Sock Knitting: DPNS VS. Circular

Over the past few years, I’ve been knitting my own socks with increasing frequency. Recently I found myself procrastinating my work on a newly cast on sock. I had the stitches cast onto one dpn. I wondered why I wasn’t getting to it, and began to think about what might be holding me back.

I realized that it was the tedious task of distributing the cast on stitches onto the other 3 needles. As I’ve been casting on socks more often, it’s become a hassle and a roadblock. Hence, the procrastination.

I wondered if there might be a better, more streamlined way to knit socks, so off to Google I went, in search of answers. I found 3 other knitting tools other than DPNs with which to knit socks. 2 of them had to be ordered online, and 1 I could buy at my local store. This 1 that I’m speaking of is the 9 inch circular needle. My local Joann’s had a couple left in stock, so I picked one up and began my circular sock knitting journey.

First Impressions

The circular solved my sock cast on problems for sure. Just cast on the stitches and knit the ribbing. No fussy/fiddly setup like the DPNs. Roadblock removed, yay!

Here’s how the socks looked when I first started:

I did however, notice a distinct difference in the overall feel of sock knitting with the circular. The circular is very cramped in comparison to the DPNs. It takes some getting used to, as I’ve only ever knitted socks on DPNs. In this respect the DPNs might win. They’re much more spacious and allow for a more comfortable knitting experience. The tips of the #2 circular seem a lot tinier than the ones on the DPNs. I know that they’re the same size, but visually they look thinner, smaller, and the needle tips are definitely sharper. It’s a much more compressed knitting feeling in comparison.

One thing that’s really nice about the circular is how it makes my sock knitting very portable. All I now need is a project bag that hangs on my arm, and my sock can easily go with me anywhere in my house or outside.

The next experience I’m comparing is the knitting of the heel flap, which is what I’m up to at this point. When knitting on DPNs the heel stitches are isolated onto 1 needle and the flap is knitted from there. Here on the circular the heel stitches are worked on the same needle. However, as the heel rises in height, the side at the needle tip is free and able to stand up to it’s entire length, but the other side, which is inland on the needle, cannot. It stays bent downward as the heel flap grows, because it’s attached to the circular cord. I’m not sure what I’ll do about this. I guess that I could place the stitches onto a DPN and finish the flap and turn the heel that way, then place them back onto the circular. So far my conclusion is that while it’s convenient to just knit the heel stitches from one side to the other, there’s once again the issue of spatial restriction due to the smallness of the circular knitting space.

I took some pictures of the heel flap formation on the circular so you can see what I’m talking about:

One other thing that’s rather important to me when knitting a sock: I like to try on the sock at various intervals as I’m knitting it, and it isn’t possible when knitting on a 9 inch circular. Again the issue of space. The needle is too small for a try on.

Of course, I haven’t finished knitting my sock, so I haven’t decided which is better yet, but I’ve gotten some definite impressions. So far it seems that they both have their strong and weak points, which is a bit surprising to me, as I thought that the circular needle would revolutionize my sock knitting and leave the DPNs in the dust. Only time will tell.

Take care and thanks for reading 🙂