How to Hand Knit Colorwork with a Bird’s-Eye Backing and Enclosed Floats
To hand knit colorwork with a bird’s-eye backing, work two layers together: choose each front stitch from your motif and each back stitch from an alternating two-color pattern. Carry both yarns between the layers as you knit and purl, keeping the connecting strands inside the fabric.
This tutorial is for knitters who can already knit, purl, and follow a simple color sequence. You’ll make a small, flat practice swatch with two color blocks on the front and a dotted backing, then learn how to substitute your own motif.
What creates the bird’s-eye backing?
Bird’s-eye backing is associated with machine-knit double jacquard. In her technical lesson, knitwear designer and educator Olgalyn Jolly describes a backing in which each yarn works alternate needles, with the selection alternating between rows. She also explains that double-jacquard yarn carries lie between two knitted layers. Terminology varies: some machine systems use “birdseye” for structures also described as jacquard twill. O! Jolly! Workshop: Intro to Double Jacquard
The hand-knitting approach here adapts that alternating backing through two-pattern double knitting. It specifies the front and back separately; it does not reproduce a particular machine’s carriage sequence. Designer Alasdair Post-Quinn documents that double knitting can have different patterns on its two layers. Fallingblox Designs: Two-pattern Double-knitting
For this swatch, the backing alternates A and B across each row and shifts those colors on the following row. That produces a small checkerboard of colored knit stitches. The front remains free to show larger shapes.
How do the two layers stay on one needle?
Arrange the stitches in pairs: one stitch belongs to the face toward you, and the next belongs to the face away from you. Knit the first stitch and purl the second. Every pair therefore represents one visible stitch on each surface. DROPS illustrates this alternating front-and-back arrangement in its double-knitting instructions. DROPS Design: Double Knitting: Pattern
The essential yarn movement is:
- Put both yarns behind the needles and knit the next stitch with its assigned color.
- Bring both yarns between the needle tips to the front.
- Purl the next stitch with its assigned color.
- Return both yarns between the tips to the back.
Moving both strands together places the unused yarn on the inside of the appropriate layer. This knit-and-purl sequence is the foundation described in Brooklyn Tweed’s double-knitting tutorial. Brooklyn Tweed: How To Knit: Colorwork in Double Knitting
Here, the knit and purl stitches in a pair may use the same color. For example, a front A stitch may sit opposite a backing A stitch. Follow the two assigned colors independently rather than automatically purling the opposite color.
What do you need for a readable practice swatch?
Choose two smooth, solid yarns of the same weight with a clear difference in shade. Use needles suitable for those yarns, plus a removable marker and a tapestry needle. A small amount of each yarn is enough for this exercise; no finished dimensions are prescribed.
Call the lighter yarn A and the darker yarn B. You will cast on 16 individual stitches, giving eight front-and-back pairs. Count the actual loops on the needle when checking your work: eight pairs means 16 loops.
This is a technique sample. For a finished project, make a larger swatch in the actual motif and backing. Measure the fabric after the finishing treatment you intend to use. Jolly emphasizes that stitch proportions affect a design’s appearance and that a sample should include the intended yarns and pattern. O! Jolly! Workshop: Intro to Double Jacquard
How do you knit the complete two-color swatch?
The following practice sequence is an illustrative adaptation of independently patterned double knitting. It is supplied as a worked exercise, without a claim of physical sample testing.
Cast on and establish the layers
Using A alone, cast on 16 stitches with a familiar cast-on. Join B at the first setup row, leaving a tail to weave in later.
Setup row 1: Repeat knit 1 with A, purl 1 with B eight times, moving both yarns together as described above. Turn.
Setup row 2: Repeat knit 1 with B, purl 1 with A eight times. Turn. Attach the removable marker to the surface now facing you; this is the designated front.
When turning at a side edge, cross the two working yarns once before beginning the next row. Keep the crossing relaxed. Brooklyn Tweed recommends twisting the yarns at a row edge when working flat to connect the layers. Brooklyn Tweed: How To Knit: Colorwork in Double Knitting
Work the patterned rows
In the table, A/B means knit 1 with A, then purl 1 with B. A/A means knit and purl with A. Each cell consumes two stitches. Read every table row from left to right, beginning with the next pair on your left needle; the turning and reversal have already been accounted for.
| Row | Pair 1 | Pair 2 | Pair 3 | Pair 4 | Pair 5 | Pair 6 | Pair 7 | Pair 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1: front facing | A/A | A/B | A/A | A/B | B/A | B/B | B/A | B/B |
| 2: backing facing | A/B | B/B | A/B | B/B | A/A | B/A | A/A | B/A |
Work row 1, turn, then work row 2 and turn again. Repeat these two rows six times in total, producing 12 patterned rows above the setup. Cross the yarns once at each turn and maintain 16 stitches throughout.
On the marked front, the first four columns worked on row 1 remain A and the next four remain B. On the backing, each row alternates colors, and the colors shift between successive rows. Inspect both surfaces after the first two patterned rows before continuing.
Close the top edge
For a simple joined sample edge, use A and knit the first two stitches together. Knit the next two stitches together, then pass the previous stitch over the new stitch to bind it off. Continue combining each adjacent pair and binding off until one loop remains. Cut A and draw the tail through that loop. Keep the edge loose enough to match the swatch width.
This finish joins the two layers and leaves a visible edge. For a different finish, the layers can be separated onto two needles and joined with grafting or a three-needle bind-off, as Purl Soho describes in its double-knitting guidance. Purl Soho: Double Knitting
Weave the tails into the inner surface of a layer without pulling them tight or bringing them through the outward face. Finish the sample according to the yarn’s care instructions, then lay it flat to assess the fabric.
How do you chart your own front motif?
Keep two color plans of equal width and height. One records the front motif. The other records the alternating backing. Label both using the same physical columns, as though you could look through the front and see the backing stitches directly behind it.
Use this conversion rule when knitting flat:
- Front-facing rows: Travel across the front chart from right to left. Knit each front color, then purl the backing color assigned to that same physical column.
- Backing-facing rows: Travel across the aligned plans in the opposite direction. Knit the backing color, then purl the front color assigned to that column.
For the backing, write A-B-A-B across one row and B-A-B-A across the next. Repeat that two-row arrangement upward. Do not automatically invert the front motif’s colors on return rows: both surfaces already have explicit assignments.
Start with a small geometric motif and translate two rows into knit/purl pairs before knitting. The worked table above demonstrates the key check: after turning, the layer previously purled becomes the layer knitted. Independently patterned layers are an established extension of double knitting. Fallingblox Designs: Two-pattern Double-knitting
How can you tell whether the yarn carries are enclosed?
Inspect the marked front and then the backing. Both outward surfaces should show knit stitches, with no horizontal yarn bars running across them. Any strand traveling between its uses should remain inside the two-layer fabric. This placement follows the enclosed construction described for double jacquard. O! Jolly! Workshop: Intro to Double Jacquard
Use the following sequence to diagnose the sample before changing needle size or rewriting the chart.
| What you see | What to check | What to do next |
|---|---|---|
| A horizontal strand across an outward face | Whether only one yarn moved before a knit or purl | Undo to the affected pair and restore the both-yarns movement |
| Vertical stripes on the backing | Whether the backing colors shifted on the next physical row | Recheck row parity and the return-row sequence |
| The front motif appearing on the backing | Whether you automatically chose the opposite color for every purl | Follow the independently assigned backing colors |
| An unexpected ridge | Whether a layer stitch was knitted instead of purled, or vice versa | Identify the affected pair before undoing it |
| More or fewer than 16 stitches | An accidental extra loop, missed stitch, or unintended decrease | Restore the eight pairs before continuing |
How do you improve tension before making a larger piece?
After working each pair, let the new stitches spread naturally along the right needle. Avoid pulling the unused strand tight before its next appearance. Compare the width of the front color blocks with the backing beneath them; persistent gathering is a reason to remake the sample with a more relaxed yarn feed.
Measure gauge from visible stitches on one surface. For example, a hypothetical sample with 20 visible stitches across 10 cm would require 40 visible stitches for a 20 cm width, or 80 individual stitches on the needle, before any additional edge stitches. Those numbers illustrate the calculation; use your own finished swatch measurements.
A larger motif sample should include both its broadest single-color area and several color changes. Purl Soho specifically recommends measuring double-knitted fabric rather than estimating its gauge from a single-layer sample. Purl Soho: Double Knitting
Keep the small swatch as a reference for stitch pairing and row orientation. Once its front blocks are clear, its backing alternates correctly, and its outer surfaces have no exposed carries, replace the front sequence with your chosen motif while preserving the backing plan and both-yarns movement.