Knitting flat on circulars

#1

This has probably been asked and answered a million times, so I apologize in advance. I haven’t tried my circular needles yet. If I use them to knit a flat thing, will they still make a stockinette stitch, or does that just happen when you knit round?

#2

Knitting flat on circulars is the same as knitting flat with straights. You alternate knitting a row and purling a row to get stockinette.

To get stockinette in the round all you have to do is knit.

#3

When knitting flat using a circular needle, you still need to do knit one row, purl one row in order to get stockinette stitch and you need to turn your work after each row, just as you would with straight needles.

#4

So do you just use the one needle or a second circular? I’m having trouble picturing this. Maybe I just need to try it. If it’s just the 1 needle, how do you keep it from joining and ending up being in the round?

#5

Knit with the two ends, but treat them like separate needles. You’ll see when you do it. Just finish the row and turn the work. :thumbsup:

#6

When you are starting to knit something in the round, you have the stitches spread over the circular needle with your working yarn coming from the first stitch on the needle in your RIGHT hand. So knitting the first stitch on the needle your left hand is holding, using the working yarn on the right hand needle, you then join in the round.

When you start something which is being knit flat, all of the stitches are starting off in your left hand AS WELL AS your working yarn which is coming from the first stitch on the left hand needle. You use the other needle tip of the same circular needle to do the knitting, but it’s as though they were not attached with the cable at all. That’s what helped me when trying to visualize it.

#7

Thank you all! As usual, all my questions answered here! I am anxious to try out my new circular needle.

Kathi

#8

OK, so if I do knit in the round, I will end up with a tube, right? I am wanting to make a scarf, so if I knit in the round lengthwise, I will end up with a tube. And then what do I do to the open ends?

#9

If you do knit in the round, you will end up with a tube. If you want to do a scarf that way so it is double thickness, then you will just have to seam the ends closed or a handy way to do it is to make tassels that attach at each end of the scarf to close the tube rather than seaming it.

#10

Thanks, I think I’m starting to understand, I’m going to have to try it. One more question. I’m planning to try a sweater, how long a circular needle would I want to use? I think the back is 70-80 stitches and 20-22in wide. Does it matter how long when you are knitting flat?
thanks

#11

As long as your stitches fit and you have room to maneuver, you’re ok. For example, you might be able to sqeeze the stitches on a 16" needle, but it would be hard to bring the points together to knit comfortably. For knitting flat, it can’t be too long, though.

#12

Is it harder to knit on shorter circulars? I am thinking about buying a 12-inch circular so that I can knit this scarf in the round, so that I could do it the “normal” way (instead of crosswise) and have it end up 6 inches wide (doubled).

Kathi

#13

I’m still very, very new. Got a pair of bamboo circulars this past Saturday. I hadn’t a clue how to use them, but I just picked them up and it kind of just made sense. It was really easy, and I didn’t think it would be.
They are nice, and the bamboo is wonderful to use.

#14

I did a scarf in the round on 12" circs. They weren’t too bad but the points are a bit shorter than on regular needles.

#15

OK, I think I am starting to get it. Now, how do I know how many stitches to cast on when I begin to knit in the round? No pattern, I’m just going to knit this scarf till I run out of yarn.

#16

hard to tell…depends on the yarn, the needle size, and the stretch. basically you want to cast on as many stitches as you need to make sure they fit all the way around without having to stretch it to connect.

#17

Cast on enough stitches so that they can be comfortably spread around the entire needle. You could also take a look at some other scarf patterns to see how many stitches would be good for the needle size and yarn you are using, then double the number since you are knitting it in the round (ie. double thickness).

#18

I’ve posted a copy of a list of suggested circular needle lengths for specific types of projects on my blog thread Always A Beginner here at KH. The list was taken from the cardboard insert that came with a set of Addi circulars.