converting patterns to circular

[naplesknitter]

I am a beginner/ interm knitter--- I have knitted lots of scarves, then to purses ( the best learning tool for beginners) . I'm at the end of my first pullover sweater ( stripes and in the round) ( I converted two patterns for the striping and then converted it to the round) however; it has taken me about 4 mos to finish it -- I'm at the end. this was quite an undertaking for my first sweater--- ( I started it in a sweater class..) so I had some help from the class and the videos on thes site ( WHICH ARE MORE HELPFUL THAN ALL THE BOOKS I have purchased) And the best part is that it fits and it is very pretty. NOw I am on a sleeveless camisole that is knitted back and forth--- I could have converted it (I think,, ha, ha), but I wanted to see the difference.

My main confusion about converting is where to put the increases and decreases and which way they should slant . I understand that they would go by the 2 half markers, but how many stitches to leave between and which way do they slant? And if I use the increase where I knit into the back of the st below , there isn't really a slant, so would this be the best increase to use on a sweater knitted in the round? If someone has a specific rule of thumb they use, please share. Thanks once again for the great info.

[Ingrid]

When I convert to circular, I really still follow the pattern as far as the types of increases and decreases. The only difference is that I'm doing all my knitting on the front. For things like underarm decreases, you do them when you divide for the front and back, and it's pretty obvious where they need to be.

If a pattern has pattern stitches that take place on the wrong side, I shy away from trying to convert to the round, though I'm sure it could be done.