The socks!

Well, the holiday is now over, and so is the sock knitting... yes!  I finally finished that second sock!

Being the first pair of socks that I have knitted, they are not perfect.  There are some small flaws and I have made a few mental notes of how to do things better next time.  But they are totally wearable, and boyfriend, bless him, thinks they're great.

I knitted these socks in Morris Yarns Empire Merino in 4 ply (I bought three 50g balls, but only used 1.5).  I used size 3.75mm circular needles, but if I was to use the same yarn again I would go with a smaller gauge.

You might remember that I decided to give 'the magic loop' a go.  If you're not familiar with the magic loop, you can see a demonstration of it here.  Basically it allows you to use circular needles for knitting small circumference items (like socks) instead of using double pointed needles.  And the verdict?

It took me a few rounds of knitting and watching the above video over and over to make sure I was on track.  After three rounds I was on a roll and it was easy to follow from there.  Some people say that the magic loop is easier than using double pointed needles, but I've never had a problem with them.  In fact, I do think that I like using them better.  The problem with the magic loop is that you are always knitting in a circle, and even though it's split into two rows most of the time, it's easy to lose track of which row you're up to.  I find the motion of changing from one double pointed needle to the next clearly marks the end of each row or section for me.  I also often l tell myself "I'll just knit to the end of this row", which doesn't really work for the magic loop.  On the plus side, the magic loop is quite good for travelling with, as you can't drop stitches off the ends of the needles as easily as what you can with dpns.  But at the end of the day, I find dpns more methodical and easy to follow, so I'll stick to them.

Has anyone else used the magic loop?  If so, what did you think?