Like the train heading up a mountain, your knitting progresses in one continuous spiral. A traditional length for hat knitting is 16 inches. Why does the needle need to be shorter than the knitting? Because the hat is 12 inches smaller than the needle, it will be stretched and straining against it. Thankfully, most patterns list the exact needle length required, thereby eliminating the guesswork.
Choose from bamboo, wood, steel and plastic. The choice is yours! In general, I recommend bamboo or wooden needles for beginners. Both materials have good surface drag, making the yarn less slippery on the needle. As you become more comfortable with circular knitting, you might prefer steel or aluminium needles for their smoothness and speed.
Here are my recommendations for beginners:. They are widely accessible, have smooth joins from the needle to cable, come in a wide array of lengths and sizes, and are fairly affordable. Chiao Goo are stainless steel needles with an eye-catching red nylon-coated steel cable. A solid choice. Knit Picks is also highly recommended for steel needles. Their needles are nickel-plated over a hollow brass core, making them very lightweight.
I purchased my first pair of Knit Picks circulars way back in They lasted a good six years of constant use and abuse before the cable breathed its last and snapped out of the needle.
They got into the yarn supplies game very early on, and many knitters myself included have a soft spot for them. You can get Knit Pick circular needles on KnitPicks here. That was a lot of explanation up top. For those who like learning through photos or who need a quick refresher, check out the photo tutorial below. It goes through the main points of knitting in the round.
And that brings us to the end of this knitting in the round tutorial. I hope you feel more confident to pick up a pair of circular needles and begin knitting!
Let me know if you have any questions below in the comments section. Sign up for free patterns, tutorials, sales and promotions. Only good stuff. Never spam. Unsubscribe anytime. It is a circular needle. If the gap is too wide, then you may need a smaller needle! Three solutions: 1. Knit the pattern for the first row or two and then join the stitches. Use the yarn tail to sew up the small seam. I had this problem when I was casting on 72 stitches for an infant hat in 3 baby yarn.
Change to the long tail cast on which is more stretchy. Hi Davina Is It possible I could knit a mitten on a 16 inch circular needle? You can introduce shape to your flat knitting with decreases and increases removing or adding stitches while knitting to produce for example a triangular shawl.
You can also turn your knitted rectangles into tubes by sewing the edges together and make things like fingerless gloves, or if you do quite a bit of sewing, even sweaters.
Circular knitting is an alternative, and for most people the preferred method whenever you are knitting anything that involves tubes of knitted fabric. Think socks, hats, summer tops, sweaters, gloves, legwarmers — in other words, clothing. You join the cast on stitches together to form a circle, and then you knit in a spiral to form seamless tubes.
You can probably knit anything flat if you really want to, and sew it into shape afterward, but it certainly is easier to knit fitted garments in the round. You need special knitting needles for knitting in the round. The two basic types are double-pointed needles and circular needles. Circular needles are two knitting needles connected with a flexible cable. This means the length of the cable matters.
With regular straight knitting needles, the only important size parameter is the diameter of the needles, but for circular needles, you have to use needles with the right combination of size diameter and length. The length is measured from needle tip to needle tip, and generally, you want to use needles that are a bit shorter than the circumference you want to knit.
You can buy circular needles either with a fixed-length cable, or as a set where you get a variety of needle sizes and cable lengths, and you can mix and match them to suit the project you want to knit. Although you will probably have learned to knit flat on straight, single-pointed needles, it is just as easy to knit flat on circular needles. That makes circular needles more versatile since you cannot use single-pointed needles for knitting in the round.
In fact, many knitters swear by circular needles and never use straight needles at all. Time will tell what you will prefer. Personally, I like both depending on the project. If you are knitting a really large flat piece, like a blanket or a rug, then you will definitely want to use circular needles with a nice, long cable. The cable can easily accommodate hundreds of live stitches, and it takes the weight of the blanket off the needles, so you can knit without strain. Double pointed needles are straight with two pointed ends and come in sets of 4 or 5 needles.
They are sometimes called sock needles because they are traditionally used for knitting socks. You use them by dividing the stitches on to 3 or 4 of the needles in a set, and then you join in the round. The remaining needle is used to knit the stitches from the first needle, and then when that needle is empty, you use it to knit from the second needle, and so forth.
I will write a future article specifically about double pointed needles and how to use them. Double pointed needles are well suited for anything with a really small circumference, but there are also other types of knitting needles that are specifically designed for small circumference knitting, and there are tricks that allow you to knit in the round with circular needles with a cable that is too long for the circumference of your knitwork. I will also cover this topic in the future.
Casting on to circular needles is no different from casting on to straight needles. You can use whatever cast-on method you prefer. You cast on to one of the two needles of the circulars, and as the needle fills with stitches you push them back to the cable to make room for more stitches.
You will want to keep your cast on nice and loose. If you have a tendency to cast on too tight, then it might be an idea to cast on to a needle one size larger than what you want to knit with, and then transfer the stitches to the correct needle size. If you prefer, you can even cast on to a straight needle, and then transfer the stitches to the circular needles.
First, you will want to make sure that all the stitches are facing the same way. To join knitting in the round is to connect the first and last cast on stitches together. This joining of stitches is what makes circular knitting possible. But we're getting a little ahead of ourselves. Before you can join your knitting in the round, you must first cast on. Here's how to cast on to knit in the round. Here you will cast on as you normally do. Just be sure to check your knitting pattern for cast on method and stitch count.
When joining in the round, you want to avoid twisted stitches. Make sure your cast on row is aligned before you begin. If you are planning to knit a hat and your stitches are twisted, you'll have to start over.
Nobody likes to do that. There are some patterns which take advantage of a twisted cast on, like this Mobius Cowl. You can find the pattern here. This is how you will set up your knitting needles to join in the round. It will always be this way when knitting in the round. As you read through the methods below, be sure to keep this in mind.
And so, without further ado, below are the methods to join knitting in the round. Next, insert your right needle into the first stitch on your left. Slip the stitch as if to purl. Then, insert your left needle into the last cast on stitch on your right needle. Pass this stitch over the other. TIP : Make sure your yarn is either in front or back and ready to knit or purl your first stitch. Now, insert your right needle into the first stitch on your left needle and begin knitting in the round.
Move this extra stitch to your left hand needle purlwise. TIP : Remember to place a stitch marker to show the beginning of your round. TIP: You do not have to work until you reach the end of your tail. Just remember to work the double stitches as one stitch when you start your next round. Working this method prevents you from having to weave in that pesky yarn tail later. Who doesn't love that?! Next, pass the extra stitch over the slipped stitch and drop it off the needle. The image shows an enlarged stitch but this will be corrected in a later step.
Don't worry. Now, with the active yarn and the yarn tail, cinch up the excess yarn. This will create the invisible join. TIP : When you come back to the beginning of the round, really tighten the join. This will help you avoid a gap, and create a nice, seamless join in your knitting. There you have it. Four different ways to join in the round.
Try one, try them all! You will find that some work better for you than others. With a little time and practice, one of these will quickly become your favorite method for knitting in the round. Do you have a favorite join for knitting in the round?
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