Magic Loop Question...Second time typing all this ;)

How-to Questions
1

I had everything typed, and accidentally closed the browser when I was trying to switch back to the pattern!

Here we go…I have a few questions about the magic loop and the pattern by DROPS design called Little Red Riding Slippers…PLEASE read along with this pattern as I ask the second question…

#1) The pattern starts with a Knit round, followed by a Purl round. Every single source I have looked up says to always always always keep your working yarn draped over the back needle when in the starting position…right before pulling the back needle out to begin working. Ok, so if you do that when you get to a Purl round, it creates a YO. The only way I have found to correct this is to put the yarn hanging down between my two needles…instead of hanging over the back needle. However, something doesn’t feel right about this method…IKNIT (You Tube user that posts EXCELLENT tutorials) says I am doing this right by dropping it between the needles prior to pulling the back needle out…am I correct? Still feels odd.

#2) Please refer to the “FOOT” section of the pattern…All but the first 9 sts, in my case, are placed on a sts holder. You add one sts to each end of the first row, and then simply knit until the piece measures the right length. When this is complete, you are left with a 1-1/2" cuff with a 11 sts by 3-1/4" strip hanging from it. It then says to slip the sts from the holder back onto the needles. It doesn’t say whether to end with a knit row going inside, or outside, so looking at it from the RS of the piece, it could end with either a Knit looking row, or a Purl looking row before slipping sts back on. So, your working yarn could be on the Left of Right of the strip of work. Anyways, after slipping the sts back on, you are supposed to pick up 12 sts on each side of the strip. What this leaves me with are my working yarn at the top of the strip, and 60 sts on my needles. BUT, if you aren’t careful, and you end with a Knit row, you will start from the strip with a Purl, and when you join back into the cuff, you will have two Purl rows on top of each other, so the pattern should say to end the strip with a Purl row…correct? Because the cuff said to end with a Purl row. Now, the question. If you watch IKNIT’s video, when she picks up sts, she just inserts her needle into an existing sts and doesn’t YO, so the working yarn stays up in the corner of the strip and doesn’t come down the side with her. Is this right? Or, can I pick up sts like she did and then just adjust the work so that my needles are up in the corner of the strip when I start the next round? How would you do it? I am just a little confused on picking up the sts without knitting them like IKNIT does…it leaves the working yarn away from the tips when I am done picking up sts. I could use the working yard to work down the edge picking up 12 sts and knitting them as I go, and then work my way around the cuff and then back up the other side while picking up 12 more sts??? I just don’t understand how this is done. I am actually willing to shoot a video for you if all this is too confusing. I know it will be since you don’t have the work in front of you…I know I would be lost by now! I am making these for my wife for Christmas, and if they turn out ok, I want to make my Mom a pair as well! So any help is for a good cause :slight_smile:

#3) Finally, it carries over from #2 above. When I finish the above, I have, or should have, 60 sts on my magic loop. However, 60 sts is not enough to go around my 29" (I think) cord. In IKNIT’s video, her workpiece is taking up 100% of her cables, so she works in the round…I can’t do that because I have about 10" of extra cord…it makes it VERY difficult to work with. It stretches out the slipper knits, and I KNOW it will distort my work. It is also kinking my cord. How can I get around this? How do you knit with the magic loop when your work is taking up 80% of your needles, but you can’t force the 20% of the cables into the 60 sts. Do I work in the magic loop method? In other words, put 30 sts on each needle and work it like I would if it were the tube section of a sock?

Sorry for so many questions…I have no one else to go to, and you guy have been the best! You have helped me out of every jam I got into, so I have faith in you here too. If you can’t help me, surely it’s because I am not explaining myself correctly!

Thanks in advance…and my wife thanks you…I will give you credit once they are gifted!

Thanks,
Mark

2

Can you please provide a link to your pattern?
Knitting in the Round on Magic Loop - Basic
I had to go find a tutorial on ML to try to understand your question. She does lay the working yarn over the back needle to have it out of the way, in the right place and not going around the needle or cable which can be a problem, and easy to pick up. She explains the why of it toward the end of the video. I don’t always do that but it’s a personal choice. For a purl you would move the yarn to the front between the needles as you always do for purling. HTH

3


Even though it may seem strange to bring the yarn between the needles (and go against all the video wisdom), if that prevents the yarn over, then you must be doing it right
On picking up the sts, I can’t get Garnstudios website to open, so I can’t get to the pattern. Usually you knit axross to the strip, pick up sts (pick up and knit is the same) so that the working yarn ends up at the narrow end of the strip. What are the directions from there? Do you work across the end of the strip?
Magic loop is intended to work with a long cable so that you can pull out extra cable and continue to work in the round. Sounds like your needle is too long for knitting in the round but maybe you can still get ML to work. If not, possibly you need to knit in the round on a shorter needle.
It’s a beautiful pattern and worth the effort. Take good notes (especially the rows you start and end with) on this one so that the second will be easier to knit.

4

NOW I can look at the pattern. Thanks, salmonmac. I wasn’t the only one having problems. :slight_smile: http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/us/pattern.php?id=6198&lang=us I did d/l it but you should be able to see the pattern by clicking the link and scrolling down…if it will open for you.

ETA The pattern section mentioned. If I’m posting too much please feel free to edit or tell me I should. TIA

FOOT:
Now keep the first 9-11-11 sts on the round on the needle, slip the remaining 27-27-29 sts on 1 stitch holder. Continue in garter st back and forth over the 9-11-11 sts - AT THE SAME TIME on 1st row cast on 1 new st in each side (edge st) = 11-13-13 sts. When piece measures 7-8.5-10 cm / 2 3/4"-3 1/4"-4’’, bind off 1 edge st in each side = 9-11-11 sts. Then slip the sts from stitch holder back on needle and pick up 12-14-16 sts on each side of middle part (inside 1 edge st) = 60-66-72 sts on needle.

5

Here’s the part of the pattern that I am referring to…The only part before this was knitting in the round for 1-1/2", so I didn’t copy that part…

FOOT:
Now keep the first 9-11-11 sts on the round on the needle, slip the remaining 27-27-29 sts on 1 stitch holder. Continue in garter st back and forth over the 9-11-11 sts - AT THE SAME TIME on 1st row cast on 1 new st in each side (edge st) = 11-13-13 sts. When piece measures 7-8.5-10 cm / 2 3/4"-3 1/4"-4’‘, bind off 1 edge st in each side = 9-11-11 sts. Then slip the sts from stitch holder back on needle and pick up 12-14-16 sts on each side of middle part (inside 1 edge st) = 60-66-72 sts on needle.
Now measure piece from here. Insert 1 marker mid front of toe and 1 marker mid back on heel.
Continue in the round in garter st.
When piece measures 2 cm / 3/4’', K 2 sts tog on each side of every marker on every other round (= 4 sts less per round) continue dec until piece measures 5-5-6 cm / 2"-2"-2½" – bind off. Sew tog seam mid under foot in outermost st to avoid a chunky seam.

Hope that helps! I would really like to know how to pick up the sts and keep working…The working yarn ends up half way across the needles when I pick up, knit the cuff, then pick up the other side.

Thanks again!!!
Mark

6

Perfect! Thanks for quoting that part of the pattern! The only part before that is knitting 1-1/2" cuff.

7

Thanks for the video link…I have watched that video, but she doesn’t mention Purling in that video. However, She does have another video on Purling correctly, but she’s the one that knits continental, but does show American, and it seems that her ball of yarn is in front of the needles…in her lap maybe? As opposed to having it feed from behind the needles? She actually drapes her WY over the back needle when purling too…but I cannot get mine to work the same as she does, and I think it’s a difference in where the ball of WY is in relation to the needles…but I might just be crazy!

8

Here’s that video link…see how she keeps her yarn coming over the back needle (not between) and hers works out without creating a YO…It confuses me…it MUST be an optical illusion! LOL

9

NP posting a portion of the pattern as long as it’s not too much or something. I could do this, I’m sure I could, but I can’t read it and explain it. It looks right to me but someone smarter may see a problem with it. I hope we get to see your FO!

10

I think she moves the working yarn to the front when she switches to American…

11

Never mind about the yarn going over the back needle. Ignore it completely. It’s only important inasmuch as it helps and for you I think it is a hindrance. As long as you have the yarn in the correct position and it’s not tangled in your work or wrapping around where it shouldn’t be, then you’re good to go. I think I understand what’s going on with you being able to understand this. Why? Because I do the same thing. I think you’ve gotten hung up on a nonessential and can’t get past it. Once you’ve done it you’ll probably be able to see what’s going on with the yarn over the back needle thing.

How much ML knitting have you actually done so far?

12

Thanks for the link to the pattern, GG.

“I am just a little confused on picking up the sts without knitting them like IKNIT does…it leaves the working yarn away from the tips when I am done picking up sts. I could use the working yard to work down the edge picking up 12 sts and knitting them as I go, and then work my way around the cuff and then back up the other side while picking up 12 more sts”

Yes, Anthony, that’s the best way to do it. You can see it done in a similar situation in this video where Amy pickis up sts along the side of a sock heel . The halfway point in the video shows how to pick up the sts along one side of the heel, knit around and then pick up on the second side. (Of course, you’re not turning a heel, just notice the “picked up sts” technique.) This way the working yarn is coming with you as you pick up sts.

13

I am a newbie and I know I sound like one, but I am the type of person that researches things before I even start to physically do them. I have researched a lot about knitting in general over the last several years. I also researched ML all over the place on the internet to see if it was something I wanted to try. I always think I am good to go, until I come across something like Purling on the ML. Who would’ve thought that Purling caused an issue? Like college, these are the types of things that research can’t prep you for…real life experience is worth A LOT more than reading experience. I am completely comfortable working with 4-5 DPN’s, for I have made several socks using this method.

I don’t enjoy this anymore. The needle cable is about 5" too long, and I can’t use the ML method once I finish the foot strip because I am now working clockwise instead of counter clockwise…ML works CCwise. I can’t work in the round on the cables because they are too long. My work is about 19" around, and the needles are 23" (I think?). Anyways, I am going to start over I think…get shorter needles. My wife’s foot is the smallest size, so that makes working on these needles hard.

Thanks @GrumpyGramma for your replies…really, I greatly appreciate your time and help!

14

Let’s go watch…Thank You!

15

What GG said. This used to confuse me too. What ultimately matters when purling ITR is that the working yarn is in front. At the start of the round, theres no difference between “working yarn to the front” and “in between the needles,” as long as you bring the yarn up and to the front without forming a loop on the back needle. Liat and GG rock!

16

Might I suggest longer circs instead of shorter ones for ML? Longer circs can make it much easier… unintuitive I know, but a longer circ gives you the working room you need to pull the needle through.

Another is to knit your work onto DPN (since you’re comfortable with them) and mark with a stitch marker where the first needle transitions to the 2nd needle.

Just a couple of thoughts that might help…

17

Your cable is too short to be used for Magic Loop; I think that’s the root of the problem. ML is usually recommended for cables at least 32" or so when making hats and socks. Personally, I purchased 47" (120 cm) cables as soon as I learned Magic Loop so I wouldn’t have to purchase tons of knitting needles. That way, they’d be long enough for most shawls and throws as well as for working ML on hats and/or socks. :slight_smile:

Yes, I was still acquiring knitting needles when I learned ML. Why? Because I had learned to knit only two months previous. In a “How to Make a Hat” class in July 2011, the instructor gave us a pattern she had designed. It called for THREE sets of needles. I thought to myself, “This is ridiculous. There has GOT to be a better way.” I found it–Magic Loop. Later, I found another “better way”–Traveling Loop, for those times when making two bunny ears just doesn’t work. (The search string “Traveling Loop knitting” will bring up lots of sources on this method.)

I also research the daylights out of stuff before diving in; that way, when I run across problems, I have some idea of whether it’s “just” me vs. a known situation that I’ve seen discussed somewhere. I haven’t seen anyone discuss the “clockwise” vs. “counter-clockwise” direction of working ML anywhere, so I’m wondering whether this isn’t a consequence of the short cable you’re trying to use…

I haven’t noticed any problem when purling while using ML techniques; maybe it’s because I work in the Continental style? Learning ML early in my knitting days was massively helpful; that’s a fact. :slight_smile:

18

I’d rely on salmonmac’s advice any day of the week and twice on Sunday! She knows her stuff.

IMO the only way to learn to knit is to knit. Likewise the only way to learn ML is do ML knitting. If you can knit on dpn you can do ML. You might prefer dpn but you can’t know unless you give ML a fair chance. You will need a longer cable as has been mentioned. I’ve got 2 at a time socks on 47" circs right now. I love ML or traveling loop. I messed up a sock heel and ended up reworking part of one sock on dpn to avoid frogging both. I was so glad to get away from the porcupine knitting and back to ML! No more feeding needles to my chair or losing one and having to hunt it down. When you knit with sock needles (think [I]skewers![/I]) you really want to know where they are.

I’m not getting the clockwise and counter-clockwise thing either. I’m terribly confused on that point. I watched part of an IKNITS video, it was loading (slow internet here) and will watch the rest later.

DCM - have you tried the no purl GS ITR? I think that if I will be knitting much GS it’s what I’ll do.

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Uh…I think this means “have you tried the no purl Garter Stitch in the round?”

Not yet! I hadn’t even thought much about it; the hats have been in st st, which is K all the way on circs. Talk about getting into a rhythm: sometimes I have to stop just to count/measure rows… :oops:

Tell me more…please. :wink:

20

Yeah, sorry, I got lazy typing. :zombie:

KNITFreedom - How To Knit Garter Stitch In The Round Without Purling

I knit Continental (did you say you do too?) and find that a lot of purling gets tiring so if I’m doing garter in the round with lots of stitches this is appealing. I also learned to do purls by knitting with my left hand - knitting backwards - for things like entrelac and sometimes sock heels. For some projects it works well for keeping multiple balls of yarn from getting too friendly and tangled.