DPN Adventure

#1

Ok, a bit of the past, for your understanding.
I did knit a hat with ears. And hair. Some time ago.

Then I told my roommate that I did it for him, he was excited and was like wow, then I told him it was a joke.
Then he refused to accept it at any cost. I said I could knit him one if he wanted, and after saying (more than once) that it doesn’t take long, he accepted. Then we agreed on color, he even wanted the ears and the hair!! (I can’t understand this. It was meant to be a comical thing… anyway, he wants ears and hair on his hat…)

So. I sent my DH yarn-hunting. Unfortunately, he’s not as good as he could be :rofl:
So I went yarn shopping myself, and bought some nice yarns for the hat.

I would knit it on US 11, even though the yarn says to knit on bigger needles, but I’m a loose knitter, and I don’t want it to be too loose. After all, it’s supposed to keep your head warm.

So I went to my yarn shop today (I missed the train on purpose, so I had 1 hour). And bought one Gedifra Riana Big Color, in violet. For the border. I already had other yarn for the main body.

I also bought DPN’s, US 11. (8 mm)
Because they didn’t have circs in that size, and because my 8 mm circs are in Belgium, and I won’t be back before a moment.

Those are my first DPNs!!!

The lady there looked up the average cast on size for a hat, and she asked me how much that was divided by 4, for 4 needles.
I saw 5 needles. But I thought she just saw 4.

Until I did cast on and knitted the first row. I had twice as many stitches on one needle. Bad.
Then I understood what she meant, when she said “4 needles”.
I had to reposition the stitches on 4 needles. Not so easy. (Given my GREAT mental arithmetic power… :teehee: )
But it seemed not logical to me. Anyway. My logic and me. :woohoo:

Then, I knitted. And I thought I had twisted stitches. Damn. Actually, they were not twisted, I just had to reposition the needles correctly in a rather complex manner. But I succeeded. No twisted stitches. :thumbsup:

Then I did have some twisted stitches. I unknitted them and redid them the correct way. Now I’m a few rows into it, and it looks good.

From time to time, some needles get into the way of knitting, and I still fear the my stitches to fall off, but it’s going well. So far. Wish me luck.

What are your experiences with DPNs?

#2

My first experience with DPNs - I was making a sock and had the usual ‘feeling like I was knitting with all thumbs’ experience. I left it on the couch while we went to dinner. Big mistake. My dog at the time figured they were just giant tooth picks and proceeded to chew one of them into a million pieces. It was of course one of the needles that was IN the sock. I don’t know how she did it, but she avoided the sock and just got the needle.

Lesson learned…don’t leave your knitting on the couch when you leave the room. Also don’t leave your sandwich. She grabbed that one day, too. :lol:

#3

I bought a set of dpns to try to encourage myself to knit socks. Lost one of them under the furniture (I think).

So, I bought another set, but those are still in the package until my courage finds me.

…one day, I WILL make socks!

:aww:

#4

Mine say “sock needles” in german or so, and double pointed needles in english. Even though I doubt someone will knit socks on US11, unless they are huge…

#5

I dropped a couple of stitches and While trying to get them back on an oriented correctly I lost more from another needle…repeat this process until it seems adequately frustrating :slight_smile:

#6

Hi! :waving:

Having knit with dpn’s on one of my early sock patterns I can fully appreciate that insecure feeling that by the time you get to the stitches on the next needle they will have slipped off into the atmosphere never to be heard from again! Or even that as you’re knitting along the stitches you’re happily puttiing on your right hand needle are jumping ship at the other end! :roflhard:

I had the same knitting terror when I first used those slippery little double points! Eventually you’ll get past that and suddenly find yourself in smooth control of the project when you log in some hours knitting with them.

Meanwhile, if you’re really too distracted by it maybe you could slip some point protectors on the ends of a couple of the needles so you’re not worrying about loosing the stitches as you knit.

Hope this helps and good luck. Your project sounds like lots of fun. Let us see a pic when you’re finished!

Happy knitting,

Ruthie :knitting:

#7

I actually learned to use DPNs before I learned to use circular needles…I wanted to knit this binary scarf pattern that I found and the pattern directed to use DPN’s…so I first tried just making a simple tube swatch to learn using them…boy was that rough!! It felt like I had needles everywhere and a hopelessly tangled knot of yarn wrapped up in those needles! yikes! when I finally got used to that feeling I was sure that all my stitches were gonna drop off the needles…then finishing one row of stitches on one needle and moving onto the next needle?! huh?! then I felt like I’m in completely over my head and berating myself for getting so attached to this scarf I wanted to knit…I was quite sure I had become a masochist or something, because I refused to give up…lo and behold, the old adage proved true: practice makes perfect…I’m actually still working on the scarf (I got bored sick of it for awhile and just had to set it aside for awhile…am about 3/4 done with it now and will hopefully be done with it soon) so, I can completely sympathize with you about those horrid torture devices - DPN’s… :slight_smile:

#8

I’m terrible with double pointed needles. I drop stitches off both ends of the needles, I look like an idiot trying to work around the other needles. And then I start screaming explitives at my knitting and thats just never attractive. Grown man yelling at yarn just looks pathetic.

#9

:roflhard:

Ruthie

#10

Totally with you on this one!!! I’ve actually decided I don’t like any small diameter circular knitting.

When I did use DPNs to make my first hat there were SOOOOO many point protectors involved!

#11

That made my day. Terrific. Must see! :smiley:

#12

I love my dpn. No problems with them. :woot:

Reading some of these posts makes me realize where the problems can be, though.
The trouble disappears with experience, never fear!

For those, that fear to loose stitches off the needles:
Do you drink wine? Or at least have some cork?
Cut pieces of cork (slices or smaller) and pin them on the rear end of a needle when knitting. [small pieces are good, because they don’t get in your way and do not tend to be pulled off] Or on both ends of a needle that is in the back of the work. Pull off the cork when you need the needle.

It is cheap, it works great, and when the holes wear out and the things son’t stick anymore, use them for bigger needles and take new ones.
cork also does not give a sticky feeling to needles, so it does not prevent your work from gliding when you want it to!

I have my ways of preventing the dropping (or just deal with it), but when it gets tricky I think of the cork (and am usually too lazy to go to the kitchen, anyway).

Oh, by the way: there are wooden dpn (bamboo and other wood): those are a lot less slippery! Might be worth a try!

And since I am German, I can add to the language matter:

sock needles would be called “[B]Sockennadeln[/B]” in German, if southern Germany also “[B]Strumpfnadeln[/B]”.
Most likely your sets will say “[B]Nadelspiel[/B]”, though. That would mean “game of needles” - or more correctly: set of needles.

From all I know German dpn-sets always have 5 needles and the German way is to have the stitches on 4 needles and 1 for knitting off with.
In the US and videos I have seen people with 4 needles in a set, though. The stitches on 3 needles, 1 for knitting off. Well both works, I prefer the 5 needle method.

#13

Actually it says Strumpfstricknadeln, but I do understand german, so I know what it means :smiley:

#14

Wow, I only ever see “Nadelspiel” on packs. Maybe I just don’t look. Where are you from anyways… if you want to say… Europe is big :smiley:

But for everybody: “[I]Strumpfstricknadeln[/I]” means sock needles.

#15

luxembourg. the country :smiley:
But I’m frequently in belgium and germany as well.

#16

The first time using dpns, the stitches kept slipping off,so put point protectors on the needles not in use. Then found wooden (birch) or bamboo, and they are not so slippery. If intimidated by so many needles–just think that you are only using 2 needles at a time. That helped me cope and now love using dpns,(except aluminum ones) and knitting socks and preemie hats. linknit41

#17

So far, it goes well. Once I grasped how to do it. And the stitches haven’t fallen off the needles yet.

#18

I knit my first sock on bamboo DPN’s. I didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing but the more I worked with them, the better I got. Practice is key with these. I bought a huge set on 6" ones on eBay so I’ve got all sizes and they are also great(and an excellent bargain). I’ve been knitting lots of little round things and didn’t want to worry about having all sizes. Its good to read that you are getting along well with them.

#19

I do great with DPNs and have no trouble with them, but I always have socks OTN, so it could be habit. But I do remember, last year when I decided to so Christmas stockings that the only problem I remember having with them was being scared that the stitches would fall off the needles. None did and after that I was just comfortable with DPNs.

#20

My first foray with DPN’s was on a hat - used them at the end when knitting in the round was no longer do-able. Felt like all thumbs, but I got through it. Then I tried again with a small bunny…eh, worked “okay”. Tried on socks…over and over again. Not much luck. Then I learned how to knit using two circs, and then magic loop - never had to fight with those DPNs again!!:cheering: