Circular needle help needed !

Arra · 03-25-2009, 10:53 PM

Hi, I am a fairly new knitter and have used dp's for socks, gaiters etc, and circs for hats. I jsut decided to try a Heidi Boyd pattern for the Swing Jacket out of her Soft & Simple Baby Knits, a top down seamless baby sweater and am having difficulty getting going. It calls for a 24" #8 circ with 38 stitches to start, then increasing as you go. My problem is that I can't see how to join this at the beginning since there are so few stitches, I changed to a 16" circ and it is still too long. Any help? Thanks!

Ingrid · 03-25-2009, 11:42 PM

Are you sure that you're supposed to join at this point? Very often, patterns have you work back and forth on the circular needles, either because you'll have too many stitches to fit on straights, or you will eventually be able to fit them around the full length of the needes to start working in the round at that point.

suzeeq · 03-26-2009, 12:15 AM

I agree with Ingrid, you may start out by knitting flat, then join when you've increased the stitches a bit. If the pattern mentions 'rows' at first, then it's knitted flat. And if it's a cardigan, not a pullover, it's all going to be flat. The circular is to hold the increasing number of stitches.

imrachel · 03-26-2009, 10:08 AM

I would assume from the title of the pattern that it's not connected for in-the-round knitting. "Jacket" almost always means cardigan/buttoned/zippered style.
* Is there a photo or drawing of the jacket? If it's open at the front, or buttoned or zippered, then it's not going to be in the round.
* In the directions, do they say at any point, "join"? If they don't, then it's knit flat.
* Do the instructions use the terms rows, or rounds, as Suzeeq described? Rows are for flat, rounds are for tubes.