I’m knitting a baby hoodie sweater (soft and sweet Hoodie) from www.redheart.com using Sweet Baby yarn. Project went well until the hoodie part.
Instructions say: With right side facing and smaller circular needle, join yarn at right front neck edge, pickup and knit 18 stc, knit 24 st along back then another 18 down the other side 60 st in all . ( I got that part) Next it says,
[B]Work in ST st until Hood measures 10 " Bind off. Fold hood in half along[/B] [B]bindoff edge and sew together[/B]. The circular it mentions is a 24" size 6.
I’m not supposed to work in the round, am I? When I try to knit back and forth, the stitches get spaced on the needles in such a fashion that they make the needles get so tight as though I need to split them and work like magic loop or something. I’ve ripped this thing out 5 times now. What am I doing wrong??? I’ve tried using a 16" needle and a 29 " needle. I don’t have a 24 " . Any suggestions? It’s like the needle itself is too long for this little baby sweater. If I buy the 24" will that resolve the issue?
You should be knitting flat and when you have the 10 inches you bind off and seam it. You’re working in stockinette stitch which is purl one row knit the next. Either length should be fine. Are you using the correct needle size?
Here’s the link if any else has ideas.
You work with the circular (it can be longer than 24") to hold the sts along the curve of the neckline, but you’re working in rows (knit one row, purl one row) to make the hood.
The stitches are only going to be tight on the needle for the first few rows because the sweater is a pullover. As the hoodie gets longer, you’ll get more ease in the needles. The 16" circs should work ok even with 60 sts but if it’s still feels like too many sts on the needle, switch to the longer circs when you have several inches worked. The 29" circs are probably just too long.
And no, you’re right, you shouldn’t work in the round but back and forth on the circular.
It’s really a very sweet pattern. Good luck with the rest of the hoodie!
Or you know what? Why not knit from your 16" to your 29" and then back again. Just use them the way you would 2 straight needles.
I think you nailed it. I only completed a couple of rows each time before ripping out thinking that it’s not supposed to be that difficult and tight. I bet if I just hang in there a few more rows, things will loosen up. I actually did knit from one pair of circs to another on one of my tries but bailed because I thought I must be doing something wrong. Thanks so much everyone!