Knitting Socks

by Catherine
(Shropshire,UK)

First time knitting on 4 needles!

The pattern says cast on 60 stitches and divide evenly over 3 double-pointed needles...

I am totally clueless as to how to handle the 3 DPN's- presumably the wool joins them all together ?

Are the stitches likely to fall off one needle whilst I'm working on the other???

Have found out what 'slip' means from your page, thanks.

YOUR ANSWER

Hi Catherine

Basically you have twenty stitches on each needle and you work the stitches on one needle at a time. I find it is often easier to cast on all of the stitches on a normal set of needles and transfer my knitting to the double pointed needles on the first row.

To to that you just knit the first twenty stitches using the first double pointed needle, then knit the 2nd lot of twenty stitches on your second double pointed needle. When you have worked the final twenty stitches on the third double pointed needle you start the next row by knitting the first twenty stitches with your fourth double pointed needle, forming a circle of knitting.

As you are knitting in rounds you should always have three needles with stitches on them waiting to be worked and one to do the actual knitting.

Stitches falling off the ends of the needles can be a bit of a problem sometimes, what I usually do is to 'scrunch up' the stitches on the needles I am not currently working on so that the stitches are bunched together in the middle of the needles.

Alternatively you could get yourself some needle point protectors and use them to keep the stitches on the needles until you are ready to knit that particular needle.

I have found that it takes a fair bit of practice to feel comfortable handling four needles at once, I always feel like I have one or two thumbs to many!

Good luck with your first attempt.