Length of circular needles

[heatherg23]

Hi,

I was thinking of knitting something "in the round" and I was thinking that you have to have enough stitches to "fill up" the entire circular needle. Otherwise, you can't knit in the round, is that correct?

Does everything depend on the size of the circular needle plastic, cable part?

I finally decided to do something with a pattern, so I've been knitting preemie hats with straight needles. I don't like the seam I have to make. If I knit it in the round I would probably have to have a circular needle that has a short plastic cable.

I hope that makes sense.

Thanks
Heather

[Limey]

Hi

There are different ways of knitting in the round and it's just a matter of finding out which one you prefer to use.

If you knit a sweater or cardigan, then you would need a fairly long cable, depending on size of garment - and of course, an even longer cable for knitting a blanket.

When it comes to knitting small items though,you don't need to purchase a circ with a short cable because you can use:

four or five double-pointed needles;

two circular needles;

and then my own particular favourite - using one circular for MAGIC LOOP - funnily enough for babies hats!

Amy has some great videos showing how to use these methods for small items and explains how they're used for adult garments as well.

There are also good videos on YouTube.

All the Best

Ellie
http://www.countonknit.com

[cam90066]

Another vote for Magic Loop as it makes use of longer circs (which you can use for any larger project) but you're fairly limited on what you can make with the really short circs.

cam

[ecb]

Another vote for Magic Loop as it makes use of longer circs (which you can use for any larger project) but you're fairly limited on what you can make with the really short circs.

I agree with cam


ecb

[fireflyknitter]

Magic Loop! Magic Loop! It's easy and fun! Once you get the hang of it you just zip along. And agreed with cam, ML lets you use a longer circ so you don't have to buy a lot of smaller lengths you might not use very often.

[Knitting_Guy]

Yep, what they said.

[tarrentella]

yes the problem with startng a premie hat on a circular is that very quickly you would have to change to somthing like 2 circ, ML or DPS because of the decreasing diameter. In this case starting of with one of those methods is probably better.

You are right though, whatever you are knitting, if it is to be joined then the stitches need to fi comfortable around the needle and cable. having o long a cable makes it difficult to impossible and can distort the knitting. Two short can be ok as you just bunch it up a little, but if it is far to short then it can be uncomfortable and heavy.

the length of circular needle you need is normally given in the pattern instructions, and is measured from tip to tip of the needles not just the cable part.

[WandaT]

Another vote for Magic Loop here!!