This is week 11 of the pattern highlights from my upcoming book. If you like what you’re reading about, please join my preorder mailing list. To read more about why I’m doing this (and why you should join the list), you can visit the Month 5 blog post.
Twice As Sexy is worked in Buffalo Wool Co Sexy, a laceweight bison and mulberry silk yarn.
Ever since I designed my first two ties (for my first book, Extreme Double-Knitting) I’ve had people thanking me for breaking the stereotype of the ugly knit tie. Let’s face it, most knitted ties are pretty awful-looking. In order to keep them from curling, you have to work them in garter, or seed stitch, or sew on some backing, or something. Most of them stop looking like neckties after they’ve passed into the suit-button range, which means that wearing one without a suit looks terrible. I mean no serious offense to anyone else who’s designed one, but I thought I could do better. For one thing, double-knitting doesn’t curl. The two sides cancel that effect out in both directions. For another, shaping is totally worth the trouble. You can make a nice point at the beginning and end, and slowly taper the middle. You just have to do some basic math at the beginning to match your gauge to the size and shape, and you can fill in the inside with almost anything. Where I went a little off the rails with the first two ties was when I decided what to fill them with. These are power ties — complex, bold, exciting. But what if you want something more subdued, genteel, dignified? A classic double diagonal stripe is a good bet. But no simple colorwork stripes for me — these are true double-knit cabled traveling stitches. There are no rest rows. By the time you’re done with this tie, you’ll be an expert at these 1×1 cables.
This is another case of working with a yarn partially because the company has done me a favor. In this case, as with the others, the Buffalo Wool Company has regularly hosted my books and patterns at their booths at various shows I’ve been teaching at. I wanted to thank them for their help by designing a pattern in their yarn. Fortunately, I don’t work with vendors whose yarn I don’t already love, so it’s a win-win situation. A couple years before I ever cast on for this pattern, I got the yarn; every time I saw them after that I had to apologize that I hadn’t gotten to the pattern yet. Finally, with the book on the horizon, I decided it was time to redouble (pun intended) my efforts and make sure the pattern came out. As you can probably tell from the company’s name, they sell buffalo/bison yarn (it’s the same animal, just a different name). It’s not quite qiviut, but it’s up there in luxury and, of course, price. This yarn, called Sexy, is 50/50 bison and mulberry silk, so I thought it’d be a great pick for a tie. It is, however, a laceweight, which means it’s going to take some time to do the pattern (not to mention tinier needles than I normally work with). Fortunately, it’s a tie which means it’s not all that many stitches to begin with — 30 pairs at its widest.
The name is no big mystery here. The yarn’s name is “Sexy”; it’s double-knitted, so “Twice as Sexy”. Voila!
This pattern will be available in my upcoming book “Double Or Nothing”. To be informed when the preorder period begins, please join my preorder mailing list. Thanks!