Magis Loop newbie questions

#1

I’m learning to knit in the round with the magic loop. DPN’s just didn’t go well for me. :lol:

I feel like a whole new world has opened up to me! All of those gorgeous patterns I was bypassing because they called for knitting in the round, I’ll be able to do!

But before I start on anything besides my practice tube, I have a few questions…

  1. When knitting something like a hat, where you start on a circular needle and then move to DPN’s as it decreases at the top, can I just use the same circular I’ve been knitting it with and magic loop the top instead of moving it to the DPN’s?

  2. When knitting in the round, do I need to be aware of stitches twisting throughout the whole project, or am I okay after the first round?

  3. When a pattern calls for DPN’s…ie: “CO 60 stitches and move evenly to 4 DPN’s…”, when I use the magic loop, do I just ignore that and CO my 60 stitches and split them evenly between the two points like normal? I mean, it doesn’t matter where the stitches are as long as I’m knitting them round, right?

I think that’s all my questions for now. I’m sure I’ll have many more as I start new projects!

Thanks for the help!

#2

  1. you can stay on magic loop, no need for dpns! :slight_smile:

  2. you need to watch out for the twisting when you’re joining the round. once it’s joined, you’re fine.

  3. You’re right, just divide evenly between the two sides of the needle.

#3

Yes! But it’s also a good way to practice DPNs if you want to.

  1. When knitting in the round, do I need to be aware of stitches twisting throughout the whole project, or am I okay after the first round?

Just the first round really, but you still need to be careful for a few rounds if you set it down, but after a couple it’s really easy to see which way is up.

  1. When a pattern calls for DPN’s…ie: “CO 60 stitches and move evenly to 4 DPN’s…”, when I use the magic loop, do I just ignore that and CO my 60 stitches and split them evenly between the two points like normal? I mean, it doesn’t matter where the stitches are as long as I’m knitting them round, right?

Correct for the most part. Only on some patterns does it tell you do do something specific to a needle. In that case just use markers to separate where those needles would be.

:thumbsup:

#4

Be aware that if you start a hat on circulars, the length of the circulars may be too short to easily do ML on when you get to the decreased section. You may need to change to a longer circular needle or do the whole hat in ML on circulars.

Twisting is only realy a problem when joining so should be fine once you have started.

Dividing in two instead of 4 or 3 is fine, but you may want to place a marker at the end of what would be needles one, two three and four because occasionally directions may talk about doing decreases and increases in relation to each needle (i.e. k2tog at end of each needle, would then become K2tog before each marker).

#5

More on the subject of hats:

I’m doing a hat right now for my dad (hopefully for Christmas… we’ll see what I can finish in the next week or so). I learned to do Magic Loop for socks and actually had a hard time getting it right for the hat at first. I am at the point where I am almost ready to start the decreases for the top of the hat and I think it will get easier. My primary problem with the hat was cable length, though. If you are just learning, definitely go with at least 40" needles.

I still use 40" ones for a single sock just because of one thing: the more cable you have, the less likely it is that anything is going to get messed up while the project is just sitting around waiting for you to get back to it. When I was learning, I can’t even begin to tell you how frustrated I got when I pulled the needle in the wrong direction on a sock and pulled it all the way out… or I put the project down and the stitches came off of the needles from being moved around. I like the assurance that a long cable provides.

Best wishes!