Knit a Shrug on a Circular Knitting Machine

I’ve been having a lot of fun making projects on my circular knitting machine (which could also easily be done with hand knitting, of course!) and when I shared a collection of sweater scarf knitting patterns recently I wondered how I could make a similar project on my Sentro.

I didn’t have enough of the yarn I was working with to make a full-on sweater scarf that wraps around the body, but there was enough to make a shrug, and I think it’s really cute and I will wear it a lot this spring and summer over tank tops and summer dresses.

For those who do have circular knitting machines, you just knit tubes for the sleeves as long as you want them, and a flat panel for the back. For the shrug it’s basically the same length as my back from shoulder to shoulder, but if you wanted to make a sweater scarf (which I am still going to do at some point) you’d just keep knitting as long as you want until you can wrap it around your body.

The concept would be the same knitting it by hand, but you could more easily do it in one piece: work a sleeve in the round, bind off half the stitches when you have the length you need, then cast on stitches to the desired length of the back and work flat to the desired width, then bind off the bottom part of the back panel and cast on again to work in the round for the remaining sleeve.

If you want to check out more detailed instructions for how I made my circular knit shrug, you can find the pattern at Our Daily Craft.

Do you have a circular knitting machine? If you do and there are patterns you would like to see, let me know. It’s a fun challenge to work with knitting in a different way.

Circular Knitting Machine FAQs

Getting ready for back to school makes me think about pencil crafts, so let’s take a look at some pencil themed knitting patterns!

I recently made a pencil on a circular knitting machine, and it was a fun, quick, easy project that uses little bits of leftover yarn (and if you don’t have yellow you can make it a colored pencil using whatever color’s your favorite). And if you want to make a bigger version check out this pattern from Orange Olive Road on Etsy.

If you want to knit a pencil pillow by hand, check out Sketchy, available on Ravelry from Shana S. Cohen. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has two size options and the choice to make a pencil with an eraser or a colored pencil.

Pencil scarves seem to be the most popular kind of pencil knitting pattern, and there are lot of cute ones. This one from Cosy Craft UK mostly uses garter stitch, with some welts to add texture and what looks like an I-cord edging. It calls for DK weight yarn.

If you want to go all garter stitch try this version from Emsley Co Creations, which uses five colors of DK weight yarn and just a little shaping to make the point of the pencil.

There’s also this fun, mostly stockinette so it looks like it curls a bit, pencil pattern that looks like it’s worked in chunky yarn from Little Knits Studio. This one uses just a little garter stitch and easy shaping for the point.

If you don’t want a pencil scarf, how about some pencil socks? The No. 2 Pencil Socks from The Yarn Enabler are available from Ravelry and use five colors of sock yarn. They feature wide ribs to mimic the texture of a pencil and have options to be worked from the top down or the toe up.

Needs Sharpening by Alexander Walker is a free pattern on Ravelry that uses five colors of sock yarn to make a sort of shortie sock. The little bit of black at the tips of the toes inspired the name. These, too, can be worked in either direction and are available in three sizes.

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