Oof! It would not be fun to try and knit into more than a few of those.
The knitted CO was the first I ever learned and I stopped using it because it gave me such sloppy results that I thought I was doing something wrong.
Yeah, I use long tail for the majority of things I knit. On occasion I’ll use a provisional cast, but that’s about it.
A 29" needle will allow you to loop it and knit a smaller diameter but I’m not sure it’s long enough for magic loop. I think using one loop is called traveling loop. Anyhow, the 29" needle should work. I don’t understand about your joining coming undone. As Jan pointed out, the cast on you use could be a problem.
Long tail cast on.
Can you post a picture of what’s happening with your joining stitch? I’m having a hard time picturing it and as someone once observed, a picture is worth a thousand words.
I am (loosely) using a pattern from ravelry. I used it just long enough to figure out the decreases, and the first thing I finished was a very simple baby hat with garter stitch for the first inch and 1/4, then stockinette stitch and simple decreases for the rest. I knit that first one on circular needles. Then I wanted to make a hat for my son, so I just cast on a few more stitches and “eyeballed” it. It turned out fine. I made another slightly larger one for DH. Note that I was sewing flat on the circulars, sewing up the sides. Purling a lot, too, and the idea of joining the work and not having the seam and all the purling is what has brought me to this point.
Obviously this yarn isn’t behaving the same, so I will look for a pattern w/ similar yarn. I liked the original pattern because there were no “dreaded” dpns involved, biut some of those are coming in the mail; decided I would have to suck it up and learn to use them. So I guess you could say that right now I am just experimenting, really, to get the hang of new techniques.
Patterns are obviously important, so I need to stick with them. I am the kind of person who never follows the recipe, but I will have to toss that attitude with knitting, I can see.
Now, with the
I can knit on dpns but in the main I use circular needles and magic loop. I don’t think the type of yarn you’re using should cause the problems you’ve been describing. If we can help you figure out why your join isn’t working well, you’ll be able to use circs just fine. You could encounter the same or a similar problem with dpns, so whichever way to choose to knit in the round, we need to help you figure this thing out.
I rarely use a pattern for hats and have never made a seamed one. Always do them in the round with magic loop. I don’t like 16" circs as much because you have to transfer the stitches anyway to decrease.
So here’s a basic hat calculator.
http://www.earthguild.com/products/knitcroc/marypat/hatcalc.htm
I’ll try tomorrow. Right now the whole thing is undone. i’ll have to figure out how to take a pic w/ my iphone and post it.
At least all these new things are keeping my brain agile!
Jan in CA! I’m glad to hear that! it’s a pretty simple concept, right? Except when it’s NOT, LOL! Thanks for the hat calculator!
GG-I have some 29 in. circs I will try tomorrow. Thanks again!
Use the single loop version, they’re a little too short for magic loop on a hat.
Hey! You know what? I figured that out and have successfully joined and am knitting in the round. Hooray! Now I can just go round and round to my heart’s content.
Hmmm . . . I guess this single loop thing is kinda what I do except I just pick a spot somewhere away from where I’m knitting, pop the cord out, and take off knitting. Don’t know what method that is, but it works for me!
:woot:
Yep, that’s what it is basically - I figured it out about 30 some years ago too, along with ‘magic loop’ only I didn’t give them names then…
Next is figuring out how to post a picture. I phone is plugged into Macbook but I can’t get pics to upload. I’ll ask one of my kids when they get home 
If you know how to do a Ravelry search, it’s easy. Type in Hat in the search box. At the left of the screen, narrow down the search. Input the hat size, needles, and yarn you want to use. It will give you the exact pattern you need and weed out those you don’t want.
Sometimes you can find hundreds of patterns for one thing. Some of these may be done on size one or two needles. I don’t have the time or patience to knit that tiny and don’t want to spend hours looking for a pattern. If you filter your results, you’ll be much happier. You’ll find something that suits you and your particular knitting style, plus you won’t have to go out and buy special needles.
Thanks for the info. I am on Ravelry, too, but didn’t know that you could search in such a specific way. That’s super helpful!