It's Magic!

Despite the fact that I've had rotten luck on the knitting front lately, I haven't stopped knitting. Oh, no, not at all. As a matter of fact, I think I got my good karma back and I'm zipping right along on two of my 5 projects.

So, what got my chi flowing again?

One little circular needle.

Yes, that simple.

You see, I always thought that I didn't mind using DPNs all that much, and so any time I wanted to knit something circularly, it was my standby. Sure, I'd tried two circs before, but was only mildly more amused with this method, as you still had a mess of stuff flopping around while you worked. That, and I hardly ever had two circs of the same size.

Fast forward to Christmas day when I opened a package from the most wonderful sister-in-law in the world
and what is inside? The Knitpicks Options set! Now, if you've ever spent any time with this set of needles, you know the luxury of which I speak. And if you're not a knitter, they are the equivalent of slipping into your cushy slippers after running a marathon in stilettos. Yeah, that nice. She knew that I'd never spoil myself with such a thing, and knew how much I needed them, and so there they were. See, I told you she's the greatest. :)

So, now that I was in love with the Options, and knew that there existed cables that were flexible enough to actually bend, I decided it was finally time to give magic loop a try. With my last order from Knitpicks, I picked up a size 2, 32 inch circ, and it arrived last week.

Enter Granny's birthday socks. Just a simple 3x1 rib pattern that I'm making up as I go along. I figured that since it was a simple sock, I could concentrate on learning the method instead of worrying about detailed patterns.

Holy cow! I'm zipping right along on these babies! Cast on the first one Monday night after J went to bed, and I'm nearly done with the gusset decreases now... and that's after putting in a 19 hour day yesterday, and attending to things like baking dessert for dinner with friends tonight, making a big pot of soup for me and J for tomorrow, and doing other various housely duties.

So, I'd like to thank all of you out there that have urged me in the past to try this, and I'll sit here happily while you all gloat and say "I told you so!"

I'm in love with sock knitting all over again.