Knit Socks - Betsy Lee Mccarthy [8]
One more step must be taken before stitches on the two circulars are ready to be knit in the round: making half the stitches ready to be knit, or “ready to be worked,” while the other half are put in a “rest position.” To do this, the stitches that will be held in your left hand need to be slid up close onto the working end of that needle so they are ready to be knit using the other end of the same needle. The stitches on the other needle need to be resting on the middle of their cord with the needle tips dangling down on each side.
After all the stitches on one needle have been knit, slide the working needle away from the stitches just worked (either heel or instep stitches) so the stitches are resting totally on the flexible circular cord. You then slide the stitches on the other needle up toward their working needle point to be knit off onto the other end of the same circular needle. If a phone rings or someone comes to the door and you throw the sock-in-progress down, it really is easy to get started again. Don't panic. Look carefully at your work. The next stitch that you should work is the stitch to the left of the last stitch worked, or to the left of the one with the yarn coming out of it. This is true for any sort of needle configuration. Knitting in the round on two circulars proceeds in this manner, working the stitches with one needle, then working the other half of the stitches with the other.
ONE LONG CIRCULAR NEEDLE
To join the two ends of one long circular needle, I prefer to use another tool for two reasons: First, the two working ends of the needle will be held together parallel (and thus cannot be held tip to tip). Second, there are no dangling ends to be used as lifting tools as when working with two circular needles.
1. Hold the needle as if it were a squatty capital C, with the two tips pointing toward the right. Hold the needle with the last stitches cast on at the bottom, and a very large loop off to the left (most of the cord). Use a small crochet hook to transfer the first cast-on stitch (now on the top needle) to the bottom needle. (See drawing at top, facing page.)
2. Next, move the second stitch on the bottom needle to the top needle, stretching out the loop out a bit. (This is the last cast-on stitch, and contains the working yarn, so it is a live stitch and therefore can be stretched.) Alternatively, you can use a crochet hook to pull this stitch up through the new first stitch and place it on the top needle.
3. Now that the join is accomplished, one more step must be taken here to be ready to work in the round. Pull out the bottom needle quite a bit, leaving a large loop (about one-third of the cable) on the knitter's left-hand side. At the same time, create a second large loop (approximately the same size) on the right between the place where the crossover just occurred and the needle tip. Insert this needle into the first stitch on the left. As you begin working the first half of the stitches, you'll have a very large loop on each side, which led Sarah Hauschka, who developed this Magic Loop technique, to call it “Mickey Mouse Ears,” because we all know what they look like! (See drawing below.)
Working in rounds on one long circular needle involves pulling the needle back through the end of the stitches just worked (either the heel or the instep stitches) to create a loop, or ear. Then, knit across the next set of either heel or instep stitches, snuggling the first few stitches up against the stitches just worked, which are now resting. When you have knit all the stitches