RSBSY - Blog

Hey Guys,

Two of the most common questions I get from new knitters are:

1) what kind of needles do you use? and

2) do you know how to magic loop?

The answer to the first is #HIYAHIYA forever!! I am almost strictly a Hiya Hiya girl.  Now I know you going to say "Oh, you guys are distributors so obviously you're promoting that brand," but I've always been a Hiya Hiya girl.  The first set of proper knitting needles I ever owned were Knit Picks DPN's because Knit Picks had a promo and they were free.  But the first needles I ever chose were the small set of Hiya Hiya interchangeables that I bought from my, then favourite, local yarn store.  I was still a brand new knitter and my dad was standing right beside me.  I was hesitating and my super frugal, never spend a hundred dollars on anything silly, dad said, "if you like it, you should buy it." And then he bought them for me.  They were the best gift ever.  Pretty soon after I converted Ash and neither of us have gone back.

Now there are definitely other brands out there, and, in a pinch, I've had to use a few of them.  If you can't get your hands a set of Hiya Hiya's, my next top faves are Chiagoo and Knitters Pride.  I do have a pair of Signature needles but that's a just a depressing story. Let's just leave it at, Ash really likes hers.

For today's post I thought I would do a quick demonstration of magic loop since lots of people really do ask me about this technique.  When I got my Knit Picks DPN's and learned how to use them, I swore it was the only way I would ever knit in the round so I bought every size of DPN's.  Then I learned magic loop and now I have a bin of DPN's that I almost never use.  Magic loop is super fast, once you get the hang of it, because you don't have a bunch of bulky needles that you have to maneuver around.  Also the danger of having your needles fall out of your project drops down significantly.

Today I'm casting on the second side of my little baby mitten and this seems like the perfect time to show you how to do this.  I'm using a size 7 needle on a 32" cable and some worsted yarn.  I like a 32" cable because you can them for a lot of different projects.  A 24" can sometimes be too short and a 40" too long.  Just a heads up, I'm knitting this in the English style not continental.