The last part of the sock knit along involves working happily up the leg and then binding off.
Two at a time is not difficult. I don't even teach it as a separate class. Rather, I do teach it as part of my knitting in the round class. If you are using the two circular needles method, then one needle goes in the first half of both socks and the other needle goes in the second half of both socks. If you are doing magic loop, then thread first half of the first sock, all of the second sock, and the second half of the first sock. It is that half—whole—other half threading that I think messes people up.
While I prefer magic loop, two circulars is very useful and possibly more versatile. You can work very small circumference with both techniques. However, you can also work very large circumferences with the two circulars method by making it three or four or more. I could, theoretically, knit a house cozy simply by having many, many circular needles.
Knowing which method you like for working in the round can save you money on needles. Purchase only what you need. If you like magic loop, buy yourself a set of your favorite circular needles in a long length, such as 100 cm/40 inches or 150cm/60 inches. If you prefer the two circular needles method, buy yourself two sets. In that case, the 80cm/32 inch or 100 cm/40 inch length is possibly a better choice.
The final part of the sock knit along is binding off. Because we want a stretchy bind-off, I've chosen Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind-off from Knitty issue 29, fall 2009. Grafted and tubular bind-offs also work, but then involve sewing.
Jeny's approach follows a basic tenant of stretchy bind-offs — get more yarn into the bind off. While some people do that by casting on stitches then immediately binding them off, Jeny does it with yarn unders and yarn overs. She adds yarn before every stitch, thus more than doubling the amount of yarn in the bind off. If you are playing yarn chicken, leave yourself more than twice as much yarn as you are using in a regular round of knitting.
I hope everyone has enjoyed participating in the sock knit along. We'll plan to get a group photograph at the July North Georgia Knitting Guild meeting.
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