Circular Needles & Stitch size

[heatherg23]

Hi everyone,

I had a question about cir. needles. I want to buy a 9mm circular needle and my question is:

I if my stitches are off the needle and on the plastic tube will my stitches keep the width of the 9mm needles i'm using?

Will they come back to size when the stitches are back on the needle part of it. Hopefully it doesn't stretch the stitches.

Are smaller cir.. needles easier vs larger ones?

THANKS!!

Heather

[katknit]

Yes, they should retain their size. But if I start on straight needles, then switch to circulars as the project increases in size, sometimesI notice a difference in the way it looks. Probably has to do with a silght change in the angle of the needles.
I don't find it easier or harder to use smaller versus larger.

[Knitting_Guy]

I've never had a problem with them shrinking or tightening up on the cable.

[suzeeq]

It's the needle tips that determine the size of the stitches, the cord just holds them. However, if you knit very tightly, that would stretch the yarn, so when they rest on the cable it would relax and you might have a hard time getting them back up to the other end when you need to knit them.