Back in June, I decided to sign up for a class at my local yarn shop to learn to knit two socks at once on the same circular needle. I’d been meaning to learn this skill for a while, but since I hadn’t gotten around to teaching it to myself, it seemed to make sense to avail myself of a professional.

Wanting to minimize purchases (and since it wasn’t a prerequisite of the class by buy supplies there), I opted to use stash yarn and an ultra-long circular needle. I cast on June 3 and cast off July 4, which corresponded to the four-week format of the class.

The yarn is Holiday Yarns Flock Sock in the colorway Yarn Fairy. I bought it at the New York Sheep and Wool Festival a couple years back. It’s intended to be used for knitting two socks at once, since it’s already been re-skeined into a cake with the two strands at the exact same point in the color changes. That way, your stripey socks should end up looking identical.

Starting out was awkward; because the two strands of yarn were wound together, they kept getting tangled with one another and I couldn’t just pull out one ball to unwind from around the second.
Also, the needle was just too long (longer than was called for) and kept getting tangled with the yarn. I’d like to try again with two separate balls and a shorter needle to see if that makes things any easier.

Regarding the class itself, the instructor’s teaching style and my learning style didn’t mesh well. I like to have instructions written out so I can follow along as I go. Her teaching style involved giving us a regular sock pattern and then offering oral instructions for us to follow and transcribe.
Also, she’d say things like, “Don’t do it the way that makes sense, because it will come out wrong.” Wrong was not defined, which made this rule-questioner gnash my teeth. Define wrong. Tell me that it’s going to end up with stitches oriented the wrong way so that I’ll have to pull the entire thing off the needles to fix it. Because otherwise it just seems like it’s going to come out in a way that’s going to make it more awkward for you to teach me, rather than for me to learn. (I was a ton of fun as a high school geometry student, let me tell you.)

Ultimately, I got a pair of socks out of the class, and that’s a good thing. And I have knit a pair this way, which means I can do it again, if I’m so inclined. I’ll consider taking another knitting class again someday, but maybe not too soon. Luckily for me, there are a plethora of books and free videos I can access that will teach me new skills in ways that are better suited to how I like to learn.
love the last photo 🙂 Yay for learning something new. I do not like two at a time and on circs. I’m too set in my ways with dpns. I feel I knit “faster” with dpns and it’s less fiddly for me. I love your socks!! and I bet when you use a shorter needle that will make the experience awesome 🙂
Comment by karen 11.17.15 @ 7:53 am@karen: I’m pretty flexible, although I tend to like one-at-a-time magic loop because of the safety it offers for knitting on mass transit (no fear of dropped needles).
Comment by soe 11.21.15 @ 5:04 am