Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Lion Brand Magic!

This is my second pair. I had a goal over Christmas - knit one sock in one week whilst we were in Bundaberg and the second sock in the second week of our holidays whilst we were in Brisbane. I succeeded but I don't have any photos to prove I was knitting in either of those places for the 'Socks on holidays' challenge.

These Lion Brand Magic stripes were pretty easy to follow but ended up being a bit big. I apparently suck really bad at ribbing. You can sort of see in the pictures but I can't seem to make the ribbing very tight and it's all stretched out and not very nice really. The first sock I made a very loose cast on which ended up being too loose (I had read one to many tips about lose cast ons to avoid it being to tight to get on). Any hints?


I'd like my next pair of socks to be done on circulars. I've seen some people do them with 12" or 14" circulars but also Magic Loop and two circulars. Any recommendations on which would be good for a beginner who's never used circulars??

TheCraftyApple

2 comments:

Rose Red said...

I don't know about the ribbing, maybe you could try a size smaller needles just for the ribbing?

Re cast on, I use a long tail cast on and that always works for me - I guess it's just a matter of practising the various methods/tips and finding out what works best for you.

I haven't done socks on two circs but have done magic loop, which I highly recommend - I used KnitPicks fixed circulars, 80cm length, and they were fantastic.

Good luck with your next pair!

Anonymous said...

Definitely try a smaller needle for the rip, like RoseRed said. I was also given a good tip once of knitting into the back of the loop on the knit stitches. I've foudn that works a treat - paired with long tail cast on (watch a video at Knittinghelp.com) you should do really well!

And ditto on magic loop. So much easier than you might imagine.