You can use circs instead of straights to knit flat and it shouldn’t change the gauge at all.
If you are changing a flat pattern to a circular one, then there can be a guage change between the two types of knitting since you don’t do any purling.
You can make an easy circular swatch by knitting about 5 inches on a circular needle and then instead of turning your work and purling back, slide the stitches to the other end of the needle, and knit across again. You can let the yarn carry across the back in a big loop.
[size=6][color=indigo]I am totally sold on converting as many patterns as i can to circular needles but how do you determine the length you need. I need to cast on 120 stitches in worsted weight for a child’s sweater.
If you are knitting in the round {no side seams}, you will want your circ to be about 4 inches smaller {give or take} than what you expect the circumference to be. For adult sweaters, I usually use a 29" circ. For my kids’ sweaters, I will use a 24" or 16" circ. The main thing is that you need to have enough room on the needle and cord for all of your stitches, without the needle being too long that it stretches it out. I grab the circ that is close to the “size” I need, but still “smaller”. Clear as mud?
I don’t think that circs can FULLY remove regular needles. I guess they could sciantificly, but but not in my heart (boy, that sounded cheesy). But isn’t it macical when you pick up the stright needles and you know that you are doing the same thing that hundreds have done before? I feel so cool when I realise that
Well, knowing that a lot of knitting in the near past was done circularly - Like Shetland shawls and sweaters - sort of makes me think that if our ancestors had been able to pick up a circular needle they would’ve been pretty pleased with it. Like EZ says in her Knitting Workshop, “I put myself in the mind of a Cornish knitter with no printed instructions, BUT with a circular needle.” I don’t get the same nostalgia.
Of course, I could just be overly fond of my Denise set right now…
Yes, because you can knit in the round or flat. I do not even use straights anymore, because compared to circs and DPN’s they are so cumbersome, and I can only get the big 14" wich makes them even more so. If you really want to get into circular needles, you might consider an interchangeable set, but try them before you get them.
ETA: I just got a set of Susan Bates CRYSTALITES. I LOVE them. THey are now the only straight needles I use, but I will never love anything more than my Boye NeedleMaster.
well, I’ve only used circs once. I guess that’s because my mom hates them, and till now, I only used her needles, which incluce only 1 circ (and now, 1 of me as well) But I didn’t like knitting on circs, I prefer dpns. I noticed you all do your knitting on circs, but I wonderd how you do that if you have a flat pattern. Well, I like my straight needles for knitting, wouldn’t want anything else.
I used my Denise’s last night as DPNs when fiishing off the last couple rounds of a hat. It required a bit of futzing with the stoppers and needles, but it worked.
I use circs exclusively now that I have my needlemaster. But I still have all my straights. I should probably get rid of them I guess, but they have sentimental value - they are the needles that I used to learn knitting. *sigh.
[color=blueviolet]If your knitting in the round, and not flat then you gauge is will most likely be different than if you were knitting flat with the same yarn and needles. Whether it knits to a looser or tighter gauge is different for everyone. You are just going to have to swatch and see for yourself. For me, my gauge becomes a bit more loose when I knit in the round.[/color]
