and I'll get to 'em as soon as I can!

Double Heelix: Demo video

Double Heelix went live three days ago, and I've been thrilled with the reception!

Here is a YouTube demo video I just put together, which walks you through the cast on and the first 2 cycles of the heel. It's definitely a challenging sock project to tackle, and I hope this makes it easier for knitters to get over the inital learning curve.


Thanks to everyone for your interest, I am honored. :)

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Double Heelix!

The day has arrived. Knitty is up!

(Photo: Lorilee Beltman)

If you visit this article from the latest issue of knitty.com, you'll see a project that has been long in-the-making. The design in the article is a version designed for high contrast, semisolid yarns, but there's more than one way to wrap a helix around a foot!

(Photo: Eddie Carden)

You'll recognize the knitty socks here (I'll call them "Flavor 1"), along with another flavor, kindly modeled by my sister-in-law.

In Flavor 1, the 4 strands that make the heel reduce to 2 at the ankle, which then split off to work either the cuff or the toe. The helix knitting ends at the ankle and the rest of the sock is stockinette worked in the round.

In Flavor 2, all 4 strands used for the heel continue to make the rest of the sock, but the 4 strands split into 2 sets at the instep. 1 strand of each color is worked in either direction, which changes the bold helix into a pinstripe helix.

(Photo: Jeny Staiman)

Flavor 2 is made with Blue Moon lightweight sock yarn, in colors Bejewelled and Korppi. The gauge for this yarn is slightly larger than that of Shibui/Koigu (I get 7.5 st/inch with BMFA lightweight and 8 st/inch with Shibui/Koigu). But if you are knitting for a medium, large, or extra-large foot, all you have to do is follow the knitty instructions for the size below the one you're making. Size S using Blue Moon will yield a medium-sized sock, and likewise, size M made with Blue Moon will yield a large-sized sock.

Now here's another flavor...

(Photo: Jeff Staiman)

I affectionately call these socks "Double Heelix On Acid" because they are made with a Rockin' Sock Club yarn called "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" (some readers may recognize it). The yarn was so bright, I thought it would benefit from some contrast with black, and this is where I ended up.

In this flavor (Flavor 3), after you finish working the heel, all 4 strands continue to make the next part of the sock. It doesn't matter whether you carry the 4 strands into the foot or the heel, so I made one of each!


Sizing with Flavor 3 is as with Flavor 2, since it also uses Blue Moon Yarn. Actually I'm not sure what I used for the black, it was something in my stash that matched the gauge. But if I were to pick a Blue Moon yarn it would definitely be Shadow.


There are yet more ways to explore this topic, and as I make my way through them, I will share them with you. Thanks for reading!