Need help with first hat :)

#1

i am knitting my first hat on a #10-16" circular needle. The pattern says to switch to dpns when the stitches become too hard to move. I was at the yarn store and the very nice lady said i could just switch to large circular needles instead. She thinks this is the easier way. Would switch them over the same ways as you did, Amy, in the video on knitting with two circular needles? oh yea, i would be using #10-24" circ. I don’t understand how to keep with the pattern if I have 1/2 on one needle and 1/2 on the other. Thanks for everyone’s help.
Ash

#2

I hate dpns, but the time will come when you just have to bite the bullet and use them. They were wierd and awkward (IMHO) at first, but eventually I got the knack… I still work on circulars whenever possible, but having the knowledge to use dpns has helped me out of situations when I don’t have circulars with the right size cable for a certain project… I don’t know if a 24in cable would be long enough for what you want to do… but I really don’t know enough about the technique to advise one way or the other.

#3

thanks, i wanted to use dpns because not only do you look preetty cool knitting on them :wink: but in probably half the patterns you read, you need them for one thing or another. Now of course i have gotten impatient and don’t want to have to go to the store to buy dpns because i want to finish my hat today…:slight_smile: I guess i might just have to wait though.

#4

yeah that happens to me all the time! Since I live in the boondocks, my “local” yarn store is 50 minutes away in the town where I work. While I have been known to drive there on a weekend just to get something to finish a project, I have NOT been known to drive there to pick up something from work (go figure!).

#5

Welcome Ashley!

If you already have a second set of circular needles of the same #10 size, then you can use the “small diameter knitting on two circular needles” technique (video in advanced techniques section). Just start knitting with the second circular needle, until you’re half way across, so you’ll have half the stitches on each cable needle. Then, continue knitting with the first cable needle, by using the other end of that same cable needle. Alternate between cable needles, always using the other end of the same needle. It’s not hard to do.

I love my DPN’s, but my needle collection isn’t complete, and just a couple of days ago I used the two-circular-needles technique to finish a hat. I enjoy doing it this way too. It’s good to know both methods!

If the lady at your local LYS was saying to use one long circular needle, then she was actually talking about Magic Loop knitting (video in the same section). Again, it doesn’t hurt to know that technique too, and it will get you out of a fix if you’ve got a large circular needle and nothing else. I don’t know if a 24# would be big enough to decrease a hat; it would be pushing it. Longer needles are better with ML knitting.

Amy