Circular Socks
Some of you may recall that one of my New Year's resolutions (in addition to knitting a top-down sweater, which I've done) was to learn to knit socks on circular needles. Ta-Dah! I did it.
This is actually the second pair I made. Here is the finished product:
(One of these days I'm going to get some nifty sock forms like Barbara to show off my socks.)I took a class at my LYS to learn to do this. Five women, all of us incredibly frustrated for the first two classes until suddenly we 'got it.' Here are my thoughts on the process: Pros: It seems faster than knitting one sock at a time on double points. It's great for self-striping yarns like this or simple patterns.
Cons: The yarn is constantly getting tangled. You must have two balls of yarn instead of one big ball. I can't imagine doing it with a lace pattern.
I think I will knit simpler socks on circulars and stick to my trusty double points for lace, cables, and other fancy patterns.
Have any of you knit socks this way? What do you think of the process?
Labels: circulars, handknit socks, New Year's resolutions
posted by Cindi Myers at 10:28 AM
8 Comments:
I LOVE these, Cindi, and am appropriately awed that you worked 2 socks on one circ. The mind boggles! I am a 1 sock/1 sock Magic Looper and have yet to find any limitations. If you want to work lacy socks, you can still use a circ but maybe one sock at a time makes more sense. Then again if you love double points (that was when I finally believed I was a knitter: the day I mastered dpns) why change? For me it was a matter of hand pain: manipulating dpns hurts; working a circ doesn't. At least not all the time . . . Great great job!
I knit socks on 2 circs, but I do them one at a time. Haven't tried doing 2 at a time. Just don't feel the need. I enjoy starting that second sock after getting the first one done. In fact, I usually get so excited about how great the first one turned out I can hardly wait to get the second one going. I guess I'm one of those 'process' knitters (which is why I don't mind knitting with 0000 needles and size 8 perle cotton thread).
I detest double pointed needles with a passion, and I believe that using 2 circs is faster, even at one sock at a time.
Btw, I haven't knit up the sock yarn I won yet (will be doing that later in June), but I did read one of your books for the first time. It seemed the least I could do after your generosity. I read Someone Like You. I enjoyed it immensely and plan to read more of your books.
Take care,
The Beadknitter
Linda Jo
Oh no! I'm so sorry. With more than one author posting on here, I got confused as to who I was commenting to. It's Barbara's book that I read. Now I am really embarrassed.
I'm a DPN girl at heart. I have been forced to do two circulars for Firebird (because of the plaited basketweave stitching- you can't break that up between needles!) but I don't like it as much as I like my DPNs. The wonders of Magic Loop and two socks at once aren't all that exciting- although one of these days I may try two at once on DPNs (because if you tuck one inside the other and work it like color work, it's doable. However, it's not simple.
(if you want to see Firebird, do a project search on Ravelry for it. It's gorgeous... and a sock, Nancy, so you've been warned)
To clarify, this is two socks knit on two circulars. I think I'll use this method and DPNs, depending on the sock pattern.
This discussion is truly terrifying. TWO SOCKS AT ONCE ON DPNS!?!?!?! Are you insane?!?!? Or just a masochist?
Nancy, you've had concerns about sanity before (it's all about the socks, I know)- why would you start questioning my sanity now? Giggle.
Seriously- there's an article on Knitty about how to do it.
Gorgeous socks, Cindi.
I do two socks at once on two sets of DPNs. That way I know they match lengthwise and such. (Can you tell I did one after the other once and they came out completely different?)
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