Picking up stitches on the fly in double-knitting.

You will need to pick up pairs at the beginning and end of the rows.
I am using three (3) needles when picking up stitches along one edge and (4) for both edges.

The piece is worked flat. The first and/or last pair of stitches are worked normally, but not dropped from the left needle. Instead, transfer them to the edge needle. Work the K (or the front) of the pair not dropping the stitch from the left needle. Using the edge needle in front of the work, pick up the just worked stitch from the left needle. Shift the edge needle to the back of the work. Now work the P (or back side stitch) not letting it drop off the leftover needle. With the edge needle behind the work, pick up the just worked stitch from the left needle.
You will notice that the stitches picked up at the end of the row are in the wrong order on the edge needle. As with many things in double-knitting (cabling and decreases) rearranging the stitches is needed. Use the right needle behind the work to pick up the P (or back side stitch) from the edge needle. Use the free (now empty left needle) in front of the work, to pick up the K (or front stitch) from the edge needle. Now replace the pair on the edge needle, first from the right needle then from the free needle. Take a second and make sure the stitches are not twisted.

When picking up stitches at the beginning of a row, the stitches on the edge needle are in the correct order. I notice after completing the row and turning the work, the first stitch on the edge needle is twisted. Fix this with the free needle.

Check the edge needle often, make sure that the picked up pairs match, are not twisted, and come from each side wrapping the edge stitches.

Now comes the tricky part, matching gauge. For my experiment I’m using worsted weight yarn and #6US (4mm) dpn’s. My swatch gauge is 16x24 for a 4 inch (10cm) square. This gives me a 2:3 ratio. Pick up two stitches over three rows. I’ll be picking up the edge at the end of the first row, or the left edge from the front side view.

Row 1. Work to the end, pick up last pair, turn
Row 2. Pick up first pair, work to the end, turn
Row 3. Work to the end, turn
Row 4. Pick up first pair, work to the end, turn
Row 5. Work to the end, pick up last pair, turn
Row 6. Work to the end, turn

Repeat these six rows,

For the right side edge, work rows 4-6,1-3(repeat)

For both edges, use a separate needle for each edge and pick up the first and last pairs for two rows then neither for one row, repeat.

(I did 3x) check the edge needle. There should be picked up stitches for two rows then skip one row (matching the 2:3 gauge ratio). This works for straight edges, for curves calculate according to gauge and pick up edge stitches as figured.

Next up, seeing how color work patterns react.