Knitting Discoveries

There is this problem I come up against very often when I find a new pattern I want to knit.  It seems I'm always wanting to knit in the round - socks, gloves, hats, but every pattern calls for just slightly different sizes of needles, and good knitting needles are expensive.  This is another reason I like to crochet; I already own almost every size hook!  What often happens to me when I find these patterns I want to knit is that I won't have the right size double point needles, and I will have the right circular needle size, but they'll be too long for the small project I'm attempting.

That happened to me again.  I brought with me, to Iowa, a skein of yarn to make my granddaughter some leggings.  On the way out, I grabbed what I thought would be the right size needle; I was in a hurry to get here, so didn't think this through much.  When I started the pattern the other day, I quickly realized this circular needle was waaaay too long for the itsy bitsy leg warmers I was going to knit!  The nearest yarn store is about two hours away from here.  How on earth was I going to finish these in time for Christmas?!?

Then I remembered something I saw mentioned in the pattern.  Magic Loop!  Have you heard of this?  Does everyone know about this except me??  I Googled it and discovered that it's a technique you can use to knit small projects, in the round, on long circular needles.  This means that all of those circular needles I have already purchased can do double duty for more knitting projects!  It took me just a little bit to get the hang of it; I kept stretching my side stitches out.  I quickly caught on though, and now I'm breezing through:)  And... I'd better go finish so I can mail them on Monday!  Have a good weekend:)