I need some help. I’ve been knitting (trying) socks for a couple of months now and I only know how to use 4 dpns. Alot of the times a pattern calls for 5 dpns and Im having trouble figuring out how to use the 4 dpns. Im not sure how to separate them on 3 needles. Should the majority of the stitches go on needle 2? Say I need to cast on 65 or 70 stitches. How do I divide them? Its really frustrating because I think this should be an easy thing to do. Can anyone explain how I can do this?
I use 4 dpns…with the sts on 3 and knit with the 4th…if I had to CO 70 sts I would do
Needle 1:23 sts
Needle 2: 24 sts
Needle 3: 23sts
It’s not really hard to change over to the 5dpns…I just find it more in my way or something…so you can work any pattern that is written for 5 with 4 dpns :yay:
The only time the number of stitches per needle becomes important is when you get to the heel. Then you would put the heel stitches on one needle and the rest of the stitches on the other 2 needles. Some patterns even call for heel stitches on one needle and the rest on one other needle. After turning the heel you would use the heel needle to pick up gusset stitches on the working side of sock. Knit the instep stitches onto one needle and use empty needle to pick up other gusset stitches and knit half the heel stitches onto that needle as well. Needle 1 would have half the heel and gusset stitches. Needle 2 would have instep stitches. Needle 3 would have gusset and other half heel stitches and you are all set for decreases.
I knit socks using 5 dpns all the time. I divide the instep stitches over two needles and the heel stitches over two needles and knit with the fifth needle. It works great because I don’t put as much stress at the corners where the needles meet. I usually divide so that there is a beginning of the pattern on each needle. Sometimes that means an uneven number of stitches–Say the whole sock has 72 stitches and a pattern repeat of 4 stitches. I would have my needles as follows: Needle 1:20 stitches
Needle 2: 16 stitches
Needle 3: 20 stitches
Needle 4: 16 stitches
Needles 1 and 2 eventually become the heel/sole
Needles 3 and 4 the instep
I tend to not think about the needle numbers as much as I’ll think instep and sole.