Twisting Tides

Twisting Tides is an excellent introduction to two-color cables, which are created with twisted stitches. This hat is knit from the bottom up in the round. The hat body and crown are worked in two-color stranded knitting. Some rounds in the chart require moving the beginning of round marker and optional motif markers. We made a video showing you how to do this - see below.

Swatching in the Round

To make a small swatch in the round, knit one row, and then slide the stitches to the other end of your needle. Continue knitting, leaving a long float of at least 6" between each side. Your edge stitches will be loose and sloppy, but the middle stitches will give you a good indication of your gauge! When you're finished, just lay the ruler over the center of your swatch and count the number of stitches in 2" then double it to see if you match the gauge over 4".

Locking Floats

In just a few places, you'll have long stretches of the background color where the motif color isn't used. You may choose to lock your floats every 4 or so stitches (generally around every 0.5" or 1.25 cm) to secure them. This will help with your tension. 

To lock floats, bring the resting color over the working color behind the work before working the next stitch. Knit. Return the resting color to the resting position. The color that you want to pop (typically the motif color, in this case Color A) should be kept in the LOWER position. For Right Handed knitters, this would typically be held in your left hand.

Shifting Your Markers

Probably the single most confusing part of this pattern is that in some cases you must shift your markers to get the cables to line up properly. It's not just you - it's confusing for everyone! This video shows you how to work Round 8 of the Twisting Tides "Hat Body" section, when you have to shift your markers LEFT one stitch.

The IMPORTANT instructions for this round read 

"Move markers 1 stitch to the left: At the beginning of round, remove marker, work the next stitch with A, replace marker. Work to 1 stitch before each marker and move each marker 1 stitch to the left."