I have never knitted on circulars before, but am about to attempt to knit a cardigan on circulars. I know when you knit in the round on circulars, you get St just by knitting round after round. However, I’m not sure if the same is true when you knit a flat garment on circulars. I’m assuming, since you turn your work when you get to the end of the row, you would also be knitting on the WS as apposed to knitting in the round, where there is no WS. So for St, can I just knit, or do I have to purl as well? The more I think about it, the more confused I get. Somebody please clarify for me!
Yes, you have to purl. The alternative is to steek. It involves knitting in the round (allowing you to avoid purls if you’re using stockinette) and then cutting openings in fabric. (The edges are reinforced so they don’t unravel.) Clearly not for the faint at heart.
Oh yeah. Here’s another very informative resource on steeking.
It seems like alot of people are confused by this. I’m still very much a beginner, but I only own circular needles and have done all my projects on them. If you are knitting a flat object (turning it around after each row), then it is the same as if you are knitting with straight needles. Only when you connect the rows and knit in the round do you not have to knit one row / purl the next for stockinette.
Now comes another issue. I just converted from Continental to Combined Knitting, and I want my cardigan to be knit evenly, so now to convert the pattern to account for the Combined Method. I am knitting the Starsky Belted Cardigan http://www.knitty.com/issuewinter05/PATTstarsky.html, so if anyone can help me with that, I would appreciate it very much!!!
How do you mean you need to convert the pattern? Knitting combined, continental or English/German is how you hold the yarn. It’s true that some of the stitches might be a little trickier to make if you’re doing combined, but not all that different.
Sorry, but the difference between Continental and Combined is not in how how you hold the yarn. In both techniques the yarn is held in the left hand and worked with the right.
The difference is how the stitches are mounted and worked off the needle.
In Continental, the stitches are mounted with the front “leg” forward and you work into the front of the stitch; in Combined, the back “leg” is forward and you work into the back of the stitch. The purl is done differently – in many people’s opinion, the Combined purl is easier.
Because of the difference in stitch mounts, there are some simple variations in how you do increases and decreases. If you understand how to “read” your knitting, you can probably figure them out for yourself. But here’s a handy conversion chart with all the details. http://www.grumperina.com/knitting.htm
If you refer to the pattern link, the banana tree pattern consists of cabling. I’m not sure if I would have to cable differently if I used the Combined method rather than the Continental method. I think I have the hang of inc and dec for Combined knitting.
It will depend on which way the stitches to be cabled are mounted. If they are mounted combined, they will need to be “untwisted” before cabling, otherwise the cable may have a flaw. It won’t be difficult, as they can be put on the cable needle in the right orientation.