Using Circular Knitting Needles

Circular knitting needles have a flexible cord (usually plastic) with needle tips at each end. You can get circular knitting needles in almost any size, but the most commonly available are sizes 3 to 15. The lengths of circular needles vary from 7 to 40 inches.

Knitters use circular needles to knit skirts, sleeves and other seamless, tubular pieces. This process is called “knitting in the round.” You cast onto a circular knitting needle in the same way that you do on straight needles, but when you’ve cast on the last stitch, you have to join the first and last stitches to make a tube. Be sure to join the stitches tightly, so you won’t have a big gap between them, and don’t twist them as you join them, or your knitting will come out twisted. Once you’ve done this, you should put a marker between the first and last stitches, so you can keep track of the number of rows you’ve knitted.

Knitting in the round is easy if you’re knitting in stockinette stich. Simply make the knit stitches instead of alternating knit and purled rows. If you’re working on a more complicated stitch pattern, just remember that the right side of the work is facing you at all times, so you can adapt the pattern accordingly.

Though the most common use of circular knitting needles is to knit in the round, you can also knit flat pieces on circular needles. You can, for instance, knit both front pieces or both sleeves for a sweater at the same time on a long circular needle, which will make the work move along faster and also will ensure that both pieces have exactly the same number of rows.

If you’re more adventurous, you could also knit a cardigan on a circular needle by casting on all the stitches for the left front, the back, and the right front, and then simply knitting back and forth across the width of the sweater. When you reach the point when you have to shape the armholes, you will have to divide the work and attach a separate ball of yarn to each of the three sections to complete them, but the benefits of working this way are well worth that inconvenience.

For one thing, though you will need to count the rows to keep track of the stitch pattern or the color work you’re doing, you can rest assured that each section of the sweater will have the same number of rows in it. For another, once you’ve finished knitting, you have only to sew the shoulder seams together—there are no side seams to sew.

You may also find it easier to knit very large, heavy flat projects like afghans on circular needles, because you can find them in longer lengths than straight needles, and you can distribute the stitches, and thus the weight, evenly over the longer length.