Knit on Circular Needles
Circular needles are exactly what they sound like; they enable a knitter to knit in a circle and are useful for knitting round objects like hats and mittens. Knitting with circular needles is not exactly the same as using straight needles, so read on to learn how to knit in the round.
Steps
- Gather your circular knitting needles and some yarn.
- Make a slipknot and slide it onto the needle.
- Cast on. Do which ever cast on method you like. It's recommended that you do not use the backwards loop method, as the loops can twist around and come undone.
- Scrunch all the stitches over to the left needle, or where you began casting on. Make sure all of your stitches are straight on the needles and facing the same direction.
- Join the stitches. What this means is you need to join the knitting yarn to the work so it is one continuous circle. Hold the needle where the cast on began in your left hand and hold the other needle in your right hand. Begin knitting with the working yarn, making sure you are connecting the yarn to the beginning and creating a circle.
- Pull the joining stitches and the first few afterwards tight. Otherwise you may have a ladder form where you joined the yarn, and you don't want that to happen.
- Put a stitch marker on the right needle to mark the beginning of the round. (If you don't have a stitch marker you can use a paper clip.) This is not completely necessary, as you can see where the round starts with the tail yarn, but it's very helpful if you're knitting a complex pattern.
- Continue knitting in the round. A tube like structure should begin to form.
- Cast off as your normally would.
- Finished.
Tips
- Here are the list of stitches and how to do it when you knit in the round:
- Garter stitch: knit one round, purl one round. And repeat.
- Stockinette stitch: knit all rounds.
- Reverse stockinette stitch: purl every round.
- You can knit straight, flat pieces with circular needles too. Just don't join the stitches, and turn the work after every row.
- Remember, when you knit in the round, you'll never turn your work.
- You can also knit in the round with doubled pointed needles. Try both and find out which you prefer.
- If your needles are too big for the project you want to complete, they will stretch the yarn out, and your finished project won't look very nice. You'll want to look up the traveling loop or the magic loop method, which allow you to knit smaller items and long circular needles.
Warnings
- Don't twist the stitches before you join the two ends. This is very important!
Things You'll Need
- Circular knitting needles
- Knitting yarn
- Stitch marker (optional)
Related Articles
- Knit
- Knit With Double Pointed Needles
- Knit an Easy Hat
- Knit the Purl Stitch
- Do the Long Tail Cast On
Sources and Citations
- Videos provided by WOOLANDTHEGANG
