In my continued quest to introduce the world (well, the Sheffield Forum knitting group, anyway) to the joys of knitting socks, I've decided to write an introductory 'How-To' guide to knitting with double-pointed needles (dpns). I'm going to take you through the basics; from casting-on and dividing the stitches between the needles, to the final knitted product. If I can work out how my camera works, there will also be photos .
I'm going to assume absolutely zero knowledge, so forgive me if I cover stuff you already know. I'm not an expert, but I did teach myself over a period of a few weeks just before Christmas last year. During this time, I made loads of mistakes and found a few ways to get around them too. So if you read this, you'll hopefully be able to avoid some of the common errors.
I'm going to be using the example of making a pair of socks, using the lovely Jaywalker pattern from Magknits.
I'll be using a set of five 2.5 mm dpns (these from McA Direct), and one skein of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock merino wool in 'Old Rose' from Get Knitted. Although the dpn's come in a set of five - and that's what I'll be using here - many patterns use only four. It's very easy to adapt to using four if required though.
More soon... .
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Double-pointed needles are used when the pattern requires that you knit ‘in the round’. This essentially means that you will be knitting a tube of some description; a sock, the body of a jumper or a hat, for example. The key thing is that knitting in the round means that there will be no seams to join.
Knitting in the round also means that when you’re doing basic stocking stitch, you need never have to purl! To get a ‘tube’ of stocking stitch, you simply knit every round ('round' is the knitting in the round equivalent to 'row’). All the knit stitch ‘Vs’ will be on the outside of the tube, and the all the purl ‘bumps’ will be on the inside. This isn’t to say that you can’t do fancy stitches when knitting in the round – you can. It just means that stocking stitch is a lot less fuss .
Using dpns is not the only way to knit in the round. You can also use a circular needle. However, unlike when using dpns, you’ll run into trouble with circular needles when you only have a few stitches in your round. For example, when knitting the top section of a hat, or the toe of a sock, you’ll often need to transfer from the circular needle to dpns in order to close up the centre gap.
Double-pointed needles come in varying sizes, diameters and materials. They are also usually bought in sets of five, though for most projects four is sufficient. For socks, the most common diameter is 2.5 mm, though you can buy them in most sizes. They’re usually a little shorter than standard needles too; the ones I use are 20 cm, compared to the 30+ cm length of standard single-pointed straight needles. I prefer to use bamboo dpns. I find them lighter and less slippery than the aluminium ones. Believe me, non-slipperiness is important when you’re getting used to using dpns!
More soon... .
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Last edited by Hecate; 13-03-2007 at 09:16.
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The type of cast on you use when knitting with dpns is entirely up to you, though it’s wise to pick one which works well with your pattern. For example, if you’re kntting socks, you need to ensure that your cast-on will be nice and stretchy so that the top of the sock will stretch over the foot and be comfortable on the ankle.
As I’m going to be knitting socks, I’m going to use a Long-Tail cast on (sometimes called a Double or Continental cast on). This gives a nice springy edge and works well with the 2x2 ribbing which I’m going to use for the cuff.
I’m not going to explain how to do the long-tail cast on here, but it’s quite simple, and the details can be found on pages 31 – 32 of 'Stitch n Bitch' by Debbie Stoller. There’s also a very good free video of how to do this cast on here.
I find it easiest to cast all the stitches on to one needle, before dividing them between the other needles. You can cast on the appropriate number of stitches on to each needle in turn, and so saving you from having to divide them afterwards. However, I find that this method usually results in getting the stitches twisted – the thing you really need to avoid doing at this stage.
Here is what it looks like after I have cast all the stiches onto one dpn. The pattern specifies that I should cast on 76 stitches, but I've actually cast on one extra. The reason for this will be made clear in the next section.
If you think that you might have a problem, with stitches falling off the other end of the needle, then it might be helpful to wrap a small elastic band around one end until you’ve finished casting on.
Here is what you need to avoid. Getting the stitches twisted around the needle is remarkably easy to do. If you don't notice it in time, you end up knitting a Moebius strip instead of a tube!
More soon... .
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Part IV – Dividing the Stitches Between the Needles
The first important thing to remember when dividing your stitches between the needles is that you must always transfer the stitches from one needle to the next by inserting the needle purlwise, as shown here. This ensures that the ‘legs’ of the stitches which wrap around the needle stay in the correct position.
The second very important thing to remember is to ensure that your stitches don’t become twisted. This is very easy to do, particularly at the joins between each needle. Always take time to double check, because the only way of correcting it later is by ripping out all your work .
Your pattern will often tell you how many stitches to place on each needle. If it does tell you this, it’s a good idea to follow the advice as you might only be able to work the stitch pattern properly and easily if you have the specified number of stitches on each needle. Having the specified number of stitches on each needles will also mean that working the heel and the toe of the sock will be much easier too. But more of that later…
If your pattern doesn’t specify how to divide your stitches between the needles, here are a few tips:
It’s usually easiest to work with an equal number of stitches on each needle. For example, the Jaywalker pattern I’m using here has a cast on stitch number of 76. As I’m dividing the stitches between four needles (the fifth needle is the ‘working’ needle; more of this in the next section), the pattern specifies dividing the stitches into 19 on each needle.
However, if you’re going to be working a 2x2 rib (knit 2, purl 2) for the cuff of the sock, you need to make sure that your total stitch count is divisible by four. It’s also much easier to work a 2x2 rib in the round if:
- you have an even number of stitches on each needle.
- you have a number of stitches on each needle which is divisible by 4. This ensures that you start each new needle with knit stitches.
The reason for wanting to start each new needle with knit stitches while working 2x2 rib will become important later, but briefly it helps to ensure that your stitches are kept nice and firm at the join between the needles. More of this later…
So, although my pattern specifies that I divide the stitches into 19 stitches on each of the four needles, while I’m working the 2x2 ribbing of the cuff, I’m actually going to use the above advice and divide the stiches up as follows:
Part V – Joining the Needles
I find that the trickiest part of knittting on dpns is joining the needles. This is where the first stitch on needle 1 is brought together with the last stitch on needle 4, and the stitches are joined to make the complete round.
One of the first problems I encountered when joining the needles was how to avoid the little gap, which tends to form at the site of the join. The easiest way I found to avoid this is to cast on one more stitch than your pattern dictates. So, for the Jaywalker pattern I’m using here, I’ve cast on 77 stitches instead of the 76 stitches dictated by the pattern. The extra stitch is the last stitch on needle 4 (and the reason why in this picture there are 17 stitches on needle 4, instead of 16).
The reason for the extra stitch becomes clear when we join the needles.
To do this, you need to move the stitches on needle 1 and needle 4 towards the needle tips. Then, taking needle 1 in your left hand and needle 4 in your right hand, bring the tips together, as shown here. You’ll notice that needles 1 and 4 are positioned so that they’re on top of needles 2 and 3 respectively. This isn’t important, but I’ve found that the needles are a lot easier to handle in this position.
This bit is tricky: Carefully transfer the last stitch of needle 4 onto needle 1, as shown here. You can see that the last stitch from needle 4 is now sitting next to the first stitch on needle 1.
Now, take the fifth needle (the working needle) and insert it knitwise through these two stitches, ie. You are going to knit these two stitches together. To do this, you will use both the working yarn and the tail of the cast on yarn held together. You can see from this picture that the working needle has been inserted into the two stitches on needle 1, and the working yarn and cast on tail yarn have been wound together around the working needle in preparation to knit these two stitches together.
Using the working yarn and the tail of the cast on yarn held together means that the first stitch on the working needle has two loops. This picture shows stitch one (composed of two loops) and stitch two, which have just been knitted onto the working needle.
The needles have now been joined, and I will continue to knit the cuff of the sock in 2x2 rib. Details concerning this will follow in the next section.
More soon... .
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Here is a photo of the sock cuff. Thirteen rows of 2x2 rib have been completed, and the cuff is aproximately 3 cm long. The next step will be to divide the stitches so that there are 19 on each of the four needles, as specified in the Jaywalker pattern, before going on to follow the pattern for the sock leg.
Before moving on, I’ll mention the thing I had most problems with when I first started to knit with dpns: laddering. There’s a picture illustrating this dreaded phenomenon here (third picture from the top of the page).
Laddering is caused by looseness at the point where you switch from one needle to the next, and if you’re used to knitting fairly loosely, deliberately avoiding putting too much tension on the working yarn, it can be a real pain to overcome.
A lot of advice has been written about how to avoid laddering. I’ve found that, for me, there’s only one way to avoid it. Here’s what I do:
Knit the first stitch as normal, then insert the needle into the second stitch. Before knitting this stitch, give the working yarn a firm pull and then knit the second stitch. Insert the needle into the third stitch, but before knitting it (or purling, if you’re working 2x2 rib), give the yarn a really firm tug. The aim is to close up the gap between the last stitch on the previous needle and the first stitch on the current needle.
This is illustrated in this photo. You can see that I’ve knitted the first and second stitches on needle 1, and my working needle is inserted into the next stitch, ready to purl. You can quite clearly see the gap between the last stitch on needle 4 and the first stitch on needle 1. In this photo, I’ve pulled firmly on the working yarn, and the gap has closed.
No updates for a while, as I suspect the sock leg might take a little while to complete. The next post will consider knitting and shaping the heel flap.
More soon... .
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Part VII – Knitting the Heel Flap.
So here is what the first Jaywalker sock looks like now. I finished knitting the leg a couple of days ago, and I just finished knitting the heel flap last night. The next step will be to start to shape the heel flap, which is when the sock really begins to take shape.
You’ll find that each sock pattern has subtle differences in the way it instructs you to knit the heel flap, but the various methods are really just variations on the same technique.
There are a few points to note:
- The heel flap is usually knitted using half the total number of stitches. As my Jaywalker sock has 76 stitches, my heel flap is knitted using 38 stitches.
- The centre point of the heel flap marks the section of the heel which will be at the centre back of the sock. Your pattern will usually guide you so that the centre point of the heel lines up with the beginning of each round. You can see that in this picture, the centre of the heel flap lines up with the cast on tail at the top edge of the ribbed sock cuff.
- The heel flap is worked backwards and forwards on two needles, just like knitting using the usual two-needle method. The pattern often suggests that you place the remaining stitches – those which do not form part of the heel flap – onto a stitch holder, or just to keep them on a spare needle. However, I find that a stitch holder can be a bit heavy, and sometimes distorts the stitches which sit at the bottom corners of the heel flap, resulting in the possibility of little holes forming at the corners of the heel once the sock is completed. I also find that keeping the spare stitches on one needle is a bit too fiddly. As such, I split the spare stitches equally between two needles, as shown in this picture. It seems to make the task of knitting the heel flap less fiddly.
- The heel flap can be knitted in basic stocking stitch: alternating rows of knit and purl. If you intend to wear the socks a fair bit, you might find that the pattern I've used here is useful:
Row 1 – (sl1 , k1) repeat to end.
Row 2 – sl1, p to end
On the sl1, k1 rows, the stitches are slipped knitwise. On the purl rows, the stitches are slipped purlwise.
This method has two advantages:
- It gives a thicker fabric on the heel flap, which can stand a bit more wear than stocking stitch. Here is a picture showing a section of the reverse of the heel flap, and the effect of the alternating slipped stitches. Note that the extra strands form a cushioned effect.
- You can also see in this picture that the slipped stitches at the beginning of each row give a chain effect at the edge of the heel flap. This will become very useful when you pick up these heel flap stitches when knitting the gusset.
The next section will deal with shaping the heel flap.
More soon... .
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I've been a bit busy for the last few weeks, and I've also been knitting something else too. I shall aim for getting the next instalment up at the weekend.
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Location: Walkley/Hillsborough depending on who you talk to
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hecate
Thank you .
I've been a bit busy for the last few weeks, and I've also been knitting something else too. I shall aim for getting the next instalment up at the
weekend.
Ive been wondering where it was too - had to do heel turning all by myself
I'm a first timer on dpns and this thread has been fantastic. I am nearly finished the cuff on my first sock and boy can you tell it'a a first attempt!!
Keep up the good work and by the time I've finished it I'm sure I will have the bug it's just sooooo addictive.
Thanks
I'm a first timer on dpns and this thread has been fantastic. I am nearly finished the cuff on my first sock and boy can you tell it'a a first attempt!!
Keep up the good work and by the time I've finished it I'm sure I will have the bug it's just sooooo addictive.
Thanks
Thank you for you lovely comments. I'm feeling a little flat today, so you've really given me a kick up the bum to get going on the next installment .
Don't worry about your first attempt on DPNs looking a little less than perfect. When I first started using them I found it was like trying to hold a very wriggly hedgehog in my hands - the needles were everywhere! You really will get better at it quickly, and it definately is addicitve. You'll have more socks than you know what to do with soon.
I think the best tip I can give you is the one about pulling the yarn really firmly as you insert the needle into the second stitch when you switch between needles. You'll soon get used to holding the needles, but I found that the looseness and the 'laddering' at the junction between the needles stayed around for ages. When I found this tip, it realy sorted it out quickly.
Oh, and welcome to the Forum, and to the Knitting Group. I hope you'll do lots of posting in both
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I don't work on a Wednesday so today has been a knitathon, I've knitted the heel flap and turned the heel, shaped the heel and instep and am now knitting the foot. Thanks for your welcome I look forward to a long and happy time here. It's good to "meet" like minded people where you are not regarded as peculiar or off the wall because you KNIT!!! Shock horror. I think I may be going the other way with pulling the stitches because I do have a ladder (not very big) but there is a lump on the purl side of the work and I think it may be too tight. I also need to work hard on the turning of the heel when I joined the flap to the rest of the knitting ther is a hole at the join.
I don't work on a Wednesday so today has been a knitathon, I've knitted the heel flap and turned the heel, shaped the heel and instep and am now knitting the foot. Thanks for your welcome I look forward to a long and happy time here. It's good to "meet" like minded people where you are not regarded as peculiar or off the wall because you KNIT!!! Shock horror. I think I may be going the other way with pulling the stitches because I do have a ladder (not very big) but there is a lump on the purl side of the work and I think it may be too tight. I also need to work hard on the turning of the heel when I joined the flap to the rest of the knitting ther is a hole at the join.
It's a steep learning curve eh?
Ah, yes. That can be another problem. If you pull too tightly on the yarn while trying to avoid the laddering, you can sometimes get a little bump on the purl side.
All I can say is have a look at this photo and this photo from the post above. If you can try to pull the yarn just tight enough to close the little gap between the purl bumps, and no more, then it should work. Fingers crossed. Try to pull the yarn just enough to get the little purl bumps to meet, but no harder. Does that make sense?
I wouldn't worry about the comments. Many people still think that knitting is still all about Grannies knitting baby clothes (not that there's anything wrong with that of course). I tend to just point them in the direction of a few of the American knit bloggers' web sites, or maybe to a copy of Vogue Knitting, perhaps a knitted bikini or two. Tends to keep them quiet. Maybe that's just the blokes though... .
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Hecate, Are you there? I'm so excited, I've just finished my first sock Just another one to go but first I must make tea!! Oops does anyone else's husbands get forgotten if the fever of knitting or am I a bad wife?
Hecate, Are you there? I'm so excited, I've just finished my first sock Just another one to go but first I must make tea!! Oops does anyone else's husbands get forgotten if the fever of knitting or am I a bad wife?
Hello! I am here, though I'm just about to log off. I saw your post in the Kitchener stitch thread too. Congratulations on completing the sock! It's a great feeling, isn't it, seeing a completed knitted item and thinking 'I made that' ?
Hey, I hope you'll still read the other parts to the guide to knitting on DPNs (when I get around to finally posting them...).
As for the husband - let him get his own tea! Knitting is far more important! And if you'd seen (and tasted) my attempts at cooking, you'd know that all concerned are immensely thankful that I concentrate on knitting and not on cooking... .
Where abouts in Aberdeenshire are you, by the way? I lived in Scotland (Edinburgh) for five years, but I never got to travel as far north as there.
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First, I must apologise for a) the delay in posting this installment, and b) the relative lack of photos. The ones I took of the process of turning the heel flap were dreadfully blurry. However, I now have a little tripod, and I will take more photos of the heel-turning process when I knit the second sock .
Shaping (or ‘turning’) the flat heel flap into the three-dimensional, cup-shaped heel can seem unduly complicated at first, particularly when you consider that there are several different types of heel you can give your socks. Although it’s nice to be aware of the fact that different types of heel exist, especially if you later want to customise a sock pattern to perhaps give you a better fit, the important thing to note is that all the heels are worked using basically the same technique. Once you’ve mastered this technique, it’s very easy to adapt it in order to knit a heel which looks and fits a little differently.
The basic method I’m going to describe here is the one I use all the time, and one which gives a fairly narrow, triangular-shaped heel.
The feature common to all different types of heel is that a series of short rows and paired decreases are used to shape the flat heel flap into the three-dimensional heel.
Working short rows is straightforward. It simply means that you knit only part way along a row, stopping ‘short’ of the end of the row. After you’ve knit the number of stitches in that row designated by the pattern, you literally stop, turn the work, and carry on knitting in the opposite direction.
So, if you were working in stocking stitch with the RS facing, you’d knit along the row for however many stitches your pattern indicates. You’d then stop, turn the work so that the WS (the purl side) is now facing, and work your way back, purling back along the row. It can seem strange at first, because you’re turning the work before you get to the end of the row, and so while there are still stitches on both needles.
The following is the method I use to turn the heel, and it is also the one indicated by the Jaywalker pattern. You can see that the paired decreases are the ssk on the RS, and the p2 tog on the WS. Remember that the number of stitches indicated is what is specified for the Jaywalker pattern, and for the size I'm working on. Although the stitch count might be a little different for your pattern, the method will be similar, if not identical.
Row 1: RS facing. Sl 1 knitwise, k 20, ssk, k1, turn.
Row 2: WS facing. Sl 1 purlwise, p5, p2 tog, p1, turn.
Row 3: RS facing. Sl 1 knitwise, knit to within 1 stitch of the gap, ssk, k1, turn.
Row 4: WS facing. Sl 1 purlwise, purl to within 1 stitch of the gap, p2 tog, p1, turn.
Repeat rows 3 and 4 until all heel stitches are worked. There are now 22 Heel stitches, and the RS should be facing.
You can see that the paired decreases are used to close the little gap left by working the short rows.
If you followed the instructions in Part VII - Knitting The Heel Flap, the heel flap stitches should be on one needle, with the rest of the stitches divided equally between the other two needles. In this photo, you can see the heel stitches on the horizontal needle, the two edges of the heel flap with their chain-like border, and the remaining stitches on the other two needles. The arrows indicate the direction in which the stitches are picked up.
The first step in forming the sock gusset – the section of the sock which connects the heel with the top and sides of the foot section – is to pick up stitches along the edges of the heel flap. If you look back to this picture from Part VII, you’ll remember that slipping the first stitch of each row as you knit the heel flap resulted in a chain effect along the heel flap edges. It is these chain-like stitches you’ll be picking up.
Your pattern will indicate how many stitches should be picked up at each edge of the heel flap. For the Jaywalker pattern I’m using here, I have to pick up 16 stitches on each side.
So, taking a new DPN (Needle 1)and starting with the first chain-like stitch, work in the direction of the arrow picking up the required number of stitches.
To pick up a stitch, insert the needle underneath the two strands which form the sides of the chain stitch. In this photo, you can see that I have already picked up the first six stitches, and have just inserted the needle underneath the two strands forming the seventh stitch.
I then take the working yarn and wrap it around the needle, just as if I was working a knit stitch, as illustrated in this photo.
Finally, pull the working yarn through the chain stitch and onto the needle. You can see in this photo that this step has just been completed, and the needle now has seven picked-up stitches.
Continue in this fashion along the edge of the heel flap, picking up the required number of stitches.
When you reach the end of that edge, take another new needle (Needle 2) and, continuing in pattern, knit all the remaining stitches onto it, in the direction of arrows 2 and 3. These stitches will form the top of the sock foot. For the Jaywalker pattern, the stitches which form the top of the sock are divided equally onto two needles (Needles 2 and 3).
Then, take another DPN (Needle 4) and pick up the stitches along the other edge of the heel flap in exactly the same way as before, working in the direction of arrow 4.
Finally, knit half of the heel flap stitches onto Needle 4, and slip the other half of the heel flap stitches onto Needle 1.
The sock is now at the starting point for all subsequent rounds. The next step will be to begin the decrease rounds to form the sock gusset, and it is this which will be the subject of the next instalment.
More soon... .
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Before the relative ease of knitting the sock foot, the next stage is to knit the gusset. The gusset is the triangular-shaped section of the sock which joins the two edges of the heel flap – where you’ve just picked up the stitches – to the main body of the sock. You can see from this picture, and from this close-up view, that I have already started to knit the gusset, and the triangular shape is beginning to form.
The gusset shaping is formed by knitting repeats of two rounds:
- a round where the stitches on Needles 1 and 4 are knit plain,
- a round where a single decrease is made one stitch from the end of Needle 1 and one stitch from the beginning of Needle 4.
Making the decreases one stitch in simply makes the site of the decreases a little neater. Not all patterns specify this, as it's purely cosmetic.
The right-slanting knit two together (k 2 tog) is used at the end of Needle 1, and the left-slanting slip, slip knit (ssk) is used at the beginning of Needle 4. By making these decreases at either side of where the gusset will join the top of the sock foot, the fabric is made to form the sloping edge of the triangular-shaped gusset. How the decreases form this shape is apparent in this photo.
Your pattern will clearly state how many repeats of these two rounds to work. It will probably say something along the lines of ‘repeat these two rounds until there are x number of stitches on Needles 1 and 4’. For the Jaywalker pattern, I repeat these two rounds, alternating the knit round and the decrease round, until 16 stitches remain on Needles 1 and 4.
The stitches on Needles 2 and 3 form the top of the sock foot, and your pattern will instruct you how to knit these stitches. For the Jaywalker pattern I’m using here, I continue in the pattern used to knit the sock leg.
To Knit the k 2 tog decrease on Needle 1: In this photo you can see that I've knitted the stitches on Needle 1 until the last three. I then insert the needle knit-wise into the next two stitches, and wrap the working yarn around as if to knit, as illustrated in this photo, so knitting these two stitches together. I knit the last stitch on Needle 1, then work the stitches on Needles 2 and 3 - the top of the sock foot stitches - according to the pattern.
To knit the ssk decrease on Needle 4: You can see in this photo that I've knit the first stitch on Needle 4 and slipped the second stitch knit-wise. The photo illustrates that I'm just about to slip the second stitch in the same manner. Then, I insert the left-hand needle through the front of both of the slipped stitches. You can see in this photo that the left needle is in front of the right needle, and that the working yarn is wrapped around, ready to knit the two stitches. This photo shows how the two slipped stitches are now knit together.
Knitting the sock foot is simply a case of following the set pattern until the foot is approximately 2 inches shorter than what you want the finished length to be.
The next step will be to knit the toe, and it is this which will be the subject of the next instalment.
More soon... .
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