After I had pondered the idea of knit yo-yos, I grabbed some sock yarn and US#1 (2.25 mm) double-pointed needles, guessed a stitch gauge, calculated a row gauge, must've multiplied by pi (because how else do you get a circle), cast on, and knit. AND IT WORKED! I made a few samples including the silk-blend, sport-weight cutie to the right.
The basic procedure is to cast on enough stitches for the circumference, then work evenly-spaced double decreases towards the center. I used sl2-k1-p2sso on every other round which makes a single straight line at each decrease point. You can see this in the photo to the left.
My original plan had some kinks, though, mostly trying to gather the teeny, tiny cast-on stitches on the beginning yarn tail. Then one of the tails snapped (I'm proud to say I didn't) so I needed to come up with another idea.
My preferred provisional cast-on is to crochet a chain in waste yarn and pick up stitches in the backs of the chains. It is very stable and allows you to put on stitch markers as you go along. But it was a disaster (see paragraph above). Years and years and years ago, I learned a provisional cast-on that uses a straight length of waste yarn. In theory, you're supposed to use a contrasting yarn so that it's easy to free the loops to knit in the opposite direction. But, what if you used a matching perle cotton and left it in? This would be strong enough to accomplish the gathering. Ta da!
I found a good tutorial with very clear pictures of the cast-on here. Again, for this application use coordinating perle cotton and don't remove it when the knitting is finished.
Basic Yo-Yo
Yarn: Sock- or sport-weight.
Needles: Set of 5 US #1 (2.25 mm) dpns or size you can work comfortably with. (Gauge is not an important consideration here.) I started with a set of 7.75" (19.7 cm) long needles and switched to 5" (12.7 cm) needles when the number of stitches got small.
Notions: Coordinating #5 perle cotton, 8 stitch markers, yarn needle, point protectors, embellishment (optional), sewing needle and thread (optional).
On a longer dpn, provisionally CO 104 sts with matching #5 perle cotton. Turn and knit one row adding markers every 13 sts. Distribute onto dpns and proceed to work in the round.
Round 1: (K5, sl2-k1-p2sso, k5) 8X. 88 sts.
Rounds 2-10 even: K all sts.
Round 3: (K4, sl2-k1-p2sso, k4) 8X. 72 sts.
Round 5: (K3, sl2-k1-p2sso, k3) 8X. 56 sts.
Round 7: (K2, sl2-k1-p2sso, k2) 8X. 40 sts.
Round 9: (K1, sl2-k1-p2sso, k1) 8X. 24 sts.
Round 11: Sl2-k1-p2sso 8X. 8 sts.
Cut yarn with about an 8" (20 cm) tail. Use the yarn needle to run the tail through the remaining stitches twice, tighten, and secure. Darn in the end.
Untie the beginning knot. If necessary, untwist the other end of the perle cotton so that it slides freely. Darn in the remaining yarn end. Make a single knot with the two ends of the perle cotton and gather the knitting, distributing it evenly. When it is as tight as it will go, double knot the cotton. Add a button, if desired. (I added an information page on how to secure sewing yarn to knitting. You can access it from the header.)
Now, on fabric yo-yos the gathered side is considered the right side. On these, I preferred to use the center (left in the photo) as the top side. The gathered side has its charms, though, so use it if you prefer. A button here is not optional; you will need one large enough to cover the perle cotton.
I will leave you with that for now. I do have a really neat variation for next time. Until then . . .
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