Knitting Socks on Two Circular Needles

In my ongoing quest to master every method of sock knitting that I can find, I spent some time over the last couple months learning to knit socks with two shorter circulars. When I say shorter circulars, I don’t mean the tiny 9 inch circulars. I mean 16 to 24 inch circular needles with full-size needle tips.

In a surprising twist, it turns out I actually find this method more intuitive than Magic Loop. Part of me wishes I had tried this method first.

In today’s blog post, we will cover how to knit a sock using two circular needles. Then we’ll turn to the advantages and drawbacks of this method.

How to knit a sock with two circular needles

For purposes of this explanation, I’m going to assume that you already have a sock pattern you plan to use. If you don’t, I have a free sock pattern for a worsted-weight vanilla sock and a free sock pattern for a fingering-weight sock with some simple texture on it. Either of those would be a great starting point.

Now then. Let’s get started. First, pick up your needle number one. We will refer to the needles as needle number one and needle number two so that there is less chance of confusion. Cast on half of the stitches you will need on needle number one. Then, pick up needle number two, and without turning your work, continue casting on the remaining stitches you will need on needle number two.

Fold your work in half at the point where needle number two picks up from needle number one. Make sure that you have needle number two in back and needle number one in front. Slide your stitches on needle number one to the end of the right-side needle tip. Now grab the left side needle tip of needle number one and work across all the stitches on needle one. This will join your work in the round without any extra fiddling. It will leave a small gap at the join, but you can simply close that up when you weave in your cast-on tail.

Now flip your work over. Slide the stitches on needle number two to the end of the right needle tip on needle number two. Using the left needle tip of needle two, work across all of the stitches on needle number two.

Flip your work over, and continue working in the same manner for needle one and needle two as you come to them.

Essentially, what you’re doing is you are knitting half the sock on each needle. Your stitches never change needles. You don’t have to slide the needles around like you do in Magic Loop.

Just in case the written explanation is a little confusing, here’s a video for how to cast on and get started knitting a sock on two circular needles.

@abeeinthebonnet

This is honestly such an intuitive and straightforward method for knitting small circumferences! Have you ever tried it?

♬ original sound – Lauren | Knitting patterns

Advantages to knitting socks with two circular needles

When knitting socks with two shorter needles, you have fewer needle tips than with DPN‘s but don’t have to manipulate the cord like you do with Magic Loop. In other words, you get the benefit of having a full-size needle tip without all the pushing and pulling.

This method, like Magic Loop, has only two spots where laddering can occur. That’s an improvement over the three or four when using double pointed needles. This can be a nice benefit if you struggle with maintaining tension while changing needles.

I also think this method is more intuitive for many knitters than the Magic Loop method is. It took me forever to understand what the different components of Magic Loop were doing. I also struggled to understand how the extra long cable was meant to work. With this method, it’s pretty clear and straightforward what each needle is doing and how.

Drawbacks to knitting socks with two circular needles

As with any sock knitting method, this method does have its challenges. One is the upfront cost. With Magic Loop or double pointed needles, you only need to buy one set of needles. With this method, you need to buy two. That means your needles will be twice as expensive, at least at the outset.

Your needles also need to match perfectly. If you are the type of person who tends to misplace needles, that can be a drawback of this method. With Magic Loop, it is impossible to misplace the needle tips that you need. With this method, you may end up losing one and having to replace it. It’s also possible that if the labeling on your needles gets worn away and you have two needles that are very similar sizes, you might accidentally end up knitting your sock with one size needle on the front and one size needle on the back. That would result in inconsistent tension between the two halves of your sock.

Finally, if you are the type of person who gets annoyed by repetitive sounds or motions, this method might not be a good fit for you. That’s because, while you’re using your working needle, your nonworking needle is dangling in the back. It can plink against furniture, scrape across the top of your legs, bump your forearm, make little clinging sounds, and so on. If you think that this might be an insurmountable irritant, I would recommend trying a different method.

Will I continue to knit socks using two circulars?

Although I discovered I really enjoy this method of knitting socks, I don’t enjoy it so much that it’s going to become my primary sock knitting method. Because of that, it doesn’t make a ton of sense to me to invest in double sets of needles for my various sock knitting projects. On the rare occasions when my 9 inch circulars will not do the job and my double pointed needles are not an option for whatever reason, I will probably stick to Magic Loop.

Still, I think this is a cool technique to have in my toolbox, and I’m glad I took the time to learn it.

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