[Nfb-krafters-korner] magic loop

[Annette Carr]

Hi Debra,

I've noticed that no one has responded to your question about how to do
magic loop.  It is not my favorite technique for knitting a small
circumference in the round, but I will try to give you some idea how it is
done.  Hopefully others on the list who find this technique to be near and
dear to their heart will correct me if I am wrong and/or provide additional
pointers.

The trick with magic loop is to trick yourself into feeling like you are
knitting with the perfect sized circular needle for the project you are
knitting no matter how few stitches you are working with.  You want to use a
very long circular needle, maybe as long as 40 or more inches.  For the
purpose of this example, we are going to work with 30 stitches.  If you were
knitting on double pointed needles, you would divide your stitches up so
that 10 stitches were on one of each of your 3 double pointed needles.  

With the magic loop technique you will need to treat your circular needle as
if it were 3 separate needles.  Each of the points will be a double pointed
needle and a portion of the middle of your cable will be the 3rd needle.  

Push all of your 30 casted on stitches on to the cable of your circular
needle.  Towards the middle is ideal.

Count your way to the 10th stitch and grab the portion of the cable that is
between stitch 10 and 11.  Pull the cable out from between the 2 stitches
about 4-6 inches so that it forms a loop.  This loop will want to twist over
itself, so allow that to happen.

Now move to the 10th stitch from the other end and grab the portion of the
cable from between the 10th and 11th stitches from that end and pull to
create another loop.  Be careful not to pull the portion of the cable that
is forming the first loop.

You should now have 3 sections of stitches and 2 loops.  You will notice
that you have a needle point and probably some cable, 10 stitches, a loop,
another set of 10 stitches, the second loop, the third set of 10 stitches, a
portion of cable and finally your other needle point.

Now you are going to want to slide the first and third set of 10 stitches
onto your needle points while leaving the middle set of stitches in the
middle of the cable.  Pay attention to how the cable comes out of the first
10 stitches and loops around and goes into the middle set of stitches.  

Pull on the portion of the loop that is coming out of the 10th stitch of the
first set of stitches.  This will cause the first set of 10 stitches to
slide up the cable to the needle point.  Be sure to monitor stitch number 1
so that you do not push it off of the needle point.  Stop when stitch 1 gets
to the middle of the needle point.  The loop you have been working with will
now be larger than the other loop.

Repeat these same steps on the third set of 10 stitches.  You do not want to
change the size of the first loop.  You just want to slide the 3rd set of
stitches on to the needle point, which will end up increasing the size of
the second loop.

So now you should have stitches on one needle point, a loop of cable, the
middle set of 10 stitches on a portion of cable, a second loop, and a 3rd
set of 10 stitches on the other needle point.  You are ready to join and
start knitting.

I like to place markers on my needle to indicate the point between stitch 1
and 30 (the first and last stitch), between stitches 10 and 11 (first loop),
and between stitches 30 and 31 (second loop).  The marker that I use between
stitch 1 and 30 looks different than the other 2.  

Knit the first 10 stitches.  This will force the third set of 10 stitches to
slide down off of the other needle point .  You will end up with 0 stitches
on one needle point, a big gap of cable, a set of 10 stitches, a loop of
cable and 20 stitches on the other needle point.  Be careful to not drop
your stitch marker off of your needle when you finish knitting a set of
stitches.

You now only have one loop.  Pull on the portion of the loop where the cable
comes out of the stitches that have resided on the cable.  Slide those
stitches up towards the needle point, but not on to it.  You have a very big
loop.

Slide the set of 20 stitches down to the cable so that you can grab the
cable from between stitch 1 and 30 (remember, you have a marker here).  This
will make a new second loop in the same manner as you did the first time.  

Adjust the stitches so that there are stitches on both needle points.  You
are ready to knit the next set of stitches.

Continue knitting stitches off of the one needle point and adjusting your
cable to end up with 2 loops, stitches on both needle points and stitches on
the cable.

HTH,
Annette




-----Original Message-----
From: Nfb-krafters-korner [mailto:nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Debra hernstrom
Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2013 11:12 AM
To: List for blind crafters and artists
Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] magic loop

Can anyone give me good ste-by-step instructions on how to do this knitting
technique? I can only find videos and one book on Bookshare that doesn't
quite tell me what I need to know in order to work out how to do this.
Thanks.
Debra Hernstrom

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