Getting Loopy

My Dangerous Sister sent me a little sample of this cast-on, with some cryptic directions. I think I've got the basic idea now, but need to work on doing it neatly. Here's the basic idea:

cast on three stitches using a half-hitch
chain three off the last stitch with a crochet hook
set that aside, making a long loop so it won't unravel, and leaving the yarn under and behind the needles
do the same thing with color number two
pick up color number one, bring it under and up, and put the long loop on the needle
just keep doing this, alternating colors

It has a matching cast-off as well. My big question is how elastic it is, but that requires a larger sample. Would it work for the cuff of socks? I have some socks in progress, so I'll keep testing.

Later...

Here's the sock in question, that I've been knitting for Dr. Mavis. (Well, one of two for Dr. Mavis.) It's my excuse to play with the Regia self-striping sock yarn. It's very fun. Making something so colorful without managing loose ends is quite delightful. I'd like to dye my own, but recently realized that it would require reeeeeeeally large skeins. I'll have to find out how to manage them.

To knit the sock, I started from the cuff end, as usual, but the purl rows that I added for a little extra pizazz just looked more and more dorky as I worked toward the toe. So I ripped out the first few inches, picked up the stitches and knit back toward the cuff. Unfortunately, that means I need to replace a cast-on with a cast-off, and the latter is rarely as elastic as the former.

So I tried the loopy cast off, hoping that all those little loops would make it flexible.


They did not.

It was super constricting, so I'm going to rip it out and try a better cast-on. But I had to get this picture first, just for the record. Dangerous Sister's instructions are very scribbled, and I only just noticed that the person she learned it from (on TV) got it from a pair of Turkish socks.

[Post Script: In the end I did a grafted cast-off for single rib, following directions by Denise Powell that I found here. To make it stretchy enough I left the stitches really loose. It looks a little untidy, or lacy depending on your point of view.]

While we're on knitting...


I went exploring in the attic, amid the gritty puffs of paper insulation, and found several batches of useful yarn. I found enough white, worsted-weight yarn for a sweater, perfect for space-dying. I also found this UFO hat, and Sparky says he'd like to wear it! That's a first. The yarn is mohair that my Dangerous Sister brought back from Kenya, of all places. I'll keep going for a beret shape, and find something absolutely itch-free for the brim.