Magic Loop or DPN, That is the Question

Going Round In Circles

When Mom knitted hats and socks — which are usually knitted in the round — she used double-pointed needles (dpns). Sometimes they came in a set of four, other times in a set of five. For a set of n needles, you divided the stitches evenly over n-1 needles and used the last needle as the needle you were knitting onto. As the stitches moved from one of the stitch-holding needles to the working needle, the stitch-holding needle became free. Now that needle was used to work the next needle's worth of stitches, and so on.

(Results for "double pointed needles" on YouTube.)

When I knitted Donovan B. Bear his first hand-knit sweater (an Irish Fisherman style sweater, done traditionally from the neck down), I found it difficult to work a teddy-bear-sized sleeve in the round over those four or five needles. The stitches would become stretched, and the long ends of the needles got in the way of the work. I ended up having to use six or eight needles to work the small, narrow sleeves.

Magic Loop

Magic Loop is a circular-needle technique that, for many people, replaces double-pointed needles. Instead of rotating through free and stitch-holding needles, one uses a single, long-cable circular needle, keeps a few stitches on the needles but leaves most on the cable, and pulls out the cable between stitches to create a comfortable knitting space. YouTube demonstrations show this method working with as few as four stitches.

(Results for "Magic Loop" on YouTube.)

The biggest advantage to Magic Loop, as far as I can tell, is that it's easier to pack up your knitting and go: just slide all your stitches onto the cable, and slide them back onto the needles when you are ready to pick up again. (This is also one of the reasons circular and flexible needles are becoming popular for flat knitting: tip protectors can come off, allowing stitches to fall off a loaded needle, and one can't always complete a row or round when knitting on a train or bus, or at a Ravelry group meeting.) With double-pointed needles, there's a much greater chance your work will slide off a needle and require you to back-track.

Advantages to Magic Loop

• Today, it's a lot easier to find circular knitting needles in a given size than it is to find dpns
• The ends of non-active double-pointed needles can get in the way working with your active needles
• Unless they come with an organizing sleeve, it's harder to keep a set of dpns together — and when they come apart, you need a needle size gauge to be able to figure out what size a needle is, or to put together a set from all of the random dpns in the bottom of your needle drawer. (That said, many circular needles don't have the size printed on them, either, and if you lose their packaging...)

Despite those advantages, for the most part I hate Magic Loop. 

Advantages to Double-Pointed Needles

• I feel that Magic Loop distorts my knitting and forces a looser knit, especially on the fine yarns (such as sock yarns) for which it is usually used.
• I feel like I'm spending all my time slipping stitches onto and off of the needles and cables, rather than actually knitting
• Slipping the cable loop out between small, tight stitches aggravates the tendinitis in my hands (although part of that might be a stiffer-than-ideal cable)
• If I need to slip out the cable loop where it meets the needle, or bend the cable at that join, I fear that the stress on the connection will lead to needle failure

It Depends on You, and on the Project

Because I was moving between (and trying out) various needle sizes (and the yarn kept sliding off my dpns), I ended up doing my fisherman's rib cap using Magic Loop and and interchangeable needles. On the bulky yarn, it wasn't too bad. But right now, I'm working on some handwarmers, and Magic Loop has been a Magic Pain. Switching back to dpns is saving the project.

Koala Basket, finished

The Bernat Koala Crochet Basket worked up a lot faster than I expected it to. I finished putting the parts together and adding the finishing touches to the paws this morning.

I set the koala facing a little to the side for a more realistic look

(Note, the pattern called for the arms to remian unstuffed. It looks like they really needed some stuffing in there, though.)

And here's a detail photo of the stitching for the claws:

I gave Yarnspirations a review of the pattern, but I didn't post photos because I used Red Heart Soft Essentials for the pattern instead of Bernat Beyond.

Koala Ears and Other Details

I'm in the process of working on the Yarnspirations' Bernat Koala Crochet Basket for a friend. As I mentioned in a previous post, I've substituted Red Heart Soft Essentials for Bernat Beyond. Soft Essentials is a less tightly-spun yarn than Beyond, which means that I have to be more careful about the yarn untwisting and splitting — but I can also use that quality to my advantage to improve the appearance of my koala.

If you Google images of (real) koalas, you'll note that they have kind of fluffy ears. Both the inside and outside of the ear seem to have long furry hairs which are missing from Yarnspirations' pattern. With an easily-untwisting yarn like Soft Essentials, I'm able to add that effect back in.

Here's how:

Fluffy Koala Ears

Step 1:

Once I joined the inner ear to the outer ear and sewed it onto the head, I threaded a long length of yarn (about a yard or so — it really doesn't matter if it's too short; you can always thread another length to complete this) in the color of the inner ear. At the edge of the ear where I joined the two pieces, I stitched a number of individual double buttonhole stitches, close together.

Double buttonhole stitch:

• Start in the direction from the inner ear to the outer ear, leaving a 1" tail.
• Hold the yarn tail so that it lies parallel to the seam, the end laying on the outer ear.
• The second half of the stitch goes right next to the first, going from the outer ear to the inner ear. Keep the stitch above the loop of thread from the first half of the stitch.
• Pull the yarn taut, creating a knot with both ends of the yarn lying along the outer ear.
• Cut the needle yarn about 1" from the knot.

I did this for the outer edge of the ear, using a photo of a real koala as a guide.

Step 2:

When I finished making my knots, I used a wire brush to untwist, despin, and fluff out the yarn tails, creating a fur-like, hairy ear.

Step 3:

I trimmed the edges of the "fur" roughly even. 

Unfortunately, my first go at this was a bit too short, and I should have probably started with a row of double buttonhole stitches in the outer-ear yarn, just outside of where I added the inner-ear stitches.

More Details

I'm added a bit more detail to my finished koala by using my dark nose color to stitch claws at the end of the koala's paws as a finishing touch.

Are Some Yarns "More Equal" Than Others?

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

— Napoleon Pig, George Orwell's Animal Farm

A couple of days ago, I mentioned that I was using Red Heart Soft Essentials (a yarn I can get at Michaels) to work a pattern designed for Bernat Beyond yarn (which our local Michaels does not sell).

There are a number of theories and rules of thumb for substituting one yarn for another: 

• If the finished item is to remain the same size, the yarns should be of similar thickness
• Alternatively, you can to change the number of stitches in your pattern (ideally for an even number of pattern repeats) to come up to the same measurements. 
• Different fibers will handle differently in wearing and cleaning — cotton knits will become shorter and wider, wool will full or felt, acrylics will pull and pill. Try to keep yarns that will handle similarly after the project is finished.
• Substitutions in both yarn and gauge can be used to scale patterns up and down — use a similar color and texture of fingering yarn to make an American Girl doll's sweater look more identical to that of her owner's worsted sweater, with similar numbers of stitches and rows for each garment piece.
• Most craft yarn manufacturers' yarns of a given weight, fiber blend, and texture can be used interchangeably.

In theory, you should be able to swap out Red Heart SuperSaver for Loops & Threads Impeccable, Lion Brand Vanna's Choice or Heartland, etc. In the cotton utility area, Lion Brand Cotton-Ease should be one-for-one interchangeable with its 24/7 Cotton Yarn replacement or with Lion's Kitchen Cotton, or Lily Sugar 'n Cream, Bernat Handicrafter, Red Heart Creme de la Creme, etc.

Based on those general rules of interchangeability, I used some leftover Sugar 'n Cream to make Lion's Orient Point Washcloth, originally designed to use Cotton-Ease, using size 7 aluminum needles (the recommended size) and the recommended number of stitches. The sample on the pattern uses seven repeats of the eight-row eyelet pattern to create the 10" square; I only needed five and a half repeats.

At first glance, this made me think that Sugar 'n Cream might be a thicker yarn than Cotton-Ease. Then I looked at the two yarns on Ravelry.

According to Ravelry, Cotton-Ease is a 50/50 cotton-acrylic blend with a thickness of 8 wpi (wraps per inch), and a gauge of 17 stitches per 4" on size 8 needles. Sugar 'n Cream is a 100% cotton yarn with a thickness of 9 wpi (i.e., slightly thinner), and a gauge of 20 stitches and 27 rows per 4" on size 7 needles. (Note: yarn-wrapper gauges are always based on stockinette stitch; the gauge for a particular pattern may vary.) 

In other words, Sugar 'n Cream should be slightly thinner than Cotton-Ease. (Worse for my theory, my own test came up with 11 wpi for the Lily yarn.)

I finally checked the gauge (in eyelet pattern) on my finished article: 16 stitches and 24 rows per 4" in eyelet pattern. I guess I knit more loosely than I thought I did.

Which goes to remind us, always check your gauge before starting a project where fit is an issue. 

Yarn Scarecrow

Continuing on the idea of simple yarn wrapping is the generations-old craft of a doll made of corn husks, lengths of straw or raffia, or — as is most easily taught in a short introductory class — yarn.

What better way to accessorize a yarn pumpkin but with a yarn scarecrow?

When choosing yarn for your scarecrow, there are a few things to remember:

• A traditional yarn doll has no facial features. (Then again, neither does a real scarecrow need them.)
• The head, torso, and legs (or skirt) will all be the same color. You can create a different-colored "shirt" by yarn wrapping over the torso or adding clothing from scraps of fabric or felt. (This is a great project for color-blocked yarns, such as Caron Cakes in a colorway such as Pistachio Fudge or Pumpkin Spice!)
• In a traditional (no-clothes-added) yarn doll, the hands will be the same color as the arms or sleeves.
• If you want to add a hat or a wig, you might need something to firm up the head. This could be a smaller ball of yarn or a small styrofoam ball.
• If your local craft store sells miniature straw hats, you can use these for your yarn doll (just make your doll the correct size for the hat! If not, you can knit, crochet, or weave a hat, or just cut a hat shape out of felt. (Depending on the size of your yarn scarecrow, you can also use miniature witches' hat Halloween decorations!)

For this demonstration, I went as simple as possible for my yarn scarecrow just to give you an idea of how it can be done.

There are many websites and YouTube videos with instructions for making a yarn doll. WikiHow instructions have you braid the arms off the main body wrap; so does Sophie's World's YouTube video (which has an interesting method for adding hair before making the head.) The version I learned was closer to that of Ana Knoll's video, except that we didn't tie off the neck or remove the body from the cardboard until after we inserted the arm bundle. Ana's yarn dolls are further different in that she hot-glues felt heads onto them and adds facial features.)

To make your yarn doll into a scarecrow, you can tie the top of the head or the neck to a dowel, use a pencil sharpener to bring the other end to a point, and stick your scarecrow into a block of  hay (or covered Styrofoam). Lacking either of those, I just tied my yarn doll to an old pill bottle to get it to stand up for the photo at the top of the page.

Adding a pipe cleaner to the top-of-head knot

If you're putting your scarecrow on a wreath, use chenille stems to close the neck and waist, and use those to stick your scarecrow to your wreath.

Chenille stems or floral wires hold the neck and waist

Using the eyelets in my cloth as a stand-in for the holes in a grapevine wreath

Once your yarn scarecrow is set in place, add yarn pumpkins to your liking for a tabletop fall display.

Yarn Pumpkin Follow-Up

Higher-End Yarn Projects Often Start With Yarn Balls

While preparing for the Caron Cakes Yarn Pumpkin class I noted that what my students will be doing is not much more than making a ball of yarn — the same thing we do before working with a yarn that is sold in hanks rather than balls or skeins. Since Michaels only sells skeined yarns, I slipped a hank of Cascade 220 Fingering yarn into my project bag to show why making yarn balls is a useful skill. (As it turned out, the way the colors of Caron cakes separate out, you need to ball them as well in order to use them... or you could just make a whole patch of yarn-ball pumpkins...)

Also, I've had enough experience with soft sculpture that I don't trust using blunt yarn needles (much less the plastic needles we were supposed to use on Saturday!), so I tucked in a few of my smaller doll needles, a supply of cheap-but-useful thimbles I bought years ago at Jo-Ann Fabric & Crafts from their Notions Wall, and some hemostats from my set of jewelry tools. (I chose not to take these along on Saturday because I was concerned about the presence of children.)

Can I Felt That For a Different Look?

Having hung around the historical costuming community (and having a friend who's an expert spinner), I looked for a yarn that might be easily felted or fulled in the washing machine and dryer. It's pretty difficult to felt or full acrylics — but a non-superwash wool should only need heat, moisture, and agitation in order to felt or full. (Felting happens when the fibers are randomly oriented and create a mat; fulling happens when the yarn fibers kink up and interlock in the direction they've been spun, woven, knitted, or crocheted. "Boiled wool" is generally fulled, not felted.)

I've wanted to play with Patons Classic Wool Roving for a while, and these pumpkins were the excuse to do so. I did up two pumpkins in "Yellow", and tossed one in the washing machine and dryer. (I left the other untouched for comparison.) Unfortunately, one trip through the wringer (so to speak) didn't do much for fulling the pumpkin; I had to take it through another cycle by hand.

While still damp, I used some old DMC Flower Floss (I would have used Six-Strand Embroidery Cotton, were it close to-hand) to create the sectioning we see on real pumpkins. I was also able to play with the pumpkin's shape, squishing it into the form I desired.

Unfulled and Fulled Pumpkins in Patons Classic Wool Roving

Adding More Color

I tried a couple of pumpkins using scraps of Lily Sugar 'n Cream. On one, I dribbled some leftover dye from a tie-dye project. While it kind of splotched (and didn't absorb well) over the dry yarn, it should work nicely over a wet yarn.

Grindle Pumpkins and Calabazas de Dios

If you're willing to spend an hour or two with the yarn needle, you can take your yarn to make the same sort of sections I made in floss (but don't pull them too tight!). These will serve as spokes for some yarn weaving. Starting from the bottom, work your yarn under two spokes, back around the spoke nearest the needle, and then around the next two spokes (the one you just went under, and the next one in line), bringing the needle under to the "top" of your previous stitch. Continue in this manner, keeping your yarn wraps close together, until you reach the top of the pumpkin. (This is the same technique people in the Renaissance through Victorian periods used to make a grindle button.) This will give you a pumpkin with "ribs" on the outside.

Grindle Pumpkin

You can also pass yarn over two spokes, and bring it back under the second spoke, and work over the whole pumpkin that way. The pumpkin below is a work in progress.

Note that is also the same technique used to make ojos de dios.)

And Back to the Yarn...

Getting More Colors With Fewer Skeins

Based on the color-sorting instructions for the Caron Cakes pumpkin, I realized that if I'm not worried about knots, I can split up regular ombré and striped yarns by color the same way. I'm using this method for working Bernat's Koala Basket, splitting up Red Heart Soft Essentials Stripes yarn in Cobblestone Stripe for the accents for a koala based in Soft Essentials Greyhound with a Peony basket. The koala's inner ears will be out of the lightest of the three shades of cobblestone grey, while I'll use the other colors for the eyes and snout.

And What About That Freebie?

It appears that the promotional Caron Cupcake is in a colorway that is not for retail sale. 

The way to get it was to be one of the first several people to arrive for yesterday's free yarn class. But if your store didn't have ten people attending yesterday's class, the remainder was to be put aside for that store's next free yarn class. So... depending on how badly you want that colorway, you can sign up for that free yarn class and, if you are lucky, you might just score yourself one of these cute little cupcakes.

Caron's Fall Gifts

What are Caron Cakes?

In case you've not been following "craft yarn" trends, last year, the Caron brand of yarns celebrated its 100th birthday by introducing a line of multicolored worsted-weight yarns called Caron Cakes. These started out as exclusive to Michaels Arts and Crafts stores. Most colorways of Caron Cakes are limited edition, available for a single season.

About Caron Cakes:

Unlike traditional ombres and self-striping yarns, Caron Cakes skeins are colored in blocks. The best way to describe this is somewhat Whovian: in one skein, you can create an effect like the Fourth Doctor's scarf — except that you only get one block of each of five colors per skein, and you'd need several skeins to create its notorious 18-foot (5.5 meter) original length.
The way the yarns are skeined, no two skeins of a colorway will start with the same initial length of a color, even if they both start with that color. Additionally, skeins of a given colorway may start with any of the five colors in that colorway. The result has been a lot of surprise and delight among yarn crafters, each comparing identical crafts made from identical colorways to see how they differ. This has led Caron to introduce new versions of Cakes yarns, such as summer lines of Cotton Cakes and Baby Cakes (in baby colors). For the fall, they've introduced Big Cakes (300g instead of 200), Tea Cakes (super bulky - CYC size 6) in muted tones, and Sprinkle Cakes (super-bulky yarn with occasional "eyelashes" of color) — as well as new fall colorways for their original Caron Cakes and Cupcakes.

Similar yarns:

Other yarn manufacturers have picked up on the trend, so you may find Bernat Pop! and Blanket Stripes, Premier Yarns Sweet Roll, and/or Lion Brand Mandala yarns at your local craft shop or big-box department store. Bernat has even taken inspiration from Red Heart's yarns Boutique Changes and Boutique Magical, creating Mix Home, a blocked multi-texture super-bulky yarn.

Color-blocked yarns are also moving up into the higher-end yarns. Love Knitting (a site I love) just posted its new winter yarns. Lana Grossa has several lines of color-blocked yarns, as have Rico Creative, Bergere de France, and Paintbox yarns.

How to Get a Free Caron Cupcake:

Caron and Michaels are gifting the craft community with a class on Monday, September 25, during which we will be using fall colorways of Caron Cakes to create yarn pumpkins for your fall home decor. The class is free; you just need to purchase your own ball of Caron Cakes yarn. (You do need to register at least 24 hours in advance.) In addition, the first 10 students to arrive at each store will receive a complimentary Caron Cupcake. (Cupcakes are similar to Caron Cakes except that they're smaller, lighter, and have a pompom at the inside end of the skein.)

You can use these yarn pumpkins in small displays or on a fall wreath, as shown in the Fall Door Decor project here.

More Caron Gifts:

Caron and Michaels have gifted the entire crafting community with a Caron Cakes Look Book with links to all the information you need to knit and crochet your own fall looks using Caron Cakes, Big Cakes, Tea Cakes, and Sprinkle Cakes yarns.