I am relatively new to socks myself, however my first two socks came out not being the same size (partially because there was a gap of several months in their construction). For my second pair of socks i knitted them both at the same time and on the same circular needle, something which worked out nicely: they're exactly the same, and when i finished the first i didn't have to drag myself back to the beginning of the pattern to immediately start over, which i found frustrating. i believe that i have checked out that book from the library before, but i haven't knit any projects from it yet. Anyways, i recommend knitting two pairs at the same time, it certainly made things go faster.
I think that's one reason I haven't finished the first sock and started the second. I had to adjust the pattern and it's been so long I'm not sure I could get the second one to match. But I didn't even think about the fact that doing 2 at once would mean they would pretty much be guaranteed to match. That's definitely a great argument to do both as well as the not having to start at the beginning again argument. Thanks for the insight. :)
So, I've never done socks so bear with me if this is a dumb question, but HOW do you knit two on the same circular needle?
luinel on May 17th, 2010 07:53 pm (UTC)
What i did was start with the toes separately, then slid them both onto the same circular needle. I knit the front half of sock one, knit the front of sock two, knit the back of sock two, knit the back of sock one. You need two balls of yarn (or i suppose it would work to have yarn coming from both ends of a ball at once), but it wasn't that hard. I was watching TV at the same time... but then, i have been knitting for fifteen years. I've heard of people doing the same on dpns, one sock inside the other, knitting one stitch of sock one, then one stitch of sock two, and continuing to alternate in that way. That sounds like a headache to me, though i might try it sometime just for a challenge.
arualanne on May 17th, 2010 07:53 pm (UTC)
I have this book http://www.amazon.com/2-at-Time-Socks-Revealed-Knitting/dp/1580176917/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274125701&sr=1-1
I keep meaning to start a project from it as I have done one pair of socks on double points so far and I find I really like double points, but getting the second sock done was a little daunting, so two up would be great right. The book though calls for 40" circular needs and I have not been able to find needles with a long enough cable so far especially in the small size they call for, so I am at a road block with getting started already.
So far that has been my experience with socks two up.
My question would be for those that have done them... Is a 40" circular set really necessary or would the 36" circulars I have work?
Thanks for the link. That's the same author so nice to know there's a another book.
I really can't imagine needing 40" for two socks. It looks from the reviews that they utilize the magic loop method to knit two socks on the same circular needle and 40" just seems to me to be excessive for that. But I haven't done it yet, so I could be completely wrong.
Have you read through one of the socks' instructions to see why they specify a 40"?
ETA: Reading the reviews for this book it looks like it has a ton of errors in it. Someone recommended another book as much clearer for learning (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1564777391/ref=cm_cr_asin_lnk). I guess I need to investigate the different books out there before investing.
Edited at 2010-05-17 08:17 pm (UTC)
arualanne on May 17th, 2010 08:18 pm (UTC)
yeah it could be my problem too. I had seen to book on the shelf and liked the ideas and the patterns and so it was an impulse buy that I have been frustrated by as I couldn't find 40" needles anywhere but online and at that not the right size. Maybe I should just go ahead and ignore it and use the 36" that I have and see if it does or doesn't matter. I haven't used the magic loop method yet either so I will get to see how I like that at the very least.
arualanne on May 17th, 2010 08:42 pm (UTC)
nope the book tells you one 40" circular needle, I think they recommend size 4mm, but until I get home to check I am not certain. I just finally found a set online on amazon that is bamboo and reasonable with the smaller sizes too, so I might buy them and see what happens, when in doubt you can never have too many needles right? I am getting to the point though that I am going to have to have better organization. Right now I have them all in a cup except for the few circulars that I do own and those are in small pouch.
Thanks for the info. I hope you'll come back when/if you get the 40" and try it and let us know for sure if the 40" cables are really necessary. :)
Re the organization, I'm really bad. I've got needles in various places and end up buying the same size needles over and over again because I can't find them when I need them. :)
arualanne on May 17th, 2010 08:52 pm (UTC)
I have four cats if I did that I would never have needles anywhere. For some reason they like the needles better than the yarn. *shakes head* crazy cats.
I will let you know what I find out and maybe take pictures if I remember.
arualanne on May 17th, 2010 08:52 pm (UTC)
Also, love the Icon.
(Deleted comment)
Thanks very much for that link. I'll definitely be studying that! And thanks for the needles information. :)
firecat on May 18th, 2010 04:52 am (UTC)
It's more complicated than one at a time, but if I do one at a time, they always come out different sizes, so I usually do two at a time.
You can also do two at a time top-down.
I use two circular needles rather than one long needle.
The first time I did it, I found it difficult to manage the two balls of yarn and kept knitting from the wrong one, but after the first time I got the hang of it.
Thanks very much for the links. I think I want to try using two needles as well, but I need to investigate more.
louenn on May 18th, 2010 07:27 am (UTC)
I prefer to use DPNs for socks, but haven't yet done the pair at the same time. It's definitely rather dull to have to go and start over.
You can get interchangeable points and things, the Knit Pick/Pro people do some very nice (but not so cheap) sets as well as the individual ones. You can even get varying lengths of cable and if you can't get one cable long enough, they do a little thingie that will allow you to fix two cables together. In the UK there's loads of people who sell them (my favourite yarn shop is Stash Fine Yarns but that could be because they're on the estate where I work and I'm in there every lunch break).
maegquare on May 19th, 2010 08:47 pm (UTC)
I second Silver's Sock Class as being extremely helpful.
Along with the other suggestions already mentioned, I saw a demonstration of this on Knit and Crochet Now a few weeks ago. We get that on CreateTV thru PBS here, twice a week, 4 times a day, by the way. If it's on where you live, you might like it. If not, the pattern they were demonstrating is free on their website http://knitandcrochetnow.com/ Go to free patterns-Season 2--Show 223. The pattern is called Wavy Gravy Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oaks. If you don't get the show where you live, there are video clips of some of the demonstrated techniques on the website.
You Tube also has a lot of videos demonstrating magic loop and two socks at once, different methods. The LYS here does sell 40" circular needles for socks and offers free lessons. If your local shop doesn't stock them, they might order it for you and might also offer lessons. It doesn't hurt to ask. :)
Thanks for the web site. I searched my cable and my PBS stations don't carry that program. We have Knitting Daily. But I wish we had that one! I've been looking at videos for the past hour. :)
maegquare on May 20th, 2010 12:38 am (UTC)
They sell DVDs of seasons 2 and 3 on the website, too. :) I'm seriously tempted to get those, for the episodes I missed before I knew about this show. We don't get Knitting Daily here. I wish we did!
I've done magic loop on one pair of 36" needles, and have been very happy with the results. After some practice, the method made a lot of sense. It is a great feeling to have two socks done at once! However, I have had the opposite problem. I have diffuculty finding patterns for the magic loop method, so I'm currently learing how to knit socks on dpns.
20 comments —
I am relatively new to socks myself, however my first two socks came out not being the same size (partially because there was a gap of several months in their construction). For my second pair of socks i knitted them both at the same time and on the same circular needle, something which worked out nicely: they're exactly the same, and when i finished the first i didn't have to drag myself back to the beginning of the pattern to immediately start over, which i found frustrating. i believe that i have checked out that book from the library before, but i haven't knit any projects from it yet. Anyways, i recommend knitting two pairs at the same time, it certainly made things go faster.
I think that's one reason I haven't finished the first sock and started the second. I had to adjust the pattern and it's been so long I'm not sure I could get the second one to match. But I didn't even think about the fact that doing 2 at once would mean they would pretty much be guaranteed to match. That's definitely a great argument to do both as well as the not having to start at the beginning again argument. Thanks for the insight. :)
So, I've never done socks so bear with me if this is a dumb question, but HOW do you knit two on the same circular needle?
What i did was start with the toes separately, then slid them both onto the same circular needle. I knit the front half of sock one, knit the front of sock two, knit the back of sock two, knit the back of sock one. You need two balls of yarn (or i suppose it would work to have yarn coming from both ends of a ball at once), but it wasn't that hard. I was watching TV at the same time... but then, i have been knitting for fifteen years. I've heard of people doing the same on dpns, one sock inside the other, knitting one stitch of sock one, then one stitch of sock two, and continuing to alternate in that way. That sounds like a headache to me, though i might try it sometime just for a challenge.
I have this book
http://www.amazon.com/2-at-Time-Socks-Revealed-Knitting/dp/1580176917/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274125701&sr=1-1
I keep meaning to start a project from it as I have done one pair of socks on double points so far and I find I really like double points, but getting the second sock done was a little daunting, so two up would be great right. The book though calls for 40" circular needs and I have not been able to find needles with a long enough cable so far especially in the small size they call for, so I am at a road block with getting started already.
So far that has been my experience with socks two up.
My question would be for those that have done them... Is a 40" circular set really necessary or would the 36" circulars I have work?
Thanks for the link. That's the same author so nice to know there's a another book.
I really can't imagine needing 40" for two socks. It looks from the reviews that they utilize the magic loop method to knit two socks on the same circular needle and 40" just seems to me to be excessive for that. But I haven't done it yet, so I could be completely wrong.
Have you read through one of the socks' instructions to see why they specify a 40"?
ETA: Reading the reviews for this book it looks like it has a ton of errors in it. Someone recommended another book as much clearer for learning (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1564777391/ref=cm_cr_asin_lnk). I guess I need to investigate the different books out there before investing.
Edited at 2010-05-17 08:17 pm (UTC)
yeah it could be my problem too. I had seen to book on the shelf and liked the ideas and the patterns and so it was an impulse buy that I have been frustrated by as I couldn't find 40" needles anywhere but online and at that not the right size. Maybe I should just go ahead and ignore it and use the 36" that I have and see if it does or doesn't matter. I haven't used the magic loop method yet either so I will get to see how I like that at the very least.
nope the book tells you one 40" circular needle, I think they recommend size 4mm, but until I get home to check I am not certain. I just finally found a set online on amazon that is bamboo and reasonable with the smaller sizes too, so I might buy them and see what happens, when in doubt you can never have too many needles right? I am getting to the point though that I am going to have to have better organization. Right now I have them all in a cup except for the few circulars that I do own and those are in small pouch.
Thanks for the info. I hope you'll come back when/if you get the 40" and try it and let us know for sure if the 40" cables are really necessary. :)
Re the organization, I'm really bad. I've got needles in various places and end up buying the same size needles over and over again because I can't find them when I need them. :)
I have four cats if I did that I would never have needles anywhere. For some reason they like the needles better than the yarn. *shakes head* crazy cats.
I will let you know what I find out and maybe take pictures if I remember.
Also, love the Icon.
(Deleted comment)
Thanks very much for that link. I'll definitely be studying that! And thanks for the needles information. :)
It's more complicated than one at a time, but if I do one at a time, they always come out different sizes, so I usually do two at a time.
You can also do two at a time top-down.
I use two circular needles rather than one long needle.
The first time I did it, I found it difficult to manage the two balls of yarn and kept knitting from the wrong one, but after the first time I got the hang of it.
Here are two ways to do them top-down:
http://www.socknitters.com/2circs/index.htm
(has heel flap heel)
http://www.knitpicks.com/cfpatterns/pattern_display.cfm?ID=50529220
(has slip stitch heel)
Thanks very much for the links. I think I want to try using two needles as well, but I need to investigate more.
I prefer to use DPNs for socks, but haven't yet done the pair at the same time. It's definitely rather dull to have to go and start over.
You can get interchangeable points and things, the Knit Pick/Pro people do some very nice (but not so cheap) sets as well as the individual ones. You can even get varying lengths of cable and if you can't get one cable long enough, they do a little thingie that will allow you to fix two cables together. In the UK there's loads of people who sell them (my favourite yarn shop is Stash Fine Yarns but that could be because they're on the estate where I work and I'm in there every lunch break).
I second Silver's Sock Class as being extremely helpful.
Along with the other suggestions already mentioned, I saw a demonstration of this on Knit and Crochet Now a few weeks ago. We get that on CreateTV thru PBS here, twice a week, 4 times a day, by the way. If it's on where you live, you might like it. If not, the pattern they were demonstrating is free on their website http://knitandcrochetnow.com/ Go to free patterns-Season 2--Show 223. The pattern is called Wavy Gravy Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oaks. If you don't get the show where you live, there are video clips of some of the demonstrated techniques on the website.
You Tube also has a lot of videos demonstrating magic loop and two socks at once, different methods. The LYS here does sell 40" circular needles for socks and offers free lessons. If your local shop doesn't stock them, they might order it for you and might also offer lessons. It doesn't hurt to ask. :)
Thanks for the web site. I searched my cable and my PBS stations don't carry that program. We have Knitting Daily. But I wish we had that one! I've been looking at videos for the past hour. :)
They sell DVDs of seasons 2 and 3 on the website, too. :) I'm seriously tempted to get those, for the episodes I missed before I knew about this show. We don't get Knitting Daily here. I wish we did!
I've done magic loop on one pair of 36" needles, and have been very happy with the results. After some practice, the method made a lot of sense. It is a great feeling to have two socks done at once!
However, I have had the opposite problem. I have diffuculty finding patterns for the magic loop method, so I'm currently learing how to knit socks on dpns.