starting the repairs

Thank you, everyone, for your kind thoughts and encouragement on the hole-ish disaster during the Great Green Glob blocking.

Today I picked up the GGG from Tangle. I will have to stop calling it the Great Green Glob. While still green, and hopefully great, it is no long globish in any sense of the word. But for this post, I’ll call it the GGG just for old time’s sake.

So, I picked the GGG up and brought it home to assess the damage.

By suturing with sock yarn (I’m not sure, but I think that is STR Rooster Rock), I had stopped the general hemorrhage of dropped stitches. But the repair had left a scar. The GGG still required a bit of plastic surgery to minimize the appearance of the wound.

My surgical implements included a bit of left-over yarn, my cool crochet hook/dental pick tool, tapestry needles and pins. The plan was to duplicate stitch (and in some cases actually create knit stitches) with the yarn to hold the whole thing together and make it look at least similar to the non-damaged part of the shawl.

half done

The cool thing about blocking lace, apart from the general magicalness of the whole process, is that the yarn stays in the configuration it’s given during blocking. That meant that I could take the sock yarn out and even tease the stitches apart with the dental pick, and not risk more dropped stitches. The rest of the yarn just stayed exactly as it was blocked.

Taking a harder look, I think what happened was that I had dropped a stitch when attaching the border. Twice. Oops. 😳 I had two holes that needed to be fixed. I wove the piece of left-over yarn through the stitches to hold everything the way it was supposed to be. There were no stitches missing, just one or two that needed a little help staying where they were.

This picture shows one of the fixes completed. The pin is there to hold the tail of the fixer yarn so it doesn’t get misplaced. This stuff is fairly fine, after all.

Then I turned my attention to the second hole. This one had stitches actually missing — i.e. a mistake in my knitting — as well as stitches dropped. Some of the fix was made by pulling the stitches into shape and holding them there. Some of the fix was made by creating new stitches with the fixer yarn.

a little blocking

Once all of the fixes where done, I trimmed the tails of the fixer yarn and spit-spliced them to the main shawl. This merino felts if you so much as breath on it, so this was not as drastic as it sounds.

Mission nearly accomplished, I pinned out just the fixed area and applied a bit of water and steam with my iron and then left it to dry and block.

It’s not perfect. Nothing really could be perfect, gentle reader, except not making the mistake in the first place. But it’s not bad. As it dries, the patch is becoming less and less noticeable. I think that once I take the pins out it’s going to look reasonably OK.

Whew.

I will show you the results as soon as I’m home when there’s light and I can get some decent pictures of the finished product. It’s purdy. And will henceforth be known as The Pacific Northwest Shawl or The PNW Shawl if I’m in a hurry. 😉

half blocked

Anyone who wonders why I love knitting lace has only to look at this picture.

The Great Green Glob was too big to bock — even at Tangle — all in one go-round. Only half would fit on the blocking board, and there just wasn’t room for the whole thing. Saturday I showed up at Tangle and pleaded my case (no blocking wires, not enough room, etc.) to the lovely Alice, who said that of course I could block in their class room and use her wires and blocking board. I blocked out 1/2 of The Great Green Glob, knit for awhile with the local knitters — Alice has tons of new yarn to fondle, too!

Sunday, I unpinned The Great Green Glob and removed the wires.

To me, blocking lace is a miracle that never gets tired. On the left, lovely blocked Pacific Northwest Shawl. On the right, unblocked Great Green Glob. Every time I do this, I can’t believe that it will actually stay the way I pinned it out. I love blocking! So after everyone oooed and ahhhed over the blocked part, I started in industriously blocking part the second back in the classroom.

OMG! WTF!!! ACK!!!

I tugged gently on the diagonal to stretch it out.

Ting! OMG! A stitch dropped. I jumped back and then stood in abject horror. I’m usually a pretty relaxed knitter, even in the face of adversity. But I actually felt sick to my stomach.

I apologize to any Tangle patron who might have heard some rather colorful language from the direction of the classroom. Really, I’m usually more refined. I hope you will understand that I was feeling extreme angst.

I stood and pondered and tried to figure out what to do. Note, that this whole time I’m standing all the way across the room from that hole, because I didn’t want to even breath on it for fear the whole GGG would collapse into a great green pile of tangled yarn.

I took a deep breath and eased closer. OK. It looked like a dropped stitch. I know how to fix dropped stitches, even in lace. I can handle this.

emergency surgery

I started searching in my knitting bag. OK. I had some sock yarn that had been left over from some pair of socks. I had this really cool little tool that’s a crochet hook on one end and a dental pick on the other. I had pins.

The main thing now was to do enough emergency surgery that the patient could survive blocking. Then, once I could get it home, I still have plenty of that green merino laceweight. I could repair it better at home and with it already blocked. That, at least, was my working hypothesis.

I carefully examined the hole. It really does look like a dropped stitch. To actually repair it, I’d have to unravel all of the I-cord and most of the border. Not going to happen. But, I reasoned, I could fix the holes and then, when I get it home, duplicate stitch with the same yarn. It should, I hope, be fairly unnoticeable when I’m finished.

I hope.

So here the emergency surgery is in process. I have some stitches being held by pins, some already tied together with sock yarn, and I’m in the process of closing up the last part of the hole.

blocking

Once everything was tied together, I finished stretching and pinning. I had to hurry now in order to get it pinned before the classroom was needed for the Sunday afternoon kid’s knitting class. Although they might have actually enjoyed watching me block, I wasn’t sure I was up for that right then.

Once it was all stretched out and pinned, I set the blocking board in the hall, where it would be out of the way. Note the orange sock yarn sutures tying up the wound. The already blocked half is carefully pinned up at the corner to keep it off the ground.

I could have blocked it larger than I did, had the blocking board been bigger or more room been available. I didn’t block it as severely as I sometimes do. But I do like the way the blocked part looks.

Of course, the real mystery is: how did I drop a stitch and not notice it all the way through finishing the last few rows of the shawl, all of the edging, and all of the I-cord. How did that stitch hold together all the way through that without forming a hole?

Stay tuned for updates on how the surgery turns out.

I don’t think I will ever again feel quite so cavalier about blocking lace.

In the Magic Cast-On article, I mentioned that it could be used to start small circles, like top-down hats and bottom-up bags and such. But I never really explained how one would do that. A few people have asked, so here’s a little tutorial. You can click on the pictures to see a larger version.

In this picture, I’ve used the Magic Cast-On to place 5 stitches on a pair of DPN. As usual, the tail is over my index finger and the working yarn is over my thumb.

The first stitch cast on is on the right on needle A. Because I’ve cast on an odd number of stitches (5), the last stitch is the one on the left on needle A.

In this picture, I’ve rotated the needles. I’m going to knit the stitches from needle B using needle C.

Note that I’m holding both the tail and the working yarn together. I’m going to knit all 5 stitches using the double strand.

Now I have knit 5 stitches, and I have 10 yarn loops around the needle — one loop of tail and one of working yarn through each of the original 5 stitches.

On the next round, I’m going to knit each individual loop. By knitting each pair of loops individually instead of together as one stitch, I will double the number of stitches I have on the needles from 5 to 10, without doing any M1 increases.

And here is the result of the last step. I now have 10 stitches on the needles.

I’ve added another DPN because that makes it easier to knit around the circle.

Here is the circle after several rounds. After the second round, I used regular M1 increases to increase from 10 stitches to 17 and added in a fourth DPN.

There’s nothing significant about the number 17, I just wasn’t really good about increasing at a regular interval for this demo. You, of course, gentle reader, will do better.

But note that I have a neat, closed circle. There’s no hole in the middle. And I didn’t have to mess around with tightening anything up or trying to close the middle.

Using the tail held with the working yarn to double your stitches is optional. But sometimes that first increase round can be intresting. This can make it a little easier.

The double-yarn increase method works great as long as the last stitch you cast on is on needle A. If you need an even number of stitches to start your circle, simply start the Magic Cast-On around needle B instead of the more-usual start around needle A. By starting around needle B and casting on an even number of stitches, you will end up with the last stitch cast on around needle A, just where it needs to be.

And there you have it! This works well for hats, round bags, pinwheel blankets and star toes on socks. I used this method to start the Spanish Lavender Basket Wave socks with 6 stitches.

The method can be used with DPNs, as I’ve shown it, or double-circs or magic loop. I demoed with DPNs only because it’s easier to keep them stable when having only two hands to juggling lighting, props and camera.

Have fun!

© 2007 Judy A Becker.

a free sock pattern by Judy Becker

Note: *errata — Previous versions of this pattern showed rows 8-11 of the ankle pattern starting with “P2”. These rows should start with “P1”. The pattern has now been corrected. Please download a new version.

These socks celebrate the first “birthday” of Tangle Knitting Studio in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

The sock was designed to be knit from the toe-up using two circular needles. (Try knitting both at once!) The pattern could be adapted easily to DPNs by dividing the total stitches into four equal portions.

The pattern features a slipped stitch heel cleverly disguised as 2×2 ribbing. Topped with a picot bind-off, the ankles are knit in a dropped stitch lace pattern that is easy to remember, fast to work. Twisting the stitches around the dropped stitch circles helps to keep the lace open. The ribbing is quite stretchy and will accommodate most leg sizes.

Instructions are for women’s size 7/8. Changes for sizes [5/6, 9/10] are given in brackets. Adjust if necessary. The stitch pattern requires a multiple of 8 stitches and 12 rows.

SIZE

• Women’s 7-8 [5-6, 9-10]

MATERIALS

• Blue Moon Fibers Sock Candy [200 yds. / 2 oz., 96% Cotton / 4% Elite]; color: Lapis; 2 skeins
• 2 sets US #2 (2.75mm) circular needles, or size to give gauge (note: the author knits fairly tightly)
• Extra DPN or cable needle or stitch holder
• Stitch markers

GAUGE

• 8 sts / 11 rows = 1″

INCREASING

• M1L (make one, left): Insert left needle into left loop of stitch two rows below last completed stitch. Knit this stitch
  through the front loop.
• M1R (make one, right): Insert right needle into right loop of stitch just below the next stitch. Place it on to the left
  needle and knit it through the back loop.

ABBREVIATIONS

• Circ – circular needle
• M1L – Left-leaning increase. Use the one above or any other increase of your choosing.
• M1R – Right-leaning increase. Use the one above or any other increase of your choosing.
• YO – Yarn Over increase
• K2Tog – Knit two stitches together
• P2Tog – Purl two stitches together
• Tbl – Knit stitch through back loop
• PM – Place Marker
• RM – Remove Marker

DIRECTIONS

Toe
Using Magic, Turkish or Figure-8 cast-on, cast on 16 stitches total (8 on each needle).

Rnd 1:  K to end of round

Rnd 2:  Circ 1:  * K1, M1L, K to within 1 stitch of end of needle 1, M1R, K1.
Circ 2:  Repeat from *.

Repeat Rnd1 and Rnd 2 until there are 64 [56, 64] stitches total – 32 [28, 32] on each needle.

Foot
All rounds:  Circ 1:  P1, * K2, P2, repeat from * until 3 stitches remain on left needle, K2, P1
 Circ 2:  P1, K until 1 stitch remains on left needle, P1

Repeat this round until piece measures 6 1/2″ [5 3/4″, 7 1/4″] from end of toe.

Gusset
Rnd 1:  Circ 1:  P1, * K2, P2, repeat from * until 3 stitches remain on left needle, K2, P1
Circ 2:  P1, K1, M1L, K until two stitches remain on left needle, M1R, K1, P1

Rnd 2:  Circ 1:  P1, * K2, P2, repeat from * until 3 stitches remain on left needle, K2, P1
Circ 2:  P1, K until one stitch remains on left needle, P1

Repeat these two rounds 20 [16, 24] times – 52 [44, 56] stitches on Circ 2).

Last Rnd:  Circ 1:  P1, * K2, P2, repeat from * until 3 stitches remain on left needle, K2, P1
Circ 2:  Work heel turn and heel flap

Heel Turn
Note: If knitting two socks together, complete the turn and heel flap of one sock before starting the turn and heel flap of
the second sock.

Slip all stitches as if to purl unless otherwise instructed.

Row 1:  P1, K15 [K13, K17], PM, M1R, K18 [K16, K18], M1R, PM, turn (20 [18, 20] stitches between markers)
Row 2:  Sl 1 st, P17 [P15, P17], turn
Row 3:  M1R, K16 [K14, K16], M1R, Turn (22 [20, 22] stitches between markers)
Row 4:  Sl 1 st, P15 [P13, P15], turn
Row 5:  M1R, K14 [K12, K14], M1R, Turn (24 [22,24] stitches between markers)
Row 6:  Sl 1 st, P13 [P11, P13], turn
Row 7:  M1R, K12 [K10, K12], M1R, Turn (26 [24, 26] stitches between markers)
Row 8:  Sl 1 st, P11 [P9, P11], turn

Note: For size 5/6, skip to Last Row

Row 9:  M1R, K10 [- -, K10], M1R, Turn (28 [24, 28] stitches between markers)
Row 10: Sl 1 st, P9, turn

Last Row:  M1R, K8 [K8, K8], M1R, K to within 1 stitch of marker, Sl 1 st as if to knit, RM, Sl 1 st as if to knit, place left needle in the front loops of the slipped stitches and knit them together, turn (30 [26, 30] stitches between
markers)

Heel Flap
Row 1:  PM, Sl 1 st, P1, *K2, P2, repeat from * to within 1 stitch of marker, Sl 1 st, RM, replace slipped stitch on left needle, P2Tog, turn

Row 2:  PM, * Sl 2 st, P2, repeat from * until within 2 stitches of marker, Sl 1 St as if to purl, Sl 1 St as if to knit, RM, Sl 1 St as if to knit, place left needle in the front loops of the last two slipped stitches and knit them together, turn

Repeat these two rows 15 [13, 17] times, melding one gusset stitch into the heel flap on each row. When finished, there will
be 2 stitches to the right of the right-most marker and 1 stitch to the left of the left-most marker.

End the last repetition of Row 2: RM, P1. Do not turn.

Go back to knitting in the round.

Ankle
Setup Rnd:
    Circ 1:  P1, * K2, P2, repeat from * until 3 stitches remain on left needle, K2, P1
    Circ 2:  P1, move next st to cable needle or spare DPN, K1, replace held st on left needle, K2Tog, * P2, K2, repeat from * until one stitch remains on needle, P1

Rnd 1 – 5:  * P1, K2, P1, repeat from * to end of round

Ankle pattern:

Rnd 1:  * P1, K1 Tbl, YO, K1 Tbl, P2, K2, P1, repeat from * to end of round

Rnd 2 – 5:  * P1, K1 Tbl, K1, K1 Tbl, P2, K2, P1, repeat from * to end of round

Rnd 6:  * P1, K1 Tbl, drop next stitch and allow it to unravel down to the YO in Rnd 1, K1 Tbl, P2, K2, P1, repeat from * to end of round

Rnd 7:  * P1, K2, P2, K1 Tbl, YO, K1 Tbl, P1, repeat from * to end of round

Rnd 8 – 11:  * P1, K2, P2, K1 Tbl , K1, K1 Tbl, P1, repeat from * to end of round

Rnd 12:  * P1, K2, P2, K1 Tbl, drop next stitch and allow it to unravel down to the YO in Rnd 7, K1 Tbl, P1, repeat from * to end of round

Repeat ankle pattern 4 times.

Cuff
Note: bind off in pattern (i.e. knit the knits and purl the purls) using the basic bind-off

Rnd 1 – 5 (cuff):  * P1, K2, P1, repeat from * to end of round

Rnd 6 (bind off):  P1, K1, pass 1st stitch on right needle over 2nd stitch, * return remaining stitch to left needle, using cable cast-on, cast two stitches on to left needle, bind off 6 stitches, repeat from * to end of round, end bind off 4 stitches

Finishing

Break yarn.
Weave in ends.

Enjoy your socks!

Click here for the instructions: Judy’s Magic Cast-On.

Click on the above link and scroll to the bottom for a printer-friendly version. Or right-click on this link and choose “save link as” for a PDF version of the instructions. (Note, those are Windows instructions. Mac people, do the equivalent on your system.)

After you have learned Judy’s Magic Cast-On, the page at this link might be of interest: Starting A Small Circle With Judy’s Magic Cast-On.

FAQ

Q. Figure-8, Turkish, Judy’s Magic Cast-On – they all seem the same. Are they? How are they different?

• Figure 8, Turkish and Judy’s Magic Cast-On all start at the very end of the toe. None of them require picking up stitches, short rows or grafting.
• The first round of Judy’s Magic Cast-On creates an actual center row of stitches and subsequent rounds circle this row. The first round of both the Turkish cast-on and the Figure-8 cast-on make a row of stitches on both sides, and the center of the piece lies between these two rows.
• Judy’s Magic Cast-On has no row of “pseudo knit stitches” – i.e. knit stitches without the purl-bump twist on the back.
• Stitches made with Judy’s Magic Cast-On have the same tension as the rest of the knitting and do not require tightening up later.
• With Judy’s Magic Cast-On, both ends of the yarn remain on the same side of the work. This is very handy if you use the tail to double your stitches on the first row of a circular pattern – that is you knit a round with the yarn and tail held together, and then knit the next round by knitting one stitch in the each loop from the yarn and one stitch in each loop from the tail. The tail and the yarn are at opposite ends of the work with both Figure-8 and Turkish, making this technique unavailable.

Q. What about using a long-tail cast-on or the increase cast-on?

The long-tail cast-on creates a row of ridges on the outside of the sock. The increase cast-on creates a row of ridges on both the inside and outside of the sock. If these ridges bother you, then you would probably like one of the other cast-ons better. If you don’t mind the ridges, then these are also perfectly good methods.

Q. Which is best?

They all work. Know the strengths and weaknesses of each and use the one that is most appropriate to the piece you are making. In case of a tie — use the one you like the best or seems easiest.

Q. I’m using Judy’s Magic Cast-On, but I keep ending up with bumps on the outside of my toe. What gives?

You might be starting with the toe inside out. When beginning the first round, hold the needles with the points to your right and the side with the purl bumps is on top, then knit from the needles closest to you. This will seem a little counterintuitive. But your sock will “grow” downwards. Having the purl bumps on top will ensure that the purl side ends up on the inside and the knit side on the outside.

Q. How do you get the stripes in self-striping sock yarn to “fall right?”

The absolute middle of the sock toe will be between the two needles that are used for the cast-on. You are probably casting on between 20 and 30 total stitches, and that doesn’t take much yarn. If you want the first toe round to be one color, start the first loop in the middle of the color repeat so that the working yarn and the tail are both the same color. If you want a little stripe of a different color at the toe, start the first loop where the color changes. If you want both toes to start the same, measure how far it is from the needle to the next color change when starting the first sock, and start the second sock at the same place in the color repeat. If you want your socks to stripe randomly, start in random places.

Q. My tension is off. How do I correct that?

Try to cast on with the same tension around the needles that you have when you knit.

If you find that you have to tighten up the cast-on loops after you’ve worked a round or two, try making sure that each loop is snug around the needle next to the previously cast-on stitches before making the next loop. The two strands need to twist around each other to make the purl bumps on the under-side. If you make the stitch and don’t snug it up against the other stitches before making the next, the twist will be loose and your stitches will be loose.

If you find that the loops are too tight, try using larger needles for Judy’s Magic Cast-On, and then knit off onto smaller needles. Remember not to pull on the yarn as you loop it around the needles. Because you are holding both ends of the yarn, the loops will not slip off.

Q. Does it matter which direction I loop the yarn around the needles?

Not at all. But, it will make a difference in how the stitches are mounted. If you loop the yarn around the needles in a counter-clockwise direction (looking at the needle with it pointed towards you), then the stitch will be mounted with the leading leg to the front of the needle. If you loop the yarn around the needle clockwise, the stitch will be mounted with the leading leg towards the back. Remember to knit through the back leg when knitting these stitches on the first round so that the stitches are not twisted.

Click on this link for the original Knitty article: Judy’s Magic Cast-On For Toe-Up Socks

Click on this link for corrections to the original Knitty article: Errata

Supplemental Information to the Knitty article:

I’ve seen some comments here and there that Judy’s Magic Cast-On as it’s shown in Knitty.com leaves a little knot on one side of the toe because you start with a slipknot. I thought that would be an easier way to anchor the yarn to the needle, figuring that when one is learning a new technique it doesn’t help to have to deal with yarn that keeps slipping. As I often do, I over-thought and confused the issue.

What I usually do instead of a knot is to loop the yarn around the needle as shown in this picture, with the tail to the left of the working yarn (assuming that you are holding the yarn in your left hand and the needle in your right hand). This “knotless” technique alleviates both the little knot at the side of the toe and the problem some people have had with the slipknot being loose.

I’m actually very pleased to know that knitters have tried this and found it useful! Please don’t hesitate to ask questions. You can email me at .

There are advantages to knitting socks toe-up. For example, the sock can be tried on as you go, so the fit is perfect. If you are not sure you have enough yarn, you can knit both socks at the same time and stop when your yarn runs out.

There are various ways to start a toe-up sock: Figure-8 cast-on, provisional cast-on combined with grafting, long-tail cast-on, etc. I used to use the figure-8 cast-on, but it leaves loose stitches that have to be tightened back in after a few rounds. Even
with lots of practice, I usually had to make two or three tries at it. Although invisible from the outside of the toe, on the inside the figure-8 cast-on leaves a blank space between the purl bumps of the first round.

I thought that the world needed a better way, a more humane way to start toe-up socks, so I developed Judy’s Magic Cast-On. It’s an easy to learn, fast method that starts at the very end of the toe and works the first time, every time. It’s completely invisible from both sides, and it can be used with almost any toe-up sock pattern.

Note: These instructions assume that you have some familiarity with knitting socks toe-up. The pictures show the Magic Cast-On using two circular needles. Instructions for knitting two socks at the same time and for using the cast-on with DPNs are at the bottom.

Click on any of the pictures to see a bigger version in a pop-up.

1. Hold the two needles together, with the needle that the yarn is attached to toward the top. We’ll call this needle #2 and the other needle will be needle #1.

2. Loop the yarn around needle #2 with the tail toward the front and the working yarn (the strand attached to the skein) toward the back.

3. With your left hand, pick up the yarn so that the tail goes over your index finger and the working yarn goes over your thumb. This will make a loop around the top needle that counts as one stitch.

4. a. While holding the loop in place with a finger on your right hand, bring the tip of needle #1 over the strand of yarn on your finger,
    b. around and under the yarn and back up, making a loop around needle #1 similar to a yarn over.
    c. Pull the loop snug, but not tight, around the needle.

You have cast one stitch on to needle #1.

5. Bring needle #2 over the strand of yarn on your thumb, around and under the yarn and back up, making a loop around needle #2, similar to a yarn over. Pull the loop snug around the needle.

You have cast one stitch on to needle #2.

There are now two stitches on needle #2 — the stitch you just cast on plus the first loop.

The top yarn strand always wraps around needle #1 (the bottom needle), and the bottom yarn strand always wraps around needle #2 (the top needle). Just remember: Top around bottom, bottom around top.

6. Repeat step 4 to cast a second stitch on to needle #1. (bottom around top)

7. Repeat step 5 to cast a third stitch on to needle #2. (top around bottom)

8. Continue repeating steps 4 and 5, alternating between needle #1 and needle #2, until you have cast on the desired number of stitches and ending with step 4. You will have the same number of stitches on each needle.

In this picture, a total of 20 stitches, or 10 stitches on each needle, have been cast on. The outside of the sock toe looks like two rows of offset loops. If you turn the needles over, you will see that the wrong side of the work (the inside of your sock) features a row of twists that look like purl bumps between the two needles.

Turn back to the right side to begin knitting.

9. Round 1: Drop the yarn tail and let it dangle. Turn the needles so that needle #1 is on the top. Pull needle #2 to the right until the stitches lie on the cable. Pick up the working yarn. Be sure that the yarn tail lies between the working yarn and the needle. In the picture, you can see how the tail passes under the working strand (purple arrow).

Knit the row of stitches from needle #1. The first stitch will probably become loose while you are knitting it. Pull gently on the tail to snug it back up.

You will see a row of stitches appear between the two needles.

10. Turn the work so that the working yarn is on the right and needle #2 is on the top. Pull needle #1 to the right so that the stitches you just knit lie along the cable. Pull needle #2 to the left so that its point is towards the right and the stitches are ready to knit from it. Knit the stitches from needle #2.

Be careful! The cast-on loops on needle #2 are twisted. On the first round only, be sure to knit them through the back of the loops in order to untwist them. After this round the stitches will be “normal.”

You have completed one round and are back where you started.

Note: Do the stitches between the needles appear too loose or “sloppy?” Make sure when you cast on that you have tightened each loop up individually as you placed it around the needle. Try to keep the loops at your regular gauge. If you find that your cast-on stitches are too tight, you can try casting on to a pair of larger needles.

There are two rows of stitches between the needles now. The absolute center of your sock toe lies between the two rows of stitches.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled toe-up sock pattern. Work the toe increases as specified by your pattern. If your pattern specifies a different type of toe, the following instructions are for a typical toe-up sock that starts at the very end:

Round 2: on first needle, * K1, M1, K each stitch to within one stitch of the end of the row, M1, K1, turn to second needle. Repeat from *

Round3: K all stitches on both needles (no increases).

Repeat these two rounds, increasing 4 stitches every other round, until the total number of stitches has been reached.

In this picture, 10 rounds have been worked and there are 20 stitches on each needle (40 stitches total).

Here you can see the toe spread out. The very end of the toe where the cast-on was made is right in the center. The left image is the outside of the sock and the right image is the inside.

You can see that the stitches flow over the center of the toe with no visible break or seam. The cast-on is invisible on both sides.

The tail can be woven in and trimmed at any time after you’ve worked at least one non-increase round. I usually let it dangle until I’ve finished the toe increases. Since the tail hangs at the beginning of the first round, it makes a handy way of telling which side of the sock each round starts on.

To use the Magic Cast-On for two-at-once socks, drop both the tail and the working strands when you have cast on the total number of stitches for the first sock. Push the stitches back along the needles so there is room at the tips for another set of stitches. Starting from a new ball of yarn, cast a second set of stitches on to the same needles

Work step #9 on sock #2. Drop the yarn and pick up sock #1’s yarn. Repeat step #9 for sock #1.

Work step #10 on sock #1. Drop the yarn and pick up sock #2’s yarn. Repeat step #10 for sock #2. (Don’t forget to work the stitches through the back of the loop on this round only.)

Continue with the subsequent steps, always being careful to work each sock with its own ball of yarn.

If you are knitting with DPNs, Cast on to two needles.

Work step #9 by knitting 1/2 of the stitches using one needle and the remaining 1/2 of the stitches using a second needle. The stitches may be tight and rather awkward to work. This will improve after the first round.

Work step #10 by knitting 1/2 of the stitches using a third needle, and the remaining 1/2 of the stitches using a fourth needle. (Don’t forget to work the stitches through the back of the loop on this round only.)

Note: You may also work steps #9 and #10 on two needles, and then slide 1/2 of the stitches from needle #1 to a 3rd DPN and 1/2 of the stitches from needle #2 to a 4th DPN. Use any method that ends up with 1/4 of the stitches on each of four needles.

On subsequent rounds, work the increases 1 stitch from the beginning of needles #1 and #3, and one stitch from the end of needles #2 and #4.

So, is this good for anything but socks?

Absolutely! It can be used for almost any pattern that requires casting on and working in a small closed circle. For example:

– When casting on a center-out pinwheel, cast on 5 total stitches, three on the bottom needle and two on the top. Work round one and at round 2, begin the pattern’s standard yo increases.

– To knit the bottom of an oblong bag or purse, cast on enough stitches to equal the length of the bag minus the width (i.e., if the bag will be 10″ long and 3″ wide, cast on 7″ worth of stitches). Work rounds 1, then increase 4 stitches every round until the bottom of the bag is the right size.

And when anyone asks you how you accomplished that wonderful, invisible cast-on, you can say, “It’s magic!”

Please don’t hesitate to ask questions. You can email me at .

© 2006 Judy A Becker. No commercial uses, please.