My hands tend to get cold, so I decided
to make something cozy and fun to keep them warm. I found a pattern
for simple ribbed wristlets and started knitting. Things were going
swimmingly until I came across instructions to "turn work and
start working back and forth." I was a bit stumped about this –
I understood what it meant to "turn work" when using
straight needles, but I didn't understand how to apply that to
knitting in the round with dpns.
After some needle aerobics and tangled
yarn, I finally figured it out. When you reach the end of a round,
the working yarn (yarn attached to the ball) is on the needle in your
right hand. If you wanted to continue knitting in the round, you
would pick up the empty dpn with your right hand (let go of the
needle with the working yarn first), use the empty dpn to knit into
the first stitch on the needle in your left hand, pulling the working
yarn from the needle on your right side around the empty dpn tightly.
When you are instructed to turn your
work, you do things differently:
A) Take the needle in your right hand
(the needle with the working yarn) and switch it to your left hand.
B) Orient this needle so the working
yarn is hanging off the right end of the needle.
C) Place the empty dpn in your right
hand.
Stop and think for a moment – doesn't
this scenario look and feel familiar? It should because you are
basically in the same position when start a new row on straight
needles!
D) Use the empty dpn in your right hand
to knit into the first stitch on the needle in your left hand,
pulling the working yarn from the needle in your left hand around the
empty dpn tightly. Continue knitting.
When you get to the end of the round,
repeat steps A thru D for as many rounds as the pattern specifies.
When you knit in the round on dpns, you
are creating a tube. When you turn your work on dpns, you will be
effectively creating a rectangle just like if you were knitting on
straight needles. If you knit in the round, then turn your work and
knit for a few rounds, then continue knitting in the round, you will
create a vertical slit in the tube (perfect, say for a thumb to poke
through).
I finished the wristlets and proudly
showed them off to my husband, who started laughing and declared that
they should be named Cookie Monster Mitts because the color and
slight fuzziness of the knitted yarn reminded him of a certain blue,
furry cookie-loving monster. I had to agree, but I think in the right
context, they look cool and edgy instead of comical. Wouldn't you
agree?
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| C is for Cookie, that's good enough for me! K is for Knitting, as fun as it can be! |
