The feedback on this technique has been great! Big thanks to everyone who sent comments or swatches.
(If you wrote and did not receive a response, please write again. My former service provider deleted all my saved mail files. Many of the lost messages had information that should be added to these pages.)
Judy in California 'test knitted' a swatch from the original version of my instructions. Her suggestions helped make the published version much clearer. View Judy's swatch and read her comments.
My biggest surprise was to receive a swatch from Marusha in Arkansas. She was just learning to handknit when she tried the technique! She's willing to help you try this yourself. You can reach her at marusha@ipa.com
Take a look at Marusha's swatch.
Sheila in British Columbia is an old hand at knitting and made a beautiful sample for these pages. View Sheila's swatch and read her comments.
Renate writes from Georgia:
[I]... have not knitted or spun in over 5 Years until one day I checked the Homepages on the Internet and found "Emily's Hat"! It looked interresting and I looked further for the pattern. Now with a almost finished swatch, I know that I can do it. As I am knitting along, an Idea struck my mind and I had to put my Swatch down ... [to write]...
...how about making a double knit basketweave with more stiches and rows, then stuffing the baskets (pouches) on the last row with batting or a fiberfill? That is, before you switch baskets.
... I have a homespun beige heather in mind for the Body and a darker brown rib for the Bottomband and Collar. Maybe a Zipper up Front.
Barbara in Philadelphia helped by taking a look at the pages on a Mac. She had a problem printing the page with Basketweave instructions. Unfortunately, no one has been able to figure out what is the cause. If you can spot the HTML error, please let me know.
One knitter wrote that she was trying to mind-knit the "How To" instructions before starting... and she just wasn't able to 'get it.'
While it is always a good idea to read and understand knitting patterns before starting, in this case, if reading the instructions doesn't turn on your lightbulb, JUST START KNITTING. Follow the instructions line by line. They have been 'proofed' multiple times! They work. And, once you see the dk happening, it will be much easier to understand.
Thanks to Chris in Cheshire for helpful comments when I was putting this all together.
If you have additional, constructive, comments, I'd love to hear from you. Or, if you have 2-color, textured, double-knitting to share, maybe we could add an image of your work to this site!