How to Knit With Two Circulars
Knitting on a single circular needle -- two knitting needles joined with a cable -- allows you to knit fairly large-diameter round objects in a seamless tube. For example, you might use a circular needle to knit a cowl or the body of a sweater. The length of the cable determines how large the object's diameter is, but if the cable is too short, you can't bring the tips of the needles together properly to knit. If you need to knit a small-diameter object on circular needles, using two needles at once is a workable alternative.
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Instructions
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Cast on the number of stitches your pattern requires on one of the circular needles.
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Shift half the cast-on stitches to one end of the other circular needle. The stitches should now be divided evenly between the two needles. Note that each circular needle is actually two knitting needles joined by a cable, so at this point, you're actually dealing with a total of four knitting needles, connected by cables.
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Slide the "working stitches," the set of stitches that bear both the cast-on tail and the working end of the yarn, to the middle of that needle's cable. Hold the two bundles of stitches parallel to each other and examine the cast-on edge to make sure it's not twisted. The cast-on edge should form a "V" between the two bundles of stitches.
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Hold the working thread -- connected to the stitches on the other needle -- in your right hand for English knitting or your left hand for Continental knitting. Pick up the other end of the needle that bears the non-working stitches, and use this needle to knit into the last non-working stitch, joining the working stitches to the non-working stitches in a small-diameter circle. Place a clip-on stitch marker in the stitch you just made to mark the beginning of the round, and tug the stitch tight to make your join snug.
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Knit or purl across, depending on your stitch pattern, until you reach the end of the stitches on the circular needle you're using. Slide the stitches you just knitted onto the cable of that needle. These are now the working stitches. Drop both ends of the circular needle you just finished working with. Slide the newly non-working stitches on the other cable needle to one end of that needle so you can continue knitting around.
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Pick up the needle at the other end of the circular needle that's now prepped for knitting. Pick up the working yarn from the other needle and use the bare needle to knit into the non-working stitches. Knit or purl, according to your pattern, until you've worked all the stitches on that needle. Then slide those stitches onto the cable, drop the needle ends, and pick up the ends of the other circular needle to continue knitting around the circle of stitches. Continue alternating the needle you knit on until you've completed your pattern.
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Tips & Warnings
The circular needles you use must both be the same size.
When knitting in the round, the right side of the work always faces you. Thus, knitting every round yields stockinette stitch fabric; to get this effect on straight needles, you'd have to alternate rows of knit and purl stitches. If you alternate knit and purl rows -- or rounds -- on circular needles, you'll create garter stitch fabric, just as if you knitted every row on straight needles.
If you have trouble keeping which needles to work with straight, remember that you will always work stitches with both ends of just one circular needle. The other needle just works as a placeholder until you're ready to work the stitches on it.
