Alasdair showing off his skills for the Yarn Thing Designer Dinner 2012.
The king of Extreme Double Knitting: Alasdair Post-Quinn (fallingblox on Ravelry) is a lifelong crafter who lives in Cambridge, MA, with his wife and cat. When he’s not knitting, he enjoys cooking, fixes computers for Brandeis University, listens to esoteric music, audiobooks, and NPR, and tries to spend as much time outdoors as possible.
Like many knitters, he started with a simple garter stitch swatch. He learned to purl, did his own moebius scarf, and then came across Reversible Two Color Knitting by Jane Neighbors in which he found a small section on double knitting. Working with the Common Cod Fiber Guild and some prodding by Guido Stein (of It’s a Purl, Man) enabled Alasdair to show his work in progress (the Victorian Ruffia Scarf) to Shannon Okey, who was presenting at the guild about knitwear design and Cooperative Press.
His brilliant book, Extreme Double Knitting, is sure to become a classic piece of work. The instructions are worded and illustrated quite clearly and are truly user friendly. It is a skill-building book for double-knitting colorwork. Be sure to check out these patterns that Marly and Alasdair specifically mentioned: Footsies and Vasily. You can purchase the book at www.cooperativepress.com
Enter to win a copy of the book by leaving a comment on these shownotes using the keyword Alasdair mentions in the show! Entries will be open for 3 weeks!
Also be sure to check out 52 Pick Up, a “Magnum Opus” in double-knitting! Parallax V0.5 (the first in a series!) is an Op-Art style scarf.
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This podcast is sponsored by: Knitter’s Magazine, Craftsy, Fiesta Yarns, Kollage Yarns and Bijou Basin Ranch.
Mr. Post-Quinn’s work is definitely extreme in its beauty and creativity! One day, I will learn to do double-knitting!
Wow – that scarf is extreme! Certainly a beautiful example of Alasdair’s skills
Marly – great show as always! Extreme double knitting looks extreme ly interesting! Can’t wait to meet it in person!
I am so excited to see/hear about this wonderful author/designer! I have been intrigued by double knitting for awhile, but frustrated about how hard it was to find resources. You have made me extremely happy!
WOW, Alasdair has such an extreme talent and am sure anyone would be thrilled to have Extreme Double Knitting in their pattern library. I also had to go and check out the satchel you mentioned, and now know why you love it so much. I sure hope that Alasdair can someday find the time to make you one
. Thanks for taking the time to do this podcast and hope you are able to get more time added….that would be extreme-ly awesome. Good Luck!
His knitting is extreme. Thanks for another great podcast.
Alasdair Post-Quinn is an extreme master of his craft! His book is certainly on my wish list. I first heard him on Guido’s podcast and it was wonderful to hear him on yours.
Loved the podcast with Alasdair Post-Quinn. Can’t wait to check out his book, Extreme Double Knitting.
Doris! You are the lucky winner of this great prize!!! I just sent you an email. Please reply
xoxo
Marly
My husband thinks my passion for knitting is “extreme.” I think learning “extreme double knitting” would definitely prove him right… and we all know how men like to be right
Great podcast. I was randomly searching for “knitting talk radio” because I like to listen to knitting related shows while I knit. I had no idea there was actually a great one going on without me knowing! I thank God for google…. and Alasdair… whoa. I think I’m in love. His work is phenomenal!
Extreme double knitting seems so fascinating. Can’t wait to check out the book!
I would love to win this book!! I just looked on Ravelry and love the patterns. The bag is EXTREME! I love it.
See you in Chicago!
Extreme Knitting is extreme-ly cool, I can’t wait to see the book and try some extreme knitting of my own!
I’m always extremely pleased by your guests, when I make time to listen, your show makes me happy!
Evenly distribute your cast-on over three or four needles, keeping one needle out to knit with. Make sure the cast-on lays flat and smooth and no stitches are twisted. If you’d like, add a stitch marker to the first needle to mark the beginning of the round. (It’s easy for a stitch marker to fall off the double-pointed needle, however, so be careful.) The needles either form a triangle (if you cast on to three needles) (fig. 14b) or a square (if you cast on to four needles). With the empty needle, knit all stitches on the first needle. When that needle is empty, use it to knit the stitches on the next needle. Continue to knit the stitches from each double-point onto an empty needle, working the stitches as instructed in the pattern.