New Yarn's Resolution - Double Pointed Needles and knitting in the round

 

On my list of New Yarn's Resolutions I wanted to learn how to knit in the round on double-pointed needles. To me, any kind of weird wizardry involving using multiple needles just sounds too much like hard work but after picking up a cheap set of steel DPNs I was determined to figure it all out.

The internet is a wonderful thing, and there are tons and tons of excellent tutorials out there. In the end I opted for this one...

How to Knit with Double Pointed Needles for Beginners - Sheep and Stitch

I started out with four needles (three containing the yarn, one as the 'working' needle) but i know some talented folk out there can knit on 5 or more (more? MORE? Do I LOOK LIKE AN OCTOPUS TO YOU?!). 

The tutorial above likens knitting on DPNs to travelling around a

train network, and I have to say that this analogy makes perfect sense. 

As you finish knitting all the stitches on one needle, you 'rotate' your rail network so that the needle with the last stitch worked is at the top, and the needle you're about to work is on the left (or right if you're left handed). 

Then it's pretty much just like knitting anything else!

The thing where it all 'clicked' for me was when I realised that even using the magic loop technique on a circular needle, the work looks really scrappy to begin with. It's the same when knitting onto DPNs, and that threw me at first because I thought it was all going wrong. But as I completed each row, that nice 'tube' of knitted fabric began to emerge, and even with steel DPNs the work wasn't falling off the needles all the time (I would heartily recommend a tight cast on though, not too tight that you can't work the needles but tight enough so that your needles don't slide out!)

At one point I thought I'd get cocky and start working some knit-purl rib into this swatch, just to see how easy that was - and it's just the same as any normal kind of knitting. 

I have yet to find anything that tells me the advantages or disadvantages to knitting with just the four needles instead of 5 but this felt quite comfortable to me, about as comfortable as any other knitting in the round. 

Once I realised I'd got the technique sussed I then started to work some decreases in. I've seen some amazing beanies and hats knitted on DPNs and of course socks too so I was anxious to see how easy it would be to close off the work. 

Thankfully I needn't have worried, because DPNs allow you to work way smaller than a circular needle / magic loop, any decreases don'y really change the way your knitting emerges. The only thing I had to watch out for was 'laddering' between the stitches on each needle, but with a gentle tug at the beginning of each new 'row' it was easy enough to eliminate those. 

Et voila! The world's tiniest hat, or maybe a topper for an ice cream cone? 

A nice seamless and neat way of working in the round. 

Achievement unlocked!

So what's next on my list...!