DP’s v. Magic Loop v. Two Circs ?= GLM Ski Lessons

Wendy has a new sock posted on her blog. Seriously cool! And she gives the most cogent argument that I’ve read for the use of two circular needles. Here’s my comment on her post:

I like Magic Loop *and* DP’s; it depends on if it’s a traveling sock or a stay-at-home sock. I tried socks on 2 circs, and for me it was like when I tried GLM ski lessons; I was fine with 3-foot skis and no poles, but when they gave me 4-foot skis *and* poles, my brain fried, and I spent the rest of the day in the lodge drinking cocoa.

I didn’t want to post on her blog that I got so stressed from the second day of GLM* that I gave myself the quick-step, which is a fun experience when you have to get yourself downhill fast and get off your skis and into the loo without running down your fellow snow bunnies.

I would have gone straight home that day, but I’d ridden the bus up the mountain, and my car was 15 miles away. I just sat in the lodge, trying to look glamorous in my pink parka and my socks. Girls, remember when I drove us up to Bogus Basin right before Dad died in 1990, and you all turned green from the hairpin curves? That road.

*[this is an interesting article, even for a non-sports-type like me]

I was a reluctant convert to Magic Loop. I love circs for knitting sweaters; it’s how I was able to crank out a basic adult sweater using EZ’s percentage method [as taught in Jacqueline Fee’s The Sweater Workshop] in seven days, back in the mid-1980’s. I also love the rectilinear pokiness of using DP’s for making socks, while weeping a bit over the occasional broken needle. I’m a knitter on a budget, and I try to take good care of my tools.

I love the feel of Crystal Palace’s resin-infused bamboo DP’s. They are wonderful for slippery yarns, and they are stronger than plain bamboo and more flexible than wooden needles. They are also pretty, in a very quiet way. [Addi Turbos, while perfect for sticky yarns, are not pretty.] I much prefer the Addi Lace not only for knitting shawls, but for knitting socks.

This second Anastasia, which is on my 00 Turbo needle, was going more slowly than the re-do of the first sock, which was on my 00 Lace needle. I swapped needles before going to bed last night. I didn’t get as much knitting done at stake conference as I would have liked, simply because of the fiddliness of all those SSK’s with a blunt needle tip. SSK is by its nature slower than K2tog, because you have to twist the stitches before working them together. [You knitting muggles can just ignore this part.]

I have yet to fire up my new KnitPicks Harmony needle; I’ll let you know what I think, when I do. Which will probably be later this week. The 00 Lace needle is so sharp that it wears a hole in my left forefinger when I’m pushing stitches. It’s nice to have a second project on fat needles, for when I want to give myself an extra day or two of healing time. The Harmony is pointier than my Addi Natura. And I think it will look fabulous, dahling, with that purple cashmere yarn I bought a few weeks ago. Maybe one of Knitspot’s “little nothing” scarves?

I will almost certainly buy Wendy’s book when it comes out. And I may find myself trying two circs again, to get tighter stitches on the sole of my sock and looser ones on my instep. We shall see.

I have two loads in the wash, and it’s almost time to go put them into the dryer. Exciting times, chez nous! But I will not be stinky at work today, in spite of Firstborn’s snarky comment last night :)