Thursday 2 December 2010

Thursday thoughts on magic loop and stuff

I am really enjoying knitting magic loop at the moment. The one thing it took me a while to figure out is ladder avoidance, which seems to need slightly different handling to dpns. Cos on dpns you can just up the tension at the start of each needle and all is geberally well.

But I found that just pulling the hell out of that first st is less effective with magic loop, firstly because the cable (in my case!) likes to pull away a little, immediately undoing your tension. Whereas a dpn just stays where you leave it.

More importantly, when you tighten a first st, you are also affecting the tension of the final st on the previous needle. And as that st will by mow no longer be in a needle, but will be sitting on a cable, this is not so good. It will tighten far too much and you may never get it back on the needle!



See, that last st is never going to slide back onto a 4mm needle.
So instead I do it like this. Just forget about tension for that first st. Let it be floppy and daft.



Because I'm finding it's much more effective to control tension as the wool is being wrapped for the second st. A firm hand here will pull any potential ladder closed, but have much less effect on that vulnerable final st on the cable.


And don't let go of the wool during the 3rd st either, as that one will anchor the tension of the 2nd.

So, my method is:
Neglect the first st
Baby the 2nd st
Watch that 3rd st

Would be interested to hear other thoughts on ladders and other matters pertaining to magic loop...or anything in fact!

Also today:






We looked out the window at the snow a LOT. Dan went sledging and we stayed home, we tried the snow but it was a bit much



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

4 comments:

  1. I just tried magic loop on a cowl. It had pattern stitches and I didn't notice any laddering problems.

    I didn't mind it so much with the cowl as it had over 100 stitches. On something smaller with less stitches like the ankle and foot part of a sock, I think it would be far too fiddly for me.

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  2. Was it a lace pattern? I wonder if that's a bit more forgiving than plain old st st. I haven't tried lace on magic loop yet but fancy a möbius and just bought a skein of silk for it!

    I cannot discuss what I am knitting in the pics above in case my mother is reading! But I'm finding it easier than dpns as I often have to throw my knitting down to save the baby from climbing back onto the windowsill!

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  3. I try and pull that stitch tight while it is still on the needle and then when I slide down I attempt not to pull it any tighter or allow it to loosen. Not an easy task and I often pull it a little tight. Can always get it on though. The last thing I did was on 6mm needles and that was a bit trickier than my usual 4.5mm's

    For small things like fingers on gloves I use 2 DP's as if I am magic looping which is fab. I just knit on to the 3rd dp. I can't use DP's the standard way though.

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  4. I've never thought to k with 3 dp's, I reckon that must be pretty handy in tight corners! Ta for the tip!

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