Knit a bag in the round
 

Hello,

I am an inexperienced knitter and tried looking up other knitting in the round questions but did not find a solution.

I am trying to knit a bag, out of old plastic bags. I've started knitting on one of the circular needles, with a plastic cord in between. I have no idea how many stitches I cast on! I just filled up the needle.

I've read several websites that say you can knit a bag in the round, but I am unclear about how to make the bottom of the bag. As far as I know, knitting in the round is just a tube. I know you can somehow pick up the stitches from the "long" and "short" side of the bottom, but its a circle, and I have no idea what that means. It doesn't seem feasible.

I've tried looking up patterns and tutorials but I just don't understand them. I thought maybe a real person explaining it would help me.

Can anyone give me some advice on what to do?? Thank you sooo much in advance!

Monica

You could call this the top of the bag and knit down, then dec sts much like you would for a hat then pull the remaining thread through the sts like a drawstring. Or continue to knit down, no decs and do a 3 needle bindoff for the bottom.

The patterns that have you pick up sts start with knitting a square or rectangle flat (back and forth) then when you've picked up sts from all 4 edges you begin knitting in the round.

Thank you for your help!!!

I have another question though. I think I'd like to use double pointed needles, but I'm not quite sure how to do that.

I watched the video on picking up stitches, would I do that with the double pointed needles?

I'm not so sure I understand Double pointed needles. I'll start with all of my stitches on the dp needles, and then decrease from there, or will they naturally come to a close if i keep knitting on them??

Again, I'm a pretty new knitter, I've only knitted a few scarves, thank you soo much!!!

Monica

You have to make sure you don't have too many sts for the dbl pointed needles or they'll fall off the ends. You can pick up the sts with a dpn, then slip them onto the circular. You don't have to decrease the sts, you can have just a straight bottom instead of a curved one, but you need to close up the bottom some way. You can leave the sts on the needle and do a three needle bindoff, or kitchener the sts together, or bind them off and sew it closed. There are videos for all these things under Advanced Techniques, Tips and Cast off.