Knitting in-the-round with magic loop

Once upon a time there was a woman who could only knit using straight needles or the dreaded DPNs.  Knitting was dull and tedious, and involved using much seaming of garment pieces.  Then, she had the idea to learn to knit socks--not just one at-a-time because that was too tedious, but two-at-a-time! Surely if women during WWII could knit one sock inside the other and come out with a complete pair with DPNs, it was possible to knit two socks simultaneously somehow without using DPNs.  After much research, the woman realized that to do this crazy thing, she had to learn to knit using the magic loop method.  Lo and behold, a whole new kingdom of knitting wonderfulness was revealed!

I introduce what I am about to demonstrate to you in this dramatic fairytale way because, as a pattern designer, I tend to design patterns according to how I knit.  Several of my patterns require the use of the magic loop method because I assume that I am not the only knitter in the world who hates seaming (magic loop = no seaming!)  I am probably also not the only knitter in the world who hates clumsy DPNs for knitting in-the-round.  Consequently, I tend to also assume that if people are purchasing my patterns it is because they already know how to do the magic loop method.  In reality, that doesn't always seem to be the case.  So, I am including here a link to a video that I think is a very good demonstration (why re-create the wheel just so that you can hear my voice?) of how to begin using the magic loop method.  I can't thank this person enough (Youtube.com avatar is LiatMGat) for having made this very clear and simple video that I am now sharing with you.

 

Happy magic loop knitting to all!

A Few Winter Break Masterpieces

Winter Break has been good to my knitting obsession.  I've needed to get some FOs under my belt for a while now.  I'm that type A personality who is haunted by unfinished things (you may have noticed this from previous posts).  I've made it a point to do as much knitting as possible during this break, and the FOs have begun to accumulate:

One pair of striped Elegy gloves in a custom colorway (makes me think of Florida) for a custom order:

One kelly green merino top handspun version of my Harris Slouch pattern knit in one of the new sizes of the pattern (medium) for me.  This is just in time for Scout #1's first (and last) soccer game of the season.  Scout #1, in a rock-star-of-the-soccer-game moment jumped up to head-butt the ball and came down with a crunch on his ankle, fracturing not one, but two growth plates in his ankle; however, my head was cuddly warm the whole time that I sat on those frosty aluminum bleachers.

And the socks ... they are showing signs of actually getting finished this time.  My new pattern for the perfect boot sock is coming along nicely and I am ready to turn the heels. There will be another pair of these in a more attractive yarn that doesn't separate with every stitch, but for now, this new pattern is knitting up nicely.

I am now down to 8 projects on the needles left over from the new year (2 frogged, three finished, and a new Harris Slouch size tested so far.)  I know that number seems to match the original number on my resolutions list, but I forgot to mention a few projects that I apparently had started and not finished when I made that list, including this one: the Entrelac scarf experiment (from December).  Check that one off the list!

In Knitting Heaven!

I am in knitting Heaven!  I'm pretty sure that I have just hit on the gold mine of vintage patterns for knitting, crochet, and embroidery.  It's like the Project Gutenberg of vintage patterns.  It's amazing and I am downloading every vintage knitting pattern and book that they have!  The site is called the Antique Pattern Library and I am in love!  Some of the patterns are written in British terminology, some in Italian, some in German, and I think there are a few Scandinavian patterns, too.

Here you will find patterns from the late 1800s through the mid-1900s.  I am especially in love with the 1910s right now.  Apparently, knitting was very low-class for this time period, as most of the patterns are for crochet--how far knitting has come in 100 years!  I am reminded of my great grandmother's crocheted lace doilies, as there are a gazillion patterns for crocheted lace and doilies.  She was a pro at crocheting intricate lace doilies.  I remember learning to crochet when I was in elementary school (3rd or 4th grade) because I wanted my mother to teach me to crochet doilies like my great-grandmother.  I also recall that my mother made a giant table-top doily, a pineapple design, and I am sure that I am going to inherit it one day (right, mom?).  Perhaps I will one day detour from knitting to go back and re-learn how to crochet lace now that I have this monumental resource at my fingertips.

I've downloaded vintage magazines and pattern books--mostly hats, socks, and purses but there are a few sweater patterns.  The Corticelli Yarn Book offers me the opportunity to learn to knit a dress.

What am I going to do with these?  Well, mostly just squirrel them away I am sure; however, some of them have unique stitch patterns in them that I have never seen before, and wouldn't it be fun to use some of them to design something swell!?