Knit a bag in the round

#1

Hello,

I am an inexperienced knitter and tried looking up other knitting in the round questions but did not find a solution.

I am trying to knit a bag, out of old plastic bags. I’ve started knitting on one of the circular needles, with a plastic cord in between. I have no idea how many stitches I cast on! I just filled up the needle.

I’ve read several websites that say you can knit a bag in the round, but I am unclear about how to make the bottom of the bag. As far as I know, knitting in the round is just a tube. I know you can somehow pick up the stitches from the “long” and “short” side of the bottom, but its a circle, and I have no idea what that means. It doesn’t seem feasible.

I’ve tried looking up patterns and tutorials but I just don’t understand them. I thought maybe a real person explaining it would help me.

Can anyone give me some advice on what to do?? Thank you sooo much in advance!

Monica

#2

You could call this the top of the bag and knit down, then dec sts much like you would for a hat then pull the remaining thread through the sts like a drawstring. Or continue to knit down, no decs and do a 3 needle bindoff for the bottom.

The patterns that have you pick up sts start with knitting a square or rectangle flat (back and forth) then when you’ve picked up sts from all 4 edges you begin knitting in the round.

#3

Thank you for your help!!!

I have another question though. I think I’d like to use double pointed needles, but I’m not quite sure how to do that.

I watched the video on picking up stitches, would I do that with the double pointed needles?

I’m not so sure I understand Double pointed needles. I’ll start with all of my stitches on the dp needles, and then decrease from there, or will they naturally come to a close if i keep knitting on them??

Again, I’m a pretty new knitter, I’ve only knitted a few scarves, thank you soo much!!!

Monica

#4

You have to make sure you don’t have too many sts for the dbl pointed needles or they’ll fall off the ends. You can pick up the sts with a dpn, then slip them onto the circular. You don’t have to decrease the sts, you can have just a straight bottom instead of a curved one, but you need to close up the bottom some way. You can leave the sts on the needle and do a three needle bindoff, or kitchener the sts together, or bind them off and sew it closed. There are videos for all these things under Advanced Techniques, Tips and Cast off.