In the round knitting to flat knitting

I find circular knitting very difficult. Many toy patterns use circular needles or a set of 3 or 5 needles. Can the in the round knitting be changed to flat knitting?

Welcome to KH!
Sometimes it can. You probably have to factor in 2 extra sts for the seam but in many cases you can change a circular pattern to knitting flat.
You’ll have to change some sts since you can knit around and around and all the V stitches face you. When you knit flat, you may be knitting across the front and then purling across the back of the piece.
Stranded knitting can present problems because you yarn may not be in the correct place to start knitting again. You’d have to cut the yarn and start a new end.

There are a couple of ways to work small circular projects that you might try. Scroll down this site to magic loop and two circulars.
https://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/advanced-techniques

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Hi! If you could share what you find difficult about knitting in the round we might be able to help with the problems you have. Knitting in the round can make many things easier and faster - socks and hats are good examples - and is a great skill to have. I’ll confess I prefer to avoid seaming and so love knitting in the round.

Are you stuck on a specific pattern? Whether it’s converting to knitting flat or working out problems with knitting in the round we’ll do our best to help.

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Thank you very much.

I received as gift 3 books and the toys are knitted in the round. I would like to knit The Queen from the book “Stitch London 20 kooky ways to knit the city and more” by Lauren O’Farrell.
Maybe I should knit the pigeon first .The book comes with 4 needles and the yarn. I have never knitted with 4 needles. Thank you GrumpyGramma and salmonac for your fast reply.

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I can knit in the round with dpn but rarely ever do. My preferred way to knit small circumference things in the round is magic loop. I do patterns written for dpn on magic loop. Some people like using two circulars. Whatever you decide to do I’m sure there’s help here when you need it.

This looks fun! :heart_eyes:

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What a fun book! Even with 4 or 5 dpns you’re still only knitting with 2 at a time so it’s not all that different from the usual. You can forget about the sts on the needles not in use until you get to them.
Love to see the results of your London.

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I agree. It is a fun book. Very cute and well written patterns and I love the author’s humor.

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I agree with all that’s been said and would like to add that YouTube videos have helped me a lot. My current preference is two 16” - 24” circulars (for socks in the round).

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Also keep in mind that you’ll have to reverse stitches and direction to knit flat. The links above should explain that.

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My biggest reason for preferring circular needles over dpn is that they’re on a leash making a dropped needle easy to retrieve. The chances of me dropping the empty dpn are so high it might need to be expressed as an order of magnitude. :rofl: That’s a problem only after I manage to find a complete set and get started so while the chance of needing to find that pesky needle that hides all too well when I use dpn is great I manage to avoid it almost always. Confronting the problem doesn’t appeal to me nearly as much as sidestepping and avoiding it. I pick my battles. :wink:

Many people love using dpn. I think that’s great. Find the method you prefer and you might learn to love knitting in the round. Meanwhile if you’re converting a pattern to knitting flat do be sure to ask for help.

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