The Magic Loop Discontinuity

It's really a clever geometry trick in manipulating planes -- the flat kind, not the Boeing kind. Saturday afternoon we started our Magic Loop socks, following the sample pattern in Morgan-Oaks' book 2-At-A-Time Socks. The book is really good, with fantastic pictures and good descriptions of each step. The key to using this technique, or at least learning it, is a true desire to use it. Truth be known, it's not one of the easiest, or most practical techniques in the tool kit, but it has to be one of the most interesting, at least from a mathematical standpoint. Starting out, you have what has to be described as a royal mess of cables and yarn, but as soon as you generate some fabric, the mess tends to clean up a bit. Necessary when performing the magic loop is to use a marker to indicate the beginning of the round, then at the edge of the sock, turn your work and use the loop on the opposite sock to pull your needles into position to knit the next side. You may have a natural tendency to turn and knit back the way you came instead of turning the corner to continue knitting on the outside of the sock. If you remain on the outside (where you should be), the geometry will work out. If you start knitting along the inside, you'll be deep sixed. If you really, really, and I mean really feel a divine vocation to the Magic Loop, you'll love it. It just takes a bit to get used to, and patience to learn your knitting orientation. Am I convinced? Well, I think it's clever and fascinating, but I also think it's clever that you can make a wine glass sing by wetting the lip and running your finger around it. That doesn't make me want to forgo the organ to play Mozart on a glass harmonica. Waiter, I'll take another glass of Chateau Neuf and a set of double points, thankyou....