Please help - question about circ needles

[lawgoddess]

Hi, this sounds ridiculous but I've been trying and trying to knit with circular needles. Every time I get to putting the extra stitches on a stitch holder and then knitting back and forth I come undone. All my stitches are the right way then the wrong way - I feel like giving up and going back to flat.

[Mirl56]

I'm not sure why you are using a stitch holder - are you making a cable? Or why you have "extra stitches."

What exactly are you knitting? Can we see the pattern on the web somewhere? Or even a pic of the project?

How many stitches are on your circular needle and how long is the needle?

Oh, I almost forgot - Welcome to the Board!!

[lawgoddess]

I am knitting a soaker - the Punk knitters one -

Work in stocking or garter st for 3.5" [4", 4", 4", 4"].
- Place 12 [16, 17, 19, 21] sts on a stitch holder.
- You will now be working back and forth on the remaining 44 [56, 63, 69, 75] sts.
- Dec 1 st at the beginning and end of every other row until 12 [16, 17, 19, 21] sts remain.
- Weave these sts together with the ones you placed on the holder.

I can put the stitches on the holder but then I come undone.

The needle is a 30cm Addi turbo 4mm - sorry I am new to all of this in the round stuff! I wasn't sure if posting the link was allowed so I just copied the bit I am trying atm.

[Knitting_Guy]

Hmm, I'll take a stab at this. When knitting in the round you are always working on the right side of the piece. When you switch to knitting back and forth you're basically knitting flat so you have to knit it as if you're working with straight needles (right side, then wrong side, then right side etc.).

Example, lets' say you're doing the piece in stockinette. In the round you just knit all the time. When you get to the piece to knit back and forth you'll knit the RS row and purl the WS row to achieve stockinette.

[Mirl56]

http://community.livejournal.com/pun...rs/110889.html
these, right? (It's OK to post the link.)

You've got those stitches on a stitch holder. These will be the stitches that are in the center of the front, between the 2 leg openings, right at the top of the openings.

Now you just need to knit back and forth, as if you has 2 straight needles in your hands. You are working the stitches that cover the 'butt' or back side, come between the legs and up the front. As you are decreasing at each end of every other row - that gives it the shape for the leg openings.

Like Mason says - if you were doing stockinette stitch on the circular part, you were knitting every round. After you break off the stitches to the holder you are now working flat rows, so to maintain the stockinette stitch, you will have to knit one row and then purl one row.

[lawgoddess]

Oh thank you I think I get it! So once I have knitted a row, I change the right needle to my left hand and also turn the row around and do an opposite stitch? Like purl?