Ever since I learnt to knit socks, I’ve done them the same way: top down with dpns. Last year I had an attempt at knitting them toe up with a short row heel but that one sock has languished in my stash ever since and will probably be frogged and turned into a nice plain sock. I didn’t particularly enjoy the casting on method with dpns, and the pattern is 2 x 2 rib all the way and therefore just a *bit* boring to knit.

So when Diane published her Having Hope sock pattern to raise funds for Cancer Research in Australia , I immediately bought it, but didn’t think that I would ever actually knit the socks. At least as the pattern was. Toe-up was bad enough, but magic loop as well? *shudders*

And then the yarn arrived. It’s another Cairi special: 75% wool/25% nylon sock yarn for long lasting socks and a beautiful semi-solid teal colourway:

Mr B is getting more and more adventurous with his sock colours ever since I started knitting them for him. I wasn’t sure the colours would be manly enough, but he loves them (much to Diane’s disappointment!).

Anyway, with such lovely yarn to be used, I decided I may as well give it a go. One pair of needles quickly bought from one of my favourite eBay stores (more about those in a minute), and I was set.

I trawled the internet for directions on how to do a Turkish Cast On. There are a lot tutorials available; I think the first one I came across was FluffyKnitterDeb’s, but they were all very clear; I just had to try it about half a dozen times because for some reason I was always ending up one stitch short. I don’t quite know what I did in the end, but I finally managed to cast on enough stitches and away I went!

Having never even tried to Magic Loop before, I was surprised how easy it was to master. It’s fairly intuitive - the cord needs to be in a certain place so that you can use one end of the needles to knit the stitches off the other and after a few rounds, I was whizzing along. But the needles (Prym) aren’t the best for the job and I’m going to change to Addis as soon as I have some. I do like Prym circs as a rule, but the needles bend as they join to the cord and when you’re sliding stitches up and down all the time, having to move them over the bump every time is time consuming. But for the time being, I’m happy to use them and watch as my sock grows from a toe into a foot.

I feel like I did when I first knit socks; everything is new and exciting and just a little scary. There’s a lot to be said for being so familiar with the way to knit something that you can do it in your sleep, but I’m really enjoying the edge-of-my-seat sock knitting experience as well.