Alyssa
Okay, so I finally did it—I made my first pair of socks using double-pointed needles (DPN! Honestly, I was kind of intimidated at first (all those needles sticking out every which way??), but once I got the hang of it, it was easy. There were definitely a few moments of chaos, but overall, it was a great learning experience—and now I have some cozy socks to show for it.
I used the pattern DK Weight Vanilla Socks by Kay Litton (theCrazySockLady)for my first pair of socks. Kay Litton has a huge selection of sock patterns on Ravelry (both for circular and DPN). She also has a YouTube channel that has lots of step-by-step tutorials on sock making. You can find her channel linked here.
I’ve been wanting to learn how to knit with double-pointed needles (DPN) for ages now, but I was afraid of messing up a project with stretched out tension. But, I found some yarn on sale and thought if I could make a pair of socks with just one skein, then it would be a pretty low stakes project to try out using dpn.
Double-Pointed Needles and the DK Weight Vanilla Socks Pattern
This pattern is not specifically written for a certain technique, such as DPN. In fact, it states that you can use any of the three knitting techniques for small items (DPN, Magic Loop, or Short Circular Needles, also known as Shorties). However, Kay Litton’s (Crazy Sock Lady) Youtube channel does have more specific instructions for this in a dedicated video.
Pattern Adjustments
Just to start off, I made a couple of adjustments to Kay Litton’s pattern, which I’ve listed below.
- Used the Long Tail Cast On instead of the German Twisted Cast On.
- Used 1×1 ribbing instead of 2×2.
- Adjusted the leg length to 2 inches (or 14 rows) creating an ankle sock.
These adjustments were just due to preference and not due to any errors or fit issues with the existing pattern.
I Knitted, I Frogged, I Conquered DPNs
My first error when using DPN’s was made before casting on stitches. While I did some research on DPN’s before starting my project, I did have a lack of understanding with the number of needles that I needed.
While you can vary the number of needles for different projects (In Kay Litton’s DPN tutorial she uses 5). You typically need at least 4 needles. 3 that are holding stitches and 1 for knitting. My error, was that I thought that you only needed 3 needles and that they would also be your active needles.
After fixing this mistake, I used 4 needles for my sock project. I found that 5 needles felt clunky in my hands and led to more tension gaps.
Once I had the correct number of needles and cast on my stitches, the process was pretty simple. This pattern is a top down (or cuff to toe) pattern, this was great as a first DPN user because I was able to practice by DPN technique before moving on to the more challenging parts of sock knitting.
Everything was going smoothly until I got to the heel turn. This is where things get slightly more complicated. The slip stitch heel flap (portion before the heel turn) was pretty simple and went smoothly. I had to frog, once or twice just because I had miscounted some stitches. But, the heel turn is the portion of the sock where in turns from being vertical to horizontal. The heel turn was not that technically challenging, it just included a lot of counting stitches and ssk and k2togs that I found initially confusing. I did have to frog this section down to the heel flap.
The rest of the pattern went smoothly and just involved picking up some stitches and doing some decreases.
Then…I had to knit a matching sock.
The Matching Sock
If you plan on knitting your own socks, one tip that I will share with you is to mark down any changes you make to the pattern in detail. I did not do this.
This led to me going back and have to count various rows and stitches on my first sock. I hate counting stitches. This was not fun. Do not be like me.
Also, if using DPN for the first time on socks, just be aware that your tension may change between socks.
This happened to me and I ended up with two different sized socks because my tension tightened up to my “normal” tension on the second sock.
Finishing My Socks
I wet blocked these socks since they were a natural fiber blend (wool and alpaca) and let them dry on a blocking board. I stretched out my second sock a bit to try to better match the sizing of the first.
Once they were dry, I had my first pair of hand-knit socks!
Unfortunately, they only lasted two weeks before I forgot they were hand-knit and they got thrown in the dryer- oops!
Let me know in the comments how knitting socks and using DPNs for the first time went for you!
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