There’s two for the price of one today.

Getting your head around what’s going on with helical knitting is probably best learnt using simple 2 colour stripes, as found in the Bramante Cowl. The thing is, different knitters prefer different needles for knitting in the round. The first video covers how to knit helical stripes on any type of needle.

The concept works equally well with double-pointed needles (DPNs), but you can exploit the fact that the yarn can be left at the end of any needle, to avoid the need to slip any stitches. She covers how to work with five and four DPNs in this second video.

My best advice if you’re struggling to understand what’s going on is simply to suspend your need to know and follow the instructions. I can’t visualise exactly what is going on in the gear box of my car while I’m driving, but it doesn’t prevent me from getting around. After a while, your work will magically grow and you’ll get a feel for the rhythm of working in helical stripes. It really is very straightforward to do, but surprisingly difficult to visualise.

If you don’t have Something New to Learn About Helical Knitting yet, it is available for download from our online shop, or from Ravelry. Don’t forget to tag your helical projects on Ravelry with the tag SN2LAHelicalKnitting and to share your progress in our helical knitting KAL.