The birth of a new idea...

It's almost six years since I first worked out that it should be possible.

My inspiration was a piece of two-color rib, (sometimes called corrugated rib) which produces a beautiful effect, and is often used on the welts of hats, mittens and cardigans. 

It is, however, one-sided. The back of two-color rib looks like the back of Fair Isle knitting, with threads stranded across, and I wanted to make a two-sided version of it. I went home and played with my yarn for a couple of evenings, convinced that I could make it work.

I'm one of those knitters who tries something and rips it apart until it goes right.

When I began to see the potential solution, I had to work out how to knit it. Then how to hold the two yarns that were forming the fabric to get the tension even. Soon I realized that this technique had great potential.

I began to explore various styles of knitting, to see where I could introduce the new stitch to them, to make them also two-sided.

Over the next few months, I spent many sleepless nights and distracted days. I also checked every knitting book I could lay my hands on. I hadn't come across anything like this technique before, but I wanted to find out who else had done it. A search of the entire Chicago Library system, lots of online resources and historical records yielded nothing like it. I contacted expert knitters and historians here (USA) and in the UK. No-one had information about this technique.

I'm still exploring, still coming up with new ideas. Twigg stitch, as it came to be called, is remarkably versatile.