Wednesday, September 24, 2008

I learned DPNs!

Being inspired by the number of beautiful Gretels I see on Ravelry and others' blogs, I took it upon myself to learn DPNs. After all, I can't cheat forever with the 12" circulars I recently purchased in Washington. (Which reminds me, I need to get around to posting about my vacation...) Last Friday, I sat down, looked through the Knitty tutorial of using DPNs, and taught myself to use them in 10 minutes. Yay! The prospect of finally getting over the fear of DPNs have opened me to an entire world of knitting that I had previously believed would always be closed to me. Hats, sleeves, mittens, fingerless gloves, toys, socks, oooh the possibilities! I think I will start with hats first.

To memorialize this momentous occasion (well, at least for me), here' s a picture of the very first thing I made with my new DPNs. It's really just a tube that I seamed up at the bottom, but I will be calling it my Bag Hook Cozy.


Hello there. I am warm and cozy.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats! I made a baby hat with dpn's and they weren't quite as scary as I was thinking.

Yarnhog said...

Good for you! Can I recommend googling "magic loop"? I used dpns for years, and learned to do magic loop in about 30 seconds. It is so. much. easier. You use a single, long circular to knit even tiny objects in the round.

I was sorry to read (your comment on my blog) that Shalom is not going well. That was going to be my new comfort knitting, after the fiasco with the Round Yoke Jacket!

juicyknits said...

Hey, you've been tagged!

Yarnhog said...

Blogger won't give me your email address, and I wanted to respond to your question about the Opulent Raglan, so here goes:
I actually got the higher neckline because my row gauge was smaller than that called for in the pattern (I had 28 rows to four inches). But you could raise the collar by casting on the stitches for the center front a little earlier than the pattern calls for. I think the pattern has you remove the sleeve stitches and cast on for the center front on the same row. You could cast on the center front stitches once the neckline is deep enough, but continue with the raglan increases until you've reached the right depth for the raglan before setting aside the sleeve stitches. Just remember to start working the cable panel as soon as you cast on the center stitches!

Yarnhog said...

Re the Opulent Raglan: Once I finished the raglan increases and cast on the center stitches, I just worked straight until I got past the bust and was ready to start the waist shaping. I rarely follow the directions for length, since I am unusually tall. Fortunately, the pattern doesn't require you to count rows; it just says "when piece measures X inches" or the equivalent. But you should fit it to your own body. One of the great things about top-down knitting in the round is that you can slip the stitches onto waste yarn and try it on whenever you like, so you can decide for yourself where to start the waist shaping (about 3-4 inches above your natural waist is usually good).