Hi all!
I usually use magic loop for round items, sometimes dpns, have yet to try 2 circs.
My problem is that whenever I use magic loop and join for in the round immediately that stitch seems to stretch out.
What am I doing wrong? Should I wait to join on round two?
Thank you!
You might try a needle with a longer and more supple cable. Hope this is helpful.
Thanks. I use Knit Picks cables, do yu know where those fall on the supple scale? I think longer may be help. Thank you!
After I posted I thought of doing a provisional cast on.
Thankfully today’s project was long enough not to need the loop.
I’d rank those as pretty supple. Depending on the project I frequently work a few rows before joining into the round…
. I also work a row or two to avoid that extra blip, but I thought i was doing something wrong to require that. Thanks very much!!
I do that too. A few stitches to sew up, but seems to work better. You also my need to tug a bit at the change.
For working in the round, any style (small circular, magic loop, dpns) I cast on one extra stitch. I work the first row flat (ribbing or plain or whatever), except for the last stitch. I set it up to join to work in the round, and then knit that last unworked stitch together with the first stitch of the new round. This helps tighten things up.
The other way that I do it is to cast on the extra stitch, work the entire first row flat. Then slip the first stitch of the next round knitwise, then pass the last stitch of the first row over the slipped stitch.
Both of these methods decrease away the extra stitch, so you’re back to the required number of stitches.
The advantage to working that first row flat is that you have more to look at when you’re making sure you don’t have a twist.
I use two circulars as it stops the cable in the magic loop method from getting in the way, as it coils itself! I too cast on one extra stitch and knit two together when joining in the round. I then make sure that my stitches are distributed over the two circular needles such that the round marker is a few stitches in, and that the joining stitch is especially tight (the preceeding stitches to the round marker are usually tight as they are part of the cast on) before continuing with the first round. Any residual looseness of the join is usually due to the stitch next to the cast on tail, and can be tightened by working any slack back through the tail. I hope this makes sense!
Adding to the already good advice here: Are you casting on using two needles to “space” the stitches? You could try casting on that first stitch with just the one needle, then adding the second for the rest of the row. Depending on the project, I also make the first cast-on stitch using a counter-clockwise twist instead of a traditional slip knot. This allows the yarn to travel between the stitches more easily. By travel, I mean the yarn can move both ways: into the stitch when it gets stretched by the stress of the join, and back out again when you’ve covered a few rows and everything can relax.
Thank you so much! I usually use ine if thise methods, too! Wow, makes me feel like ai’m a real knitter - for this one itty bitty thing. Except the problem wasnt at the join, it was at the magic loop bend. However, now that I know it’s the nature of the beast I’ll just keep on truckin’. Thanks again!!!
Thank you so much for the advice, spacing out all the stitches more never occurred to me, although of course now it seems like an obvious solution. I’d like to say my general preference for tight stitches was the culprit, but my lack of ingenuity is the reason. Didn’t know about the counter-clockwise trick either, tho not certain I can figure out how to do it. But I shall try. Two new tricks - thank you!!
P.S. I’m a bit star struck that you replied to my random query. So extra thanks for that!
I cast on one more st than needed, knit 2 rows back and forth, then join the knitting to work in the round by knitting the first and last sts together. The tail is used to close up the tiny hole from the 2 straight rows.
Thank you, I’ve done that as well but not knowing it was the nature of the beast, I had felt like I was compensating for inability. Thank you for letting me know, it’s not “cheating” to do that!