Friday, May 04, 2007

Wrestling a Porcupine No More


I've been itching to start a pair of socks lately, and decided to resist no longer and take the plunge into the sock yarn stash, despite being in the "muddle" of a whole bunch of other crafty projects. So here's what I just started...socks in Trekking XXL from a pattern in Sensational Knitted Socks, a great book by Charlene Schurch that I bought quite some time ago. I'm knitting a six-stitch pattern sock. I am thinking of using the simple slipped-stitch rib for the sock pattern, but the waterfall rib is calling me too. Although I debated knitting these socks on a circular needle (a chance to use my new Addi Turbos), I ended up going with my DPNs. It really wasn't so long ago that knitting with double pointed needles felt somewhat like wrestling a porcupine, but after knitting Ann Budd's Cowgirl Slipper Socks using DPNs earlier this year, I think I've truly been converted! See this post. It was such a pleasure to work with five needles. Dividing all the stitches on four individual needles really allowed me to visualize more clearly the structure of the basic sock. Fixing mistakes also seemed easier with the DPNs. There wouldn't be as many stitches to undo if I had to rip back to a mistake using the DPNs vs. a long circular needle.

2 comments:

Nadia said...

Ooo! I love the Trekking XXL.

For the socks I'm making right now, I Magic Loop until the heel, then DPN the heel and gusset, then Magic Loop again. What I hate is the feeling of too many stitches through the heel.

Unknown said...

That's a good idea! I do like how neat and tidy toe-up socks are. No Kitchener stitch to deal with.