Two Socks, One Week: How Do I Set Up Magic Loop? (Tutorial)*

Let me start by thanking every person who's ever uploaded a video tutorial - whether I liked it or not. This whole "watch me while I show you" thing is a challenging process requiring good technology, the ability to speak clearly and intelligently for minutes at a time, charisma, comfort with the medium and an ability to keep your freakin' hands in the frame.

I cannot say that I have been overly successful on any of these fronts but I do want to share my process with you, if only to show you that "regular people knitting" is an actual thing. Furthermore, my goal is to be your hostess and guide on a learning and creative journey I hope we will undertake together from Dec. 29 - Jan. 5. (That's a plug. Pls. see the sidebar for a the KAL post archive.)

I truly hope this video gives you a meaningful sense of the how of magic loop cuz, if it doesn't, I sure as hell have wasted many hours. Of course, on camera, I forgot to say one of the most relevant things, IMO, about how magic loop suffers: by its name!

Magic loop is actually not about creating one loop (the one we all think of when we talk about dividing the stitches on either side of the cable and pulling that loopy cable out from between them (see video for more).) Magic loop is TWO loops. The second one is entirely necessary and, for people who struggle with the method, potentially overlooked.

You'll observe, as you watch the endless footage of me knitting, that in order to join the flat cast on row into a small-diameter tube, the first thing I have to do is to "pull the back needle out" (moving the stitches, formerly on that needle, onto the cable) so that the back needle, when it joins the front needle to create the first (or next) stitch of the round, produces the second loop.

If it doesn't make sense here, don't worry. You really will see it ad nauseum (but not particularly artfully) in the video.

A couple of other points because I'm vain:

• My house does not look as crappy as it does in the video (even though there's not much of it to see). Lighting video is apparently an art, as all the porn cinematographers will tell you.
• Yeah, my hands really are as huge as they look on the screen. I have huge hands. What can I say except they're not as noticeable when you see the rest of me at the same time. And on that note, I really have to start showering more often and putting on makeup. I've hidden my hideousness because, duh. 

And now, without further ado:

How to Begin A Simple Sock, worked in Magic Loop: The First Three Rounds Set Up

Round 1:

I hope you can laugh @8 minute mark when my hands completely leave the frame - despite the fact that I speak about what they're doing at length. Just go with it...

Round 2: 

Round 3:

Moving to Round 4:

I was all set to trash-talk DPNs compare DPNs to magic loop in the next post :-) but alas, I'm not smart enough yet to have figured out how DPNs work. I guess I'll have to omit that element of the KAL because, if I don't have the knowledge, I don't have the knowledge. So, next up, some detailed discussion about the pattern.

Till then, please leave feedback if these videos make sense - or even more so if they don't! We don't want them out there in the universe if they need improving. And, if they do make sense - and you're new to the method - please do a bit of practice over the next couple of weeks. Then, you'll be old-hat at the cast-on and magic loop set up by the time we start the fun stuff.


*I considered calling this "Magic Loop in 4 Easy Videos of a Total Duration of Approximately 20 Minutes" but, on balance, I don't imagine that that title is an up-sell.