I didn't buy my first set of four double-pointed needles to make anything in particular. Oh, I rationalized that I would need to learn how to make a seamless sleeve and that one day I might actually want to knit socks, but I had neither of those projects in mind. For me, double-points held the excitement of using several dangerous objects to do something any sane human would consider impossible.
I could almost hear the carnival barker in the background, "Step right down and see the lovely and exotic Janice of Atlantis as she defies fate while juggling hundreds of deadly, pointy sticks AND produces a horrifyingly hideous garment with no known use!!" And the crowd gasps and shivers as the monstrous thing ensuing from my flying needles grows at an alarming rate.
So when a knitting sage stated disdainfully that Americans should give up the foolish habit of knitting in the round with 4 needles and do the sensible thing and buy Continental sets of 5 needles, I was overjoyed. One more deadly pointy stick to amaze and horrify the quivering crowd!
When I first heard of knitting in the round on two circular needles, I was unimpressed. Though my experiments at knitting large tubes with several double-pointed needles had been disasterous, using circular needles seemed like cheating. Much more enticing was the Magic Loop Method. Oooooh! It's Magic!
But my most recent request is not for magic-loop and so I've relegated the online videos of that technique to the sidebar of the newsletter. Once you master knitting in the round on two circulars, the jump to magic loop will be easy.
But let's not come back to reality just yet. I'm going to ask you to turn on your creative thinking and tell yourself that knitting in the round on two circular needles is exactly the same as working in the round with double-points. There is nothing to fear. The only difference is that even though you will still be working with 4 needlepoints, your four double points have been magically attached by a flexible cord so that they appear to be two needles. If you can tell yourself that it only LOOKS like you have two needles -- the oddness of it will go away.
Equipment
If you've been knitting sweaters with circular needles for a while, you probably have at least two circulars of different lengths for the needle size you usually use. the small one will normally be used for sleeves and collars, the larger one for the body of the sweater.
Both circulars should be the same needle size but they don't have to match each other or be the same length. As a matter of fact, it's handy if they are of different lengths or a different needle color or both. The 20" circular I'm using has silver needle tips and the 28" has blue.
1. Casting On
When working with double-points, I have always cast on to a long single-point of the same size, and then transferred the stitches to the round. Same goes here. Cast an even number of stitches onto one of the circulars. I've cast on 20 stitches using the long tail method for this example.
2. Divide
After casting on using the long single-point, I would then begin slipping the stitches to double-pointed needles. Since I normally found myself with 4-needle sets, I would divide the number of stitches by 3 and slip the result to individual needles. That usually ended up being 5, 5, 6 or 7,7,8. In the case of two circular needles your job is simpler. Divide by two. Here, I've slipped half the stitches to my second circular.
Your first reaction will be "How the hell am I supposed to knit this! The needle points are nowhere near the yarn! Am I supposed to carry the yarn up and weave in later!"
Well, no. A little bit more magic is needed here and that is to...
3. Slide
You're now going to slide the stitches on both needles to the opposite end. Grab the stitches loosely in one hand and, one at a time, pull the stiches over the cable to the opposite needle point. Not all the way onto the needlepoint, just right up to it. The pink arrows show the direction of pull.
Once your stitches are butting up against the opposite needle points, gently ease them over the cable connection so that a few are actually on the metal part of the needles.
The last of the cast-on tail, and the working yarn from the ball should both be nearest the points of the needles. By sliding the stitches to the other end of the needles, you've positioned your stitches near the working points where the working yarn from the ball can be knit.
4. Join
Many tutorals will tell you to just start knitting here, and at some point you may choose to do that. But for the sake of clarity about what goes where, when, how and why, I like to do one last step.
I like to join my work by exchanging the first stitches from both needles. At left, you'll see that the silver circular holds mostly yellow and the blue holds mostly green stitches of this variegated yarn. I took the green stitch closest to the blue needle point (with my fingers :::gasp:::) and slipped it onto the silver needle. Then I took the yellow stitch closest to the silver needle point and pulled it up and over the green stitch and put it onto the blue needle. With everything joined up this way, there's less risk of the circulars flopping around and doing their best to confuse you.
Note: There is no confusion here about whether or not your stitches are twisted as there would be with 3 or 4 double-points. It's easy to see that the cast-on ridge is towards the center.
The working yarn (which is turning purple here) is still attached to the stitches on the silver needle. This means that the silver needle will be your PASSIVE needle.
Note:Whenever you set your work down, from now on, there will be no question about which direction you should be knitting. If you're in the middle of a needle's worth, you continue knitting as normal. If, on the other hand, the working yarn is hanging off the end of one needle, then that needle is the passive needle. You will begin knitting on the other needle, the active needle.
5. Knitting Re-Visualized
Your first instinct will be to pick up the silver needle point in your right hand and begin knitting stitches off the blue needle-point in your left. But that defeats the purpose, doesn't it? Again, you'll be asked to look at knitting in a completely and somewhat jarring way.
Grabbing the Active Blue needle with your left hand, pull the passive silver needle point to the right in order to slide its stitches to the center of the silver cable. Let the passive needle hang.
Pick up the dangling Blue needle point and begin knitting.
All of the stiches on the Blue needle will always stay on the blue needle. Likewise, all of the stitches on the silver needle, will always stay on the silver needle.
You will never knit stitches off the blue needle with the silver, and vice versa. Each needle's stitches stay on their same needle. It sounds impossible when I say it, but you can see how that would work by the picture at the left. It's as though you were knitting a gigantic idiot cord.
When you get to the end of the stitches on the Blue needle it immediately becomes the passive needle. Slide the stitches to the center of the blue needle's cable and pick up the active silver needle. Slide the silver needle point closest to the working yarn into working position. Knit silver to silver until you get through that side of stitches, and voila, the silver needle becomes the passive needle again.
When you sit the work down and walk away and come back to it again, the needle that has the working yarn hanging off it is always the PASSIVE NEEDLE.
Things to watch out for
Eureka! No more lost double pointed needles in the bottom of the knitting bag. No more picking up and reknitting stitches that were dropped by that wayward double-point.
Well, yes, there is that big benefit. But there is a construction problem that must be overcome as well as some often overlooked benefits.
Ladders
In Two-Circular and Magic-Loop knitting, it is very easy to leave ladders on both sides of the knitting. Now I don't mean 'ladders' created by a dropped stitch. The ladders I'm talking about are stitches that are visably looser than the others. They are created by a change in tension between the last stitch on one needle and the first stitch on the other. If you've knitted in the round on double points, you're accustomed to the snugging of the first stitch on every needle.
The technique on two circulars is similar, but the tug you are accustomed to giving the yarn may not be enough. Additionally, giving that first stitch a really hard tug may render that first stitch too small to easily slip over the connection between the needle and the cable.
My technique is to give a really hard cinch to the 2nd stitch -- not the first. This gives the yarn two avenues for ease, the first and third stitch. If you're still getting ladders, you might want to give a hard cinch to the next-to-the-last stitch on the needle as well. Same principle.
Your object is not to completely eliminate the ladder. While you're knitting that won't be possible. Your intention is to reduce it to the point that the first wash you give the piece will allow the stitches around the ladder to ease in and erase it.
Your first few projects will be laddered to some extent. This is not a failure ... it's an opportunity. You have contrasting colored and novelty yarns in your stash. Use them to put 'running stripes down the sides of your socks or your sleeves, by needle-weaving through the ladder.
Benefits
No more shifting needles when you have to make a heel. No more reshifting needles to make the toe.
With this technique you can easily knit a short-row heel on one needle. With this technique (and a stitch holder or a third circular) you can do a provisional cast-on to knit a peasant heel. And yes, Sandy, you can even do a good old fashioned dutch heel just by working back and forth on the 'heel' needle and then ensuring that all of the picked up stitches also end up on the 'heel' needle before beginning your gusset decreases.
After you finish your heel on one circular and begin knitting in the round again, your sock is already positioned correctly to decrease the toe (when you get there) with the K1,k2tog ... ssk, k1 combo.
Cable, lace and other patterned stitches become simple. No more intense examination of your work every time you pick up a new needle. You aren't required to keep an equal number of stitches on each needle. You can divide your work by the garter stitch or stockinette stitch gutter between each motif. Once you're finished with the heel of a sock, for instance, you can easily continue the lace down the top of your sock while knitting the soul in stockinette.
The possible practice project I'd like to give you is the door snake. If you live in the north, and most of us do, you know how a draft under the kitchen door can make walking barefoot in the kitchen during the winter, uncomfy. If you also happen to have a cat, a doorsnake will give them hours of amusement.
My dearly departed Tommy developed a technique for accidentally making the snake move, and then (:::gasp:::) surprised by the sudden threat (LOL) of a live snake in the house, would attack and attempt to disembowel it.
Cheap red-heart yarn or old odds and ends of acrylic yarns are great for this project. The doorsnake begins with an idiot cord, increases quickly, continues for the width of the door to be blocked, and then decreases to the nose.
Door Snake
- Using one circular needle and your preferred cast-on technique) cast on 3 stitches.
- Slide the stitches to the opposite end of the needle, so that the working yarn is at the wrong side.
- Pull the working yarn to the stitch nearest the needle point, and knit. You may want to cinch this first stitch to pull up as much slack as possible.
- Knit across all stitches.
- Again, slide the stitches to the opposite end of the needle, so that the working yarn is at the wrong side.
- Again, pull the working yarn to the stitch nearest the needle point, and knit. You may want to cinch this first stitch to pull up as much slack as possible.
- Continue knitting in this fashion. You will notice that you are creating something that looks a lot like a thick cord.
- When your chord is about 1 inch long, increase one stitch in every stitch. You'll now have 6 stitches.
- Before beginning to knit again, slip 3 stitches to your second circular.
- Your passive needle will be the needle that is attached to the working yarn. Slide the stitches on the passive needle to the center of that cable, and knit the three stitches on the active needle and then knit the three stitches on the other needle. This is an ease row and is knit with no increases.
- On the next round, increase one stitch in each stitch. You will now have 6 stitches on each needle.
- Work an ease round.
- Continue working one increase round and one ease round until the circumference of your knitting is large enough to block a draft from the door. This usually means a one or two inch diameter.
- While you're knitting you can also be thinking about what materials you will use to stuff the snake. It helps, every 6 inches or so, to prestuff the snake. Older patterns for this knitting project call for old panty-hose as the perfect stuffer. Now that sadistic HR directors don't force us to wear those any longer, you might want to take a look in your underwear drawer. Socks that you keep meaning to darn but never do, underpants that have seen better days, and tights that have pills or you never are going to wear again make perfect snake stuffing.
- Continue knitting, with no increases, and stuffing when you have enough room, until the snake is long enough to reach across the door jamb. This is your perfect opportunity to work on cinching your second stitches to reduce the ladder that will appear. If your stuffing is of a different color, you'll easily be able to guage your progress as you knit and stuff.
- The neck of the snake requires no decreases. Instead, change to K1, P1 for about 2 inches. The ribbing will contract enough to make the head appear to be a head.
- The base of the snake's head is created by returning to stockinette (knitting around) for about an inch.
At this point, you'll want to stop and gently stuff the ribbed neck. Feel free to overstuff here, because you'll want to squish the excess towards the nose of the snake when you've finished. - Now, to create the wedge nose of the snake begin decreasing as for a peasant heel.
- On each needle, k1 K2tog, knit to last 3 stitches, K2tog k1.
- The next round is an ease round. Knit all around.
- Continue decreasing one round, knitting one ease round until you still have an opening large enough to stuff through. Check to see if you have anything you can stuff into the head which will fit without getting in the way of knitting. Having the cat disembowel a stuffed toy for this purpose is encouraged. As a matter of fact, if it's a stuffed toy from a lying, cheating, ex-whatever, you could always cut the legs and part of the bottom of the toy off and stitch the last stitches of the snake mouth to the toy to make it appear to be a little more realistic than even I can stomach.
- Continue decreasing one round and easing the next until you have about 6 to 8 stitches left.
- Bind off using 3-needle bind-off or kitchener stitch. Knead the head stuffing towards the 'nose'up from the ribbed 'neck.'
If realism is important to you, you can now hotglue a felt tongue and embroider eyes on the head and throw it on the floor for your cat to disembowel. If your cat is anything like mine was, it's already tried to disembowel while you were knitting it.
Or you can wait to finish your snake until ...
Next Month
... when I haul out the crochet hook and discuss techniques for creating original Amigurumi Toys.
