Thin Man's Tie
Designed by Rachael Tatman' I love the look of knitted fabric, but I do not love vintage knitted ties. You know the type; about sixty inches wide, with a knot large enough to hide a navel orange in. This double knit tie features a bevy of sartorial details and a thinner yarn and cut to bring the knitted tie into the 2010's.
SIZE
Tie, one size fits most.
FINISHED MEASUREMENTS,
2 inches wide at widest point 5 feet 6 inches long.
MATERIALS
2 balls Rowan felted tweed DK US 3 needles US 3 dpn small crochet hook
GAUGE
7sts x 8 rows = 1 inch
PATTERN NOTES
This pattern is double knit, so that it is essentially a tube of cloth joined at the edges where you twist together ball 1 and ball 2. This ensures that it will lie flat as well as giving a very crisp, finished edge. These instructions assume that you are already familiar with double-knitting. If not, I recommend Phazelia's tutorial. These instructions also assume you are familiar with knitting a 2 x 2 cable.
PATTERN
Using ball 1 long tail cast on (you'll use the tail later) CO 10 st. \*Row 1: sl 1, k Row 2: sl 1, p Repeat from \* until ten rows have been knit. Now fold the bottom two corners of the cast one edge up, so that the two corners are next to each other right between the 5th and 6th stitches. There should be five slipped selvedge slips on each half. Starting on the side of the tie farthest away from current working yarn and using your DPN, pick up 5 stitches on side one, and then 5 stitches on side 2, which are represented as very thick dashed lines in the figure below. Then, using the tail from the long tail cast on, seam together the bottom of the piece.
You should now have two sets of 10 stitches, one for the front and one for the back. One at a time, alternating from the front to back, slip your stitches off your working needle and DPN onto your other working needle. If you had picked up stitches in a contrasting color you would have stitches of alternating colors on your k needles. Making sure to twist your yarn together at the end of each row, (so the edges are connected to each other) double knit until your tie measures 33 inches. On the next round, make 2 stitches on either side. 12 stitches each front and back, 24 stitchestotal. \*Double knit 8 (4 front, 4 back). At this point, we're going to begin the cables. Cabling in double knitting is a bit of a pain because you have to separate the two sides, make the cable, and then integrate the two sides again. If you like, you can use cable needles, but since I find them to be more fuss than they're worth, here's how I do it without cable needles: 1. Separate the two sides. In this case, we have a 2 x 2 cable, so I'm going to need four stitches. I slip eight unworked stitches (four front, four back) off my needles, then pick up all four back stitches and all four front stitches. 2. Cable the four front stitches, purl the four back stitches. 3. Slip all eight stitches you just worked back off your needles, then pick them up one at a time, alternating front and back in the pattern you have established on your needles. I find that it helps if I pick up all the front stitches on my other needles and slip when I need them, but do whatever works for you. Double knit 8 (4 front, 4 back) Continue double-knitting the next 3 rows. Repeat from \* until tie measures 64 inches. At the beginning and end of all the rest of the rows, dc 2, one front one back until you are left with four stitches (2 front, 2 back). Break yarn and pull both ends through loop and then into center of the tie. With small crochet hook, crochet small chain and then stitch it to the back of the cabled end of the tie, about five inches from the tip. Steam block, wear and enjoy! Happy knitting!
