Knitting

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Ways to Join in the Round for Circular Knitting

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how to join in the round for circular knitting.I think the biggest hurdle knitters have to get over when they want to start knitting in the round — perhaps maybe how to manage double-pointed needles — is understanding logistically how to get started.

How do you keep your stitches from being twisted? How do you make all those floppy stitches behave so you can start knitting? Do you need to do anything special to start circular knitting or can you just, you know, knit?

I decided to try to answer these questions in a quick video.

[youtube width=”400″ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giIfI1UP8NA]

I show you what a non-twisted cast on looks like and offer three different methods for joining in the round:

Casting on an extra stitch and working it together with the first cast-on stitch

Swapping the first and the last stitches one over the other so the stitches change position

Doing nothing

I’ve used all of these methods through the years and while doing something to hold those stitches together makes the whole thing a lot less wobbly, especially on DPNs, just starting knitting without any special preparation is fine, too.

How do you start knitting when working in the round? Do you use one of these methods or do something else? I’d love to hear about it.

Comments

  1. I bring the working yarn forward, transfer the last stitch onto the first needle, lay the working yarn to the back between that last stitch and the next to last one, slide the last stitch back onto the right hand needle and start stitching. This avoids the lagging gap between the first stitch and the last stitch, and the whole thing is smooth as silk.

  2. Thank you for the useful video, Sarah. I’ve been avoiding knitting in the round and found your information very helpful.

  3. Thanks for the informative video. I like to knitting in the round, I primarily knit hats and some scarves in the round. I recently started knitting socks, currently on my second pair using double pointed needles. I look forward in the future to knitting cardigans for a smoother finish.

    Thank you!

  4. Please move your camera over to your work. We cannot see any knitting, only your left hand and the ball of yarn.
    Many thanks. H.

Have you read?

Beyond Basic Pumpkin Knitting Patterns

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork. 

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn. 

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look. 

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me. 

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. 

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.