Do you Believe in Magic (Loop)

Anyone else have the Lovin’ Spoonful song Do You Believe in Magic in their head now?

Back on track: we are here for this kind of magic: the magic loop. Have you heard of it? (You probably have.) I just heard about it last week. (I know! That rock I was living under was rather large.) Nine years. I have been knitting for nine years and have yet to knit anything tube-like using this magical loop method. That is, until now. Look at that! Two fingerless cabled gloves on one circular needle! These are knitting up so quickly that I have no pictures of earlier progress. Before this magical discovery of this oh so magical loop, I was knitting socks, gloves, mittens and the like on double pointed needles. No big deal, really, but oh my goodness this goes so much faster.

Even better, you do not have to worry about fiddly little needles poking out every which way when traveling with works in progress. So many bags have been saved the unholy holey fate brought upon them by pokey needles. Let us take a moment of silence for the poor reusable shopping bags sitting in our homes, riddled with holes. (…)

Up close and purl–sonal.

My apologies. That was a terrible joke. There are barely any purl stitches here.

Back to the good bits. Truly, if you knit anything in tube form, I highly recommend learning the magic loop method. You can do a simple search for tutorials online and practice with scrap yarn. You can also use this method to make one tube, rather than two. Truth be told, this is the fastest pair of fingerless gloves I have ever made. I worked the K1, P1 ribbing on size 1 needles, and the body is worked on size 3. The yarn is from PacaNaturals in downtown Portland. You can find my review of PacaNaturals here.

This project has been so easy to bring along that I have been able knit while enjoying seasonable weather. My lovely grandparents hopped over to Maine from California for a visit last week and, thankfully, mother nature cooperated. Just look at those colors!

These trees actually look like they are on fire. The fire of fall.The bearded fellow and I toodled (totally a word) around the state, playing tour guides for our favorite places, like the Portland Head Light.

Amongst the toodling (still a word), I probably drank my body weight in espresso.Jewell Falls, part of the Portland Trails network. Fore River Sanctuary, another spectacular spot maintained by Portland Trails.

Lake Sebago. No we did not swim. Yes I was tempted.So. Let’s hear it: have you used the magic loop method before?