Day 17 - Magic Loops VS 2 Circulars

I started my hat project the other day and discovered I don't have the correct length 5.5 mm circular. I need a 40 cm (16") one to do the hat or use DPNs which would be a pain because with 104 stitches per round there would be 26 stitches per needle.

So I headed into my wonderful Knitting Help app to learn the Magic Loop and 2 Circular needle methods. The first night I tried the Magic Loop method. I guess this method works okay but I found myself forever pulling the cable out and I don't like doing that. It feels like I'm hurting my very expensive Addi-Turbo. I have been told that they don't break easily but I still don't like putting the undue wear on it.

The next day I thought I'd watch the 2 Circular Needle method again. I didn't give it a fair shake the previous night. I was tired, a bit cranky and the two circular needles were giving me a rough time. Once I watched the video again with Brenda in the morning at coffee, I felt a little more confident that I was doing it wrong the first time and I thought I had it all ironed out in my head.

The trick with the 2 circulars is to have 2 different coloured circulars. It worked out for me because my 60cm circular is Bamboo and the 80cm circular is an Addi-Turbo. The thing to remember when using this method is to make sure you're only using one needle at a time. So whatever needle is next to be worked, make sure the other loose end you use is the other end of it, not the other circular needle. Clear as mud? lol. Got to http://www.knittinghelp.com and I found the video in Working in the Round.



You can see in this picture that I'm working the bamboo needle for this half of the hat and the Addi is not in use right now.

Of the two methods I've talked about in here, I like the 2 circulars better but my preferred method of knitting in the round is to have the correct length needle. For socks and small things, I love to use DPNs. I almost never use straight pins for knitting, even things that are worked back and forth in the flat, I use a circular needle.

Oh and I know, this blog is posted a day late. It was all in my head last night but I was too tired to enter it onto the computer. I will try and have another entry for today but that will be later on.

So here's your daily dose of fibre from me...
Later Peeps.

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