HI, so I am making another sweater that calls for flats. I am changing the body to circ. I was wondering if it is worth changing the sleeves to circ too because from what I understand once I get to the shaping I have to put it on flats. Does this not stretch the yarn too much when making the transition and then show afterwards? Is it just better to do them on flats and then there will be no stretching out? :??
Changing sleeve help
hmmm… I’m not really sure here, but to my mind, even if you started knitting flat, you would still knit on your circs (just turning at the end of round, instead of continuing on) which are quite flexible, no, and not changing to actual straight needles, which would, yes, stretch your knitting out.
I guess I was not clear. I meant I would knit in the round up to the shaping in which case I would have to knit straight. So when I switch from round to straight does that not really stretch out your sleeve?
I agree with Dee. Once you finish the sleeve in the round, up to the armhole area where you have to switch to knitting flat, you do not have to switch to using traditional straight needles. You can (and should) use a circular needle for the knitting flat portion, turning your work after each row rather than joining in the round, and you will not have a problem with your work being stretched out. Using the circular needle allows the sleeve to maintain that ‘tubular’ type quality, while still knitting flat.
Another trick in switching to knitting flat after knitting in the round is to pinch the cord on the circular and pull through the stitches like a Magic loop until you have a few rows knitted flat. That keeps the stitches from stretching so much.
sue
Ok, I don’t know why I thought I had to switch needles. So just start turning the work, that is so simple. Thank you 