2 questions re: circular knitting on dpns

Lily-girl · 06-30-2006, 10:46 AM

Not really a how-to, maybe, but a practicality question. Is it going to muck anything up if i don't keep my cast stitches arranged as they were originally arranged? I started with 32 stitches, 10 on needle A, 10 on needle B, 12 on needle C. I noticed that the stitches where A meets B and so forth are getting loose. Is there any reason not to shift two stitches from A to B, two from B to C and two from C to A? I've got my first stitch marked, so i can keep track of how many rows i've done. Am i going to mess myself up?

Along the same train of thought, why is it necessary to use the fourth needle and rotate needles? Can't you just knit from one needle onto the next, using only the three that you originally cast your stitches onto?

sfavereau · 06-30-2006, 05:43 PM

You can shift a couple stitches from needle to needle if you need to, but just mark the beginning the round, so you know when to change or when to start a different stitch, etc.

If you don't knit with an extra needle, you'll end up with all the stitches on one needle, and won't be able to knit in the round anymore. Give it a try, you'll quickly see why you need the empty needle.

Lily-girl · 07-01-2006, 05:14 AM

Oh, i see! Heh, i wasn't visualizing that right. Thanks for the help!

knitqueen · 07-01-2006, 06:07 AM

I agree - I shift my stitches around all the time, as long as I know where the true beginning of the round is, there is no harm in adjusting things to keep the "loose" stitches where the joins are rotating so that there is not one obvious ladder of stitches. You generally have to re-distribute your stitches when you get to the heel stitches anyways. It won't muck anything up.

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