Friday, June 29, 2012

Is this the end of my DPNs?

I never dream that this day will come ..... I love sock knitting & I love knitting socks with dpns ..... it's just so therapeutic knitting with dpns, going round & round the sock. I must have at least 10 sets of 2.5mm dpns which is my favorite size & of course, a few sets each of sizes 2.25mm & 2.75mm. My favorite are Knitpro Harmony dpns but I also have Lantern Moons, Brittany, Pony Pearl,Addi & Clover. In fact I have a whole drawer full of dpns !

Then I started teaching sock knitting with the magic loop. I have never been a fan of magic loop as I find the pulling & pushing of the cord tedious & it breaks the momentum of going round & round. But I had to do it for the class.....

A few weeks ago, in one of my class, one of the ladies asked if I know the technique of knitting 2 socks on one circular. I admitted that I have not tried that as magic loop is not my favorite technique. But it got me thinking & I started researching ..... I found a few videos on youtube (this is the best video) & I decided to try it out .......
..... these are the Olympian Socks but I am knitting them toe-up. 

To my surprise, I am enjoying knitting these socks & there is not so much pulling & pushing of the cord as there are 2 socks on the needle. I am using an Addi bamboo 2.5mm with 100cm (40") cord & the needle is so smooth & lovely to knit with. So far, I am quite happy with this technique & have also acquired a few sets of circular needles with the long cord. 

But ...... I do miss my dpns. Will I use them again?

6 comments:

Michelle Lee said...

So do you prefer knitting two socks at once or one sock at a time? I've never tried knitting two socks at once before...

Cornelia said...

I also dropped my dpns in favour of circular needles. I don't use the magic loop, though, and knitting two socks at the same time on a magic loop only ended in confusion - I use two short circular needles to knit socks.

2paw said...

I am glad you like two at once, but I still love my dpn, I like the way I don't have to think about, or count, my stitches and I can increase/decrease or make patterns with ease. Is is faster doing two at once or do you still get bored towards the end???

Roseann said...

That is one gorgeous pair of socks! I appreciate hearing about your experience with moving the two socks along on one needle.

Does changing yarn to work the second sock slow you down? I found your blog especially helpful as I am planning on knitting toe-up socks for a friend's birthday present as I am worried about running out of yarn.

Rose Red said...

I love dpns and magic loop! Have never tried two at once magic loop though - well, not for socks anyway! I find I get the yarn tangled, so I've always stuck with one at a time.

Bogie said...

I started out with 2 circs, then went to magic loop, then dpns. I like my circular needles a lot, but some times I just want to use dpns. I think you'll use them again.