Double or Nothing Patterns: Heartbound Again

This is week 12 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.

Heartbound Again is worked in Jagger Spun Maine Line/Green Line, a sportweight wool yarn.

Shortly after I put out my previous book, in which I postulated that there was no elegant solution to true double-knit cables, I discovered an elegant solution for true double-knit cables. Go figure. As a matter of fact, I found two — with and without a cable needle. This method opens up a whole new vista in reversible cabled colorwork. Not long after that, I began teaching a new class on double-knit cables. And yet, for quite some time, I didn’t have a standalone pattern that incorporated the technique. After some experimentation, I released a pattern called Heartbound which was a cabled headband using a reversed-color and reversed-texture background. It was a work in progress, and I informed people of that. Now that the book is on the horizon, it’s time to pull back the curtain for the full version: Heartbound Again. There is a headband version as well as a full hat. The cables are seamless due to some slip-stitch trickery, and the cast-on (and bind-off for the headband) is adapted from an i-cord cast-on so that it mimics the cables. There’s also some interesting cable/color/stitch manipulation borrowed from textured double-knitting (see the Eureka hat from earlier).

The yarn I used for this is actually something I acquired in a different way than normal. Jagger Spun has been around for quite a while but has recently changed their marketing and packaging efforts in order to appeal more to handknitters (they’ve been selling yarn on the cone primarily for weavers and machine knitters). One of their reps got in touch with me, asking if I’d like to try out some of their yarn. Never being one to pass up a new fiber-related experience, I agreed. The yarn they sent me was a perfect fit — lots of colors, my favorite weights, and great stitch definition. And, in the sportweight, they even have a 100% organic wool line.

The name “Heartbound” just came to me as I was looking at the cable pattern, thinking it looked a little like hearts all linked together. The word has two meanings, one more archaic than the other, but I’ll choose the positive and more poetic meaning of “having the heart entirely devoted to someone or something”.

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!