Knitting with Circular Needles

Whoo, scary idea huh?  Actually, it is not as bad as you think it might be!  There are some things you are going to need to learn, and one is the mental hurdle of getting past the straight row.  This is going to be fun, trust me!

When you are knitting a cap or a sock, a neck band on a sweater, use a circular set of needles.  The great thing is you can really whip this thing together, as it is kind of like a crochet in a knit.  When you do not have to turn the darn thing all the time, you feel like you can just keep going.

This presents another problem, as you need to watch how many rows you are going on, and if it is joined to a sweater body, that is fairly easy.  But, if you are working on a sock or a hat, well, you need to either count your rows once and awhile, or stick in a tag at row 10, or 15.  That way you can have some organization to this loose way of knitting.  By the way, if you like it, you will love crochet!

So, here we go!

Lets do a hat, and you need to follow your pattern, and buy a set of circular needles that will create the right size of circle.  The 8 needles will make a 8 sized knot, and a 22 need will create a 22 sized knot.  Your sizing is coming into how many stitches you cast on.  So, you can make socks with a 22 needle, but wouldn't it be nicer with tight little knots?

Be sure to use the size needle that your pattern calls for.  So, cast on your amount of stitches, just like you would on straight needles.  Then, go back to your first cast on, at the end of the left needle.  Make sure the bumps or knit heads are pointed down when you do this.  Then, start your knit process.  When you get to the end of the row, you can then knit away, continuing round and round until you have the circle going in the right direction.  Your pattern will tell you when to increase, and when to decrease.

Play with this, and enjoy your round about!