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There are many different techniques for working in the round. One of my favourite techniques is magic loop. Benefits Less joins than DPNs, so less ladders Ladders are less likely to happen The needles are attached to each other, so you can't lose one down the side of a train seat! You just need to ask my friend, Julie, about that one! If the stitch count changes, then nothing needs to change with the needles. Unlike using small circulars or DPNs As the stitches are split in half, this lends itself particularly well to socks, mitts etc. For example, the heel stays on one half and the instep stitches on the other, none of the stitches need to be put on holders or moved about For the same reason, you don't need to use as many stitch markers as the ends of the needles mark the natural halfway points Just move the knitting onto the cables and there's no chance of losing any stitches when it's in your bag You don't get DPNs stuck up your sleeve! Downsides Can take a bit o...

We had a lovely weekend in London and with a few pennies in my pocket, I made a visit to Loop . I came away with yarn mainly for knitting socks. There's some Madelinetosh Sock in Neon Peach, Blue Moon Socks that Rock in Firecracker, a couple of balls of Lang Jawoll Sock yarn for some stranded socks and 2 hanks of Quince and Co Finch in Apricot. They kindly wound one of the Finch for me in the shop, so I could get started while I was in London.  I started a Flax Light by Tin Can Knits . It's a super easy pattern and I whizzed through it. Ravelry project page . I didn't do any modifications as such but I used the Estonian Cast-On at the neck - my tutorial for it is here .  I used TechKnitter's Fake Tubular Cast-Off for the cuffs and the bottom edge. It's a really easy cast-off and gives an interesting finish.  1 x 1 ribbing is not my favourite type of knitting, I really dislike the open knit stitch and I just feel like it doesn't look good. I worked the neck ...

On my birthday trip to London, last week. I did manage to squeeze in a visit to the Loop, Islington . I had lots of plans but managed to narrow it down to a reasonable amount. I received Fair Isle Style, edited by Mary Jane Mucklestone from Mr for Christmas. There's lots of patterns in there that I'd like to make.  The first one is Kulli Cowl by Ysolda Teague . I'm not normally one to go with the exact yarn that the pattern calls for but since I was going to Loop and they stock the yarn. They ended up at the till with me. Though different colours to the original. Incidentally, I seem to have ordered the yarn from Jamieson's of Shetland to knit the Babsie Bird from the book too. I really liked the colours. I bought a skein of Wollemeise Pure 100% in Silberdistel. An unusual colour - a cross between a pine colour and a deep teal. The plan is to make an  Imagine When  shawl by Joji Locatelli . I got Juju's Loops book too. The patterns are gorgeous but what really ...