Knitting N00b need help with child's sweater patter! :)

#1

I’ve been knitting for about two years but up until yesterday, the only thing I’ve attempted is hats, scarves and an i-chord here and there. I do know the basics of knitting on DP needles as well as circular, but only in the hat context.
I’m bored with hats and wanted to branch out, so I started this Debbie Bliss baby sweater pattern (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ribbed-baby-jacket). I’m only on the first section (the st st 32 rows), but my brain is having trouble with processing the idea of transferring this work to circular needles…How does that work? I get the initial part of just knitting the work from the straight needles onto the circular, but after that…won’t the circular needles turn this into a giant tube? and it looks like this is supposed to be knit flat and joined together at the end.
Does anyone have any tips, tricks, explanations, videos (videos please!!! All I know about knitting I learned from KH and Youtube - mostly KH - and I’m having trouble finding videos that answer this particular question). :slight_smile:

Thanks!!

#2

Like you said you just start knitting with the circular needle to get it transferred. Then you are only going to knit flat on the circular, not in the round. Use the circular just like it were a pair of very long straight needles, at the end of each row exchange the ends of the circular from one hand to the other and then work back on the purl rows just like you would on a straight needle. You are only using a circular because it will hold a lot more stitches than a straight will. People use circulars all the time to work flat.

#3

I’m working on this same pattern. I have divided for my fronts and cast off the 16 sts. The next instructions where it says to continue on last set of 34 sts only for left front…does this mean the 34 sts on the spare needle or the 34 sts on the circular needle?

http://web.archive.org/web/20090326042934/http://www.allaboutyou.com/?module=uploads&func=download&fileId=52681

#4

This pattern is knit from the bottom up, add for sleeves, then knit up to the neck and cast off the back of neck. The sts at the beginning of the row that are on a holder are the right front and you’re supposed to continue on the sts for the right front, which would be on your needle.

#5

Yes, continue with the sts on the needle for the [I]left[/I] front. You’ll get back to the sts on the holder after you shape the sleeve.