Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Why work on two circulars?

My mother got me four lovely hanks of Manos del Uruguay from her vacation in Canada last week. Last night I started working with it. (I don't need another project, but I do need a new hat and a new pair of mittens...)

I wound one of the hanks into a ball. I swatched. In the round! I started working on an Amanda Hat (a picture of it can be seen here. The pattern can be downloaded from Ravelry.) but frogged it after a couple of rows. It turned out too big for my tiny head. And I didn't have a 40cm/16" circular needle the right size so I first tried Magic Loop. Didn't like it. (Thinking about it now, I realize I did it wrong...) Tried doing it on two circulars. Hated it.

Please, if you are a fan of working in the round using two circulars, tell me why on earth you like it! What are the benefits (compared to using a smaller circular or DPNs)? I think it's superfiddly having to slide the needles around all the time...

5 comments:

Stiney said...

I find using two circulars pretty much identical to using double-pointed needles...it does get easier as you get further into the project.

Unknown said...

I love working on 2 circs! I absolutely loved dpn's until I tried the 2 circs though - couldn't see the appeal of two circulars ... now, I won't go back - I have tried but didn't like it. I did have problems to begin with, namely knitting with the wrong needle so it all ended up on one circular but once I got the hang of it I sailed along. I only find it annoying when the circular is too long - stick to the shorter lengths if you can, then there is less hanging down.

If I don't have the 2 circ's in the size I need, I will magic loop instead. I did the Amanda hat with the Magic Loop method by the way.

essjay said...

I like magic loop because I don't have to buy 16" fixed circulars in every size and I don't have to work with DPNs. With that being said I don't mind DPNs, that is how I knit my socks but I enjoy magic loop for hats & sleeves and such.

Archiknist said...

I'm no help in this department--2 circular needles drive me crazy, although I like DPNS and magic loop. It must be something about the way I hold my needles or my knitting, but I find 2 circs to be really floppy (of course, I also use 4 DNPS instead of 5 because having the stitches in a square rather than a triangle feels floppy too--so I may not be a good example!)

crrly said...

Fattar inte mycket av detta inlägg såklart ;-) men snyggt namn på mössan! ;-)