Working on circulars

Well… I just started my very first try on circulars and well, let’s just say it’s a new thing :slight_smile: I had never even seen any before I came on this board. I found them rather intriquing so I talked to my mum about that and she had seen them, in fact she even HAD one which she’s gladly donated to me since she never got used to using them.

I now know why: just like my mum I like to tug my right needle under my arm when I knit. So, that needle is stationary while I manipulate mostly with the left needle (I hope that description made sense).
I might want to learn how to knit in a different way; I have the yarn in my right hand aswell and “throw” it around each time I make a stitch. With the needle safely under my arm, it is easy to let go of the needle to put the yarn around the needle.
But now, when I can’t put it under my arm, I may have to look at Amy’s video’s to see if there is an easier way to knit…

But for now: I’ve figured out how to knit flat, doing it my way. It’s just awfully slow this way :slight_smile:

Anyway: here comes my, maybe slightly obvious :oops:, question: if you want to knit in the round, I guess you’d have to make sure that the diameter of whatever it is that you want to knit, is roughly the same size as the length of your circs? I mean: when you cast on, you should be able to cover both small needles and the connecting thread with them?

And following on that thought: does that mean you’ve got them in different lengths so you can knit anything from a small hat to a large sweater?

/Karen who is just :XX: and pondering about the deeper knittingissues in life…

Your needle should be the same size or a bit SMALLER than whatever you are knitting.

And, that does sometimes mean that you have to have several needles, which is why so many of us have interchangeable circ sets!

I LOVE knitting in the round, check Amy’s video on that…when Im “throwing”, I usually have both needles in my left hand for a moment, but after your first round, you can usually let go of the right needle with no consequence…the WORK holds it up!

Ahh, now I understand the whole idea behind those! I know, it took me a while but I never paid much attention to it untill I actually got my hands on one myself. The one I have now is a fixed one so I can’t change the wire that’s inbetween…

I’ve done a bit more of it now and I also noticed that I can just let go of the needle for a second and the work holds it together :thumbsup: ; I guess it’s because the needle is so short, it’s a lot less heavy than a full lenght needle and therefor it won’t slide out as easily, and also because of the wire it’s less slippery.

I can soooo see why you’d love the interchangables now! :heart:
At first I thought they are a bit expensive but I see more and more advantages now that I’ve done a few rows on these; also when you’re "just’ knitting flat.
They are lighter, I find them a bit easier to manipulate, and they are a LOT easier to take with you! less bulky in your bag and the stitches are less likely to slide off, especially if you slide them all ot the middle of the wire (can you tell I’ve been testing this thing or not?? :smiley: )

I think, maybe, if I come into a bit of money (when my financial rent support FINALLY comes in, maybe :rollseyes: ) I should have a small pamperparty :balloons: for myself and see if I can get my hands on a set of interchangables as a gift to myself :present:
A girl is allowed to do that for herself isn’t she? :smiley:

I just checked a Dutch secondhandstuff-website and there aren’t any at all on there so I might have to check on half.com or amazon.com or something and hope they’ll ship to Europe aswell.
Or maybe I can talk someone on here into buying me one with those 40% off coupons I’ve read about and ship it down here :devil: [/quote]

well i have had one of those 40% coupons the last two weekends and none of the stores i have gone to have had them…hmph!

i haven’t knitted anything in the round yet (honestly the instructions for the projects i like make my head hurt with all the abbreviations…lol) but i knit almost everything on circs. I have a few sets of flex shaft bamboos that i like as well but the biggest reason i like the circs is that i don’t have to figure out where the needle fell to when i do drop a needle. the flex shafts are great too though because you can slide the work down to the flex part when you quit for a time and the work is less likely to fall off.

just gotta find a store that wants to sell me some interchangeables at a price i wanna pay! :wink:

SimplyKaar, You may want to try http://www.ebay.com Sometimes they ship international. It depends on the person shipping but it will clearly state where they will ship. And you can get a great deal. I did!

brendajo: lol it would help if they actually have the goods when you shop up with your coupon, I agree! :smiley:

I have knitted in the round once before: on DPNs and it wasn’t nearly as horrible as I expected it to be. The instructions for patterns are hard but then again: I always have to work them out first anyway since I tend to find the patterns of what I want to make on here and they are all in English. The abbreviations sometimes leave me very puzzled and usually I’ll write a quick Dutch translation in the sideline so I’ll know what I’m supposed to do. I guess it’ll just take a few more patterns though and then I’ll be better in the English pattern-reading: I’m usually a quick study :study:

I also love the fact that you can’t loose a needle; and it’s much nicer to put it away with all the stitches safely on the wire part so they won’t slide off. That, combined with the fact that it will fit in a bag much nicer, shows me that I might want a few more like these. But like you: I’ll have to wait untill I find someone who is willing to sell at the price I want to pay :wink:

I’ll give Brooke’s idea of checking Ebay a try when I’ve got some money to spend. Maybe that’s an idea for you aswell? And maybe you can use the 40% off coupon for something else instead :thumbsup:

brooke: thanks for that idea!! I will be checking Ebay. Maybe I can even ask one of my American friends if they’d mind having them sent to them so they can ship them to me if a seller doesn’t want to send to Europe.

You know, EBay has a Netherlands site! Check THIS out, Karen!