Temporarily abandoning my DPNs for magic loop

Magic loop is a process I learned soon after I purchased my first pair of circular needles in May 2012. I received my first pair of circulars from my local craft big box stores (Michaels and AC Moore.) I’ve since moved on to Knit Picks nickel plated interchangeable needles. And while I found I was quite capable of doing magic loop, I always reverted to using my double pointed needles — I love them.

Besides the DPN love, part of my hesitation for doing the magic loop has been tied to the circular cable… I’ve always been concerned that it could cause them to pull apart from the actual needle, but the more I thought about it, I realized I was just making excuses… after all numerous knitters use the magic loop right? They seem to be doing just fine.

I’ve decided to temporarily set aside my beloved double pointed needles — for now. Similar to how I abandoned knitting (for about five months) when I was learning crochet back in December 2011. Currently I don’t know how long they’ll be taking a break, but I know it’ll be a few months at least.

Sometimes we can become set in our ways, but when it comes to trying new things… or improving myself, I’m always open to trying something different.

But this past Saturday, I got to thinking about stepping outside of my comfort zone, and once again I picked up my circular needles, and before long I’d made a knitted tube dress for Purrsephone (doll wearing purple dress and one of my daughter’s Monster High dolls.)

The dress was made using three needle sizes; 11, 6, and 4, and although my gauge was slightly off since it’s been a while since I’ve worked with magic loop by the time I moved on to my next project they were back to the uniform stitches.

Hmm, so what is this? My daughter wants a blocky type amigurumi monster, but we both agreed that it isn’t looking like a monster at the moment. Just some shapeless thing that sprouted an ear. This will be my first amigurumi project that I will knit in the round, the others like the knitted amigurumi snake were seamed.

Last evening I picked up stitches on each side of the ‘ head’ and made ears. They look like pig ears don’t they? The top of the head was cast off using the three needle bind off method. No pattern was used, I’m just playing with stitches/techniques. I’m using size 4 circular knitting needles for this project.

Ideas I have are usually made into a small project first… because of this my daughter has reaped the benefits with many small finished objects; most of my ideas are made into doll items or some type of amigurumi toy before they’re upgraded to children and adult items.

Tutorial: How to knit in the round using magic loop

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[…] good news is, I’m still only using magic loop for all my circular knitting –yes that includes small objects too. My lovely DPNs are calling my name for small circular […]

curls and q

Cute doll dresses!! I always use the double circular needle method. I love it! I subscribe to KnitFreedom. Really some great tutorials! Can’t wait to see how your “animal” turns out!
curls and q recently posted..Cozy Up with a Cosy!

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[…] has reaped the benefits since the completed items were gifted to her dolls. It’s all part of using magic loop to it’s fullest. I’ve been good, and haven’t touched my DPN’s at all — although I’ve […]