The Knitting Fiend/ Diet Diary

If you begin knitting socks, eventually, you will experience this minor frustration. You will see a pattern you like. The instructions will be written using “equipment and method A”; you will prefer “equipment and method B”. A,B? What is this, math?

No, it’s not math. I’m saying “A” and “B” because no matter what method you learn– DPN’s, magic loop or what not– you will see a sock pattern in another method. For example, my recent knee sock sockulator program creates sock directions for knitting on a circular needle using magic loop (that would be “A”); some people want to knit using three double pointed needles (that would be “method B”). Now, I will eventually create a pull down menu to let the user pick directions, but I need to code those first. Meanwhile, you might want to knit the sock today, right?

So, you need to translate. And anyway, it’s a good thing to learn because, ordinarily, you aren’t going to get the sock designer to translate for you. So, how do you translate?

First, on a stockinette sock, the only parts that require translation are:

1. The toe. (Directions for round toe on DPNs; magic loop.)
2. The gusset. (Directions for magic loop.)
3. The heel turn.(Directions for magic loop.)
4. The heel flap.

I’ll be discussing how to translate all four; this article discusses how to translate directions for the gusset when working a toe up sock.

Now, it happens that the process of translating a pattern goes like this

Reading in “language A” => understanding what the heck is going on => explaining what the heck is going on in “language B”.

That implies that, to write directions in “language B”, you need to understand what the heck is going on. So, before discussing translation, I want to discuss a little about “what is going on” when you are working a gusset for a sock heel. You begin a gusset on a toe up sock when the work reaches the point indicated by “line 1″ on the figure to the right. As you knit the gusset, you will create the fabric between lines 1 and 2. The “fiddly bit” of the directions results in a series of increases, which are shown inside the white circle.

Basically, “what is going on” is you will be knitting a tube with a set of increases on either side. These increases need to be at the correct spots, and you’d sort of like them to look attractive. The idea is pretty simple.

Now, “how to” translate the magic loop directions from knitting with magic loop to circular.

When you get to “line 1″, the first step is always to divide your stitches onto needles in a way that makes it “obvious” where you should shape. If you were knitting magic loop, the stitches would already be divided properly. But, if you were knitting on DPN’s they may not be because you choose some organization you liked while knitting the foot.

I place the stitches that will be on the “top/instep” of the sock on a single needle, which I will call needle 1; it will hold 1/2 the stitches. So, if you have a total of 40 stitches for the foot, place 20 stitches on this needle. (The round will officially begin with the first stitch on needle 1.)

I bet your wondering whether it matters which 20 stitches you put on this needle. The answer is yes and no. My sockulator sock has a round toe; that means it doesn’t matter which 20 stitches you put on the needle. However, if you substituted some other sort of toe with an obvious top, bottom and sides, you should make sure the 20 instep stitches align with the top of the toe. Otherwise your sock foot will twist funny!

Next step: Divide the remaining stitches on the other two needles, which I will call needles 2 and 3. So, if you had 40 stitches total you will divide the remaining 20 stitches in half, placing 10 on needle 2 and 10 on needle 3.

Now, I’m going to provide the original instructions for knitting the gusset of a 40 stitch sock using magic loop and then translated instructions for knitting using DPNs. Don’t worry about understanding the original instructions — they are there for comparison purposes.

If your pattern happens to to come up with 40 stitches for the foot, the instructions worked on magic loop would be:

Gusset:
Worked circular using magic loop method.

* Round 1: Knit all 20 stitches on first tip; magic Turn. k2, L1A, work until 2 stitches remains on needle tip, L1B, k2; magic Turn.
* Round 2: Knit all stitches on first tip; magic turn; knit all stitches on second tip; magic turn.
* Alterate rounds 1 and 2 until there are a total of 50 stitches. There will be 30 stitches on the “sole/bottom” of the sock and 20 on the top/instep, ending with a round 2 round.)

Here are the instructions worked on magic loop:

Gusset:
Worked circular using 3 DPNs.

* Round 1: Knit all 20 stitches on needle 1; k2, L1A, work to end of needle 2. Knit until 2 stitches remains on needle 3, L1B, k2.
* Round 2: Knit all stitches on needle 1, then 2 then 3.
* Alternate rounds 1 and 2 until there are a total of 50 stitches. There will be 30 stitches on the “sole/bottom” of the sock and 20 on the top/instep, ending with a round 2 round.)

Ok, so compare the instruction for round 1. In both, you begin by knitting all 20 stitches on what will be the “top/instep” of the sock. When working DPN’s I had you group these 20 stitches on needle 1. In both instructions, you then have run out of stitches until you “do” something. So, that part barely needles translation.

With DPNs, you don’t need to do that quick flip that lets you rearrange the stitches to work magic loop; you just start knitting off needle 2. So, knit 2 stitches, work a lifted increase (L1A — meaning “lift on after”) as required to form the gusset. Then you work until you run out of stitches on needle 3, you work across almost to the end of needle 3, work a lifted increase (L1B — meaning “lift one before”) and then work the final two stitches on needle 3. (Details for the L1A and L1B are shown in the original instructions for working the gusset on a toe up sock.)

You are finished with a round! Whoo hoo! Notice the increases are forming on the edges of needles 2 and 3.

Next you work a plain round; just knit all the stitches on needles 1,2, & 3.

Now, continue, working rounds, alternating rounds 1 & 2 until you have enough stitches. When you are done, there will still be 20 stitches on the top needle. If you didn’t screw up, the numbers of stitches on needle 2 should equal the number on needle 3.

That’s it. You’ve reached line 2; the gusset is done. The next step is the heel turn, which is a teeny, tiny little bit of knitting. The fiddle features exist to actually “turn” the work 90 degrees and also make the heel hug the back of your foot. I’ll describe that shortly!

Comments: -