- The needle-tipped ends of circular knitting needles are sized the same as regular straight needles, but the flexible cord comes in different lengths. Choose a circular knitting needle for your project whose length is a few inches less than the circumference of your project. For projects such as a hat, that decrease to a smaller size so the stitches will no longer fit around the circular needle, have a pair of double-pointed needles the same size as the circular needle or a second circular knitting needle of the same size to use for knitting the decrease rounds.
- Checking your gauge on a circular knitting needle is different from doing so with straight needles because a piece knit in the round is continuous. To check your gauge, knit a row, cut off the yarn at the end and slide the swatch around the needle back to the left side. Repeat this until you have the number of rows necessary to measure gauge.
-
Cast-on yarnCast on to circular knitting needles the same way you would with straight needles. When all of your stitches have been cast on, arrange the needles so the first cast-on stitch is on the left-hand needle and the last cast-on stitch is on the right-hand needle. Make sure the stitches are not twisted. Place a stitch marker on the right-hand needle before inserting your right needle into the first cast-on stitch on the left needle to begin knitting. - When knitting in the round, rows are called rounds. Once you've cast on and are ready to knit, the marker placed before your first stitch indicates the beginning of the first round. As you complete each round, slide the marker from the left needle to the right needle and begin the next round. Switch to another needle by working the stitches onto the new needle. Cast off to finish as you would using straight needles.
- When knitting with circular needles, you knit every round to create the stockinette stitch. If you want to make the reverse stockinette stitch, purl every round. To knit the garter stitch, alternate knit and purl rows.
