Magic Loop

Did you know that March is National Craft Month? Dust off yo’ mama’s needles! This is a great excuse to make anything from pot roast to mittens. Off you go.

I’m really excited about today. I have the entire day off and, apart from cleaning and laundry, I can do whatever I want with it. Moreover, it’s one of those early spring rainy/blustery days, the best kind of day for knitting.

Now, knitting can be a very straight-ahead affair: begin at the beginning and work your way to the end. It’s an old road, though, and sometimes one little road leads to another little road in a most unexpected chain. Such is the case with my recent sock knitting exploits in general and the Stag Horn Snow Socks particularly.  I started out with simple, large gauge toe-ups and Huzzah! Magic Loop!

Magic Loop is a technique I’d heard and read a lot about but never really tried because I’m generally very happy working on double-points. DP’s do have their limitations, however. For instance, I don’t like knitting anything too big (like hats) on DP’s because it feels all floppy in my hands. At the same time, I hate the feeling of the really tiny tips on short circulars. Magic Loop has solved the problem! It has also solved the problem of splitting the center cable of the Stag Horn socks onto two needles.

As you may have guessed, I’ve ripped out the socks. I was pretty pleased but my inner knit-fairy told me the gauge was wrong and that, really, I wanted a little rib. So out they came. I’d been working on 3.75mm DP’s but  knew I really wanted 3.5’s. <rats> No 3.5mm DP’s. Found a 3.5mm circular, though. light bulb. Magic Loop!

Off I went to the Library of Google and found this terrific UTube video narrated by a woman with a truly lovely Australian accent.

See! Easy as pie!

Now, I’m not sayin’ I’m throwing over DP knitting. I find Magic Loop a teensy bit slower and a little hard to hold at the end of each needle and I must say, a very long circular is best for this type of work. Perhaps this is a good juncture to restate an oft-mentioned axiom: Addi Scakel Turbo needles are hands down fabulous. They are the ‘Porche’ of knitting needles. Maybe not the prettiest but, gotta love that good ol’ German engineering.

I can’t wait to use this technique to do sleeves. Which brings me to the point where I must run off and start my very first sweater design: the String of Pearls Cardigan.