Having gotten the idea of trying socks on one long circular, I proceeded to obsess about it - LOL! No surprise there, eh? So yesterday I went in search of a long, size 1 (US) circular. I kept thinking that A. C. Moore would have it; their needle selection is pretty good. They had the needle in 16” and 24” lengths. I wanted at least a 29” length and longer, if possible.
The next stop was another craft shop, privately owned and not a place I frequent because it’s tends to be expensive. But I had found needles there previously that I hadn’t found anywhere else. I figured it was worth a look. It didn’t look so good as I turned in and saw that the parking lot hadn’t been plowed but there were a few cars and the lights were on in the store, so I jiggled the car through the lot, parked and went inside.
Well, the door may have been open, but there was no business - craft or otherwise - living there any more. The place had been stripped to the walls (and part of the walls too, I think) and there was obviously some kind of construction going on. I backed out quickly and quietly.
Well poop.
There was only one more option and that’s a fairly snooty shop that I don’t bother with often. They have a lot of very beautiful, very costly yarns and a staff that tends to dismiss you quickly if you’re wearing jeans. Unfortunately, they also carry about every brand, length, type and style of needle known to man and, of course, they had long size 1 circulars.
My second Addi - I never thought I’d own even one!
47” long! Not what I had expected to find but hey :) It was the longest needle they had and I figured better more length than not enough.
Last night, I got the sock transferred from the DPNs to the circular, worrying that I wouldn’t be able to figure it out, that it wasn’t going to work, that it would be a waste of time and money.
But it turned out to be easy. I highly recommend the tutorial mentioned in yesterday’s post. It is clearly written with nice big photographs. I was up and running in less than 5 minutes.
A lovely sight!
I worked on this for two hours last night without the slightest hint of crampy hands or unhappy fingers. The single circular really made a difference in terms of comfort, is much faster to work with than the DPNs and much less clumsy than two circulars - though the technique is quite similar. This is very cool and, assuming the needle stands up well, will be well worth the chase and the price.
Even if it isn’t your preferred method, I guess I’d recommend trying it. As has become clear to me over the last few months, there are lots of ways to do circular knitting. Some ways will be good for some things and other methods better for other projects. It’s comforting to know that I can apply any technique I want to any given project. Ahhh - learning is a wonderful thing!
Goldie, looking wistful
The cats and I hope you all have wonderful, knitterly, enlightening weekends!
No trackbacks yet.
I like the new layout, and am happy you have an RSS feed, now I can keep up with you more often via Bloglines! :)
Man I hate snooty shops. I’m going to the town tomorrow where my first lys is, but now that I’ve “been around the block” with lys’s I don’t care for it much. But I’m torn between shopping there or giving my money to some big national chain. I’d rather go to the little local lys. Anyway, I could go off on some tangent, but I won’t. I’m definitely trying magic loop to finish up these socks in my UFO pile. Thanks!
Natalie - Thanks :)
Laura - Well, as far as the shops go, how welcome I am made to feel has a lot to do with how willing I am to go back - regardless of whether it’s an LYS or a “box” store.
I sure hope you find the magic loop technique as useful as I do - this is going to change a lot of things for me :)
Glad you found the needle you needed… they do make the Addis in a 60 inch length too. I think you will find them long wearing. I have made at least 20 pairs of socks on my size 2’s(2sock, 2Circular method). They do not show one bit of wear and tear. Glad the Magic Loop is working out for you.I love the new look of the blog too!
Maureen - Thanks for the info about the Addis. I know they’re supposed to be pretty good quality and it’s nice to hear that someone else finds this to be the case. They were a little expensive and I would hate to think I’m going to have to replace it every couple of pairs of socks!
