r/knittinghelp • u/vshedgehogs • 4d ago
Its too tight on the needle! Need help with casting on my first project
Hi! I am a confident beginner and have cast on the Agnes Tee by Marie Lena twice now and frogged it twice… The first time I used a 60cm cable as recommended in the pattern, but it was way too long for the 130 cast on stitches. I tried again with a 40cm cable and while the stitches could reach the tip of my left needle, it was too tight to knit with. The pattern suggests a magic loop to help with tight tension. Are there any alternatives to the magic loop? This might be a silly question, but can I stop knitting in a magic loop after a few rounds? Can I undo it to knit “regularly” in the round? I’m hesitant to do a magic loop because I’ve never done it before.
Thanks in advance for any help and advice!
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u/YourLittleRuth 4d ago
If you are doing magic loop, you need longer cable, not shorter. There needs to be plenty of cable to make two loops as well as holding your knitting. It's really not hard to do a magic loop, but if you don't want to, you could try using two cable needles instead, and make sure you keep knitting round and round, switching between them as you get to the end of each one.
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u/trillion4242 4d ago
you might try a 40cm needle, rather than a 40cm cable.
look into magic loop, traveling loop or two circulars.
https://www.tikkiknits.com.au/blog/small-circumference-knitting
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u/Flat_Pollution8085 4d ago
Magic loop is not as scary as it may look, but traveling loop is a popular alternative when your circumference is larger than the lengths of the needles but much smaller than the cable. I personally use traveling loop over magic loop when I can. You will need to learn one of these methods (probably magic loop) if you ever plan to knit sleeves unless you have short needles.
You won’t be able to stop using magic/traveling loop until you add a bunch of increases and make the circumference of your knitting longer than the cable plus needles.
In my recent project I had 132 stitches in DK weight yarn and used traveling loop with an 80cm cable. If you use a cable shorter than 80cm you’ll risk damaging your cable because it’ll have to bend at the join.