Wednesday, December 28

No-Ladder Sock Knitting

[This is probably not useful unless you're in the habit of knitting with double-pointed needles. You can skip it if you want.]

When you reach the end of the first needle and are starting to knit on the second, I have found a few things that help reduce the ladder that can sometimes form. We want to avoid the ladder at all costs, right? Here's how I do it.

[Click on the image to see more detail.]

Knit the first stitch on the second needle. After you've knit it, make sure that there is no length of yarn between the stitches on the two needles. You will check this again after the second stitch. As you can (maybe) see, the second needle is behind the first while I make the first stitch. This helps eliminate the yarn that stretches between the needles.

[Click on the image to see more detail.]



[Click on the image to see more detail.]

When you've knit the second stitch on the second needle, place them next to the stitches on the first needle, and pull the yarn taut. We want to make sure that the length of yarn between the first and second needle is gone completely before we continue knitting on the second needle.

[Click on the image to see more detail.]

This is the only way I've been able to get rid of ladders completely when knitting in the round with double-pointed needles. If you know of a better way, please let me know! I'm always happy to learn new techniques.

I put this up because frankly, it would have been helpful when I was first starting. I figure, it's probably going to help someone, right?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

could this technique be used to knit me an oven mitt?

Sunny said...

It's possible. I think there might be a little more to it than just this, though.