I have to make up a bunch of hats, like a watch cap, and the yarn takes a US 7/9 needle. I have the dp needles now, (tried on a circular, but could NOT get this to work) and wondered is there anything in partcular I have to watch out for?
many thanks for any tips or tricks anyone wants to share. gw
The experts are on rec.crafts.textiles.yarn....rcty.
However I have knitted many years, since I was about 4. ( that is well over a half-century)
If it is possible I use the circular needle. Maybe the length of your needle is too big? They come in three sizes, the smallest of which is 16 inches, then 24" and 29" is the largest. If you choose to use the double ended, just be careful not to lose a stitch of the "back-end" of the needle. I grew up when there were not circular needles, and using the double-pointed takes a bit of practice, but you can do it!!
Whatever you use, use a marker of some sort to show where each circle starts! You can buy the fancy rings, but a paperclip works well. Anything that slips from one needle to the other!
I think this is my first, and probably, last post on knitting!LOLOL
Gillian
Make your first and last stitch on each needle a little tight, so you won't have "ladders" at the gaps when you're done.
Good point, Karen!
Gill
Start from the middle , make 4 st on 1needle , moove to end take other needle and with thread from other end *k 1 make 1* divide these over 3 needles take another colored thread make little loop use as marker. and now k 1 round and next round k1 make 1.... till you have a circle that covers a top of a head [grown up or children. now knit2, purl 2 ..for till height of eyes [measure on yourself. put a third of your stitches on hold , and k/p only over 2/3 [ back and to not in circle, for 5cm, k/p you row cast on while knitting them same amount of sstiches you didn`t knit , and go on k/p in the round till it fits a grown up [or child to under his /her chin , now divive into 2 and knit each side separately and at both ends k 3rd and 4th st, from the end or start of row togeher ,,,, this will make edge easy to tuck under shirt or coat opening.
collect stiches you witheld , cast on st, at the sides of `hole where you k/p only the sides , cast on st, on cast on stiches under hole , and on other side ,,,,,k2 p2 1 round , now either take smaller sized needles or cast off stiches st the 4 points of the hole ,,,, make several rounds , cast off with needle 1 size bigger than you used to knit last round . mirjam
A hat is too small for a circular, but you can knit one on two circulars: put half the stitches on each needle, knit one with its own tail, knit the other one with its own tail. This process is the same as knitting on three long needles, as our ancestors often did, but with flexible needles it takes less skill.
Knitting a watch cap on DPs: no particular problem; it's my preferred method. You may need two sets, particularly if your DPs are sock needles. If the design is in sections, put one section on each needle; if not, use four or six needles depending on the length of the needles and the circumference of the hat. I like an even number of needles so that the work can be folded flat at any moment (I mostly knit while waiting for something.) Also, four or more needles put less strain on the corners and make it easier to avoid ladders than when the stitches are arranged in a rigid triangle.
As you decrease the stitches, re-arrange them onto fewer needles until the last round is held on two and knitted with a third. (Or start on three needles and increase, depending on pattern. (Emily Ocker's Circular Beginning has enough stitches to hold three from the start.))
If you get ladders between the needles, remember that the looseness isn't *in* the stitches, it's *between* the stitches. There is no way a stitch can be pulled tight enough to make up for a long stretch of yarn between it and the previous stitch -- you have to pull yarn
*through* the stitch, to snug it up next to the previous stitch.The yarn you've pulled through can pull back again, so knit the second stitch on the needle as carefully as the first. By the third stitch there should be enough friction to hold the yarn where you've put it. It all becomes automatic after a while; my ladders disappeared a couple of years before I figured out how I'd done it.
Joy Beeson
If the pattern makes it easy to follow a column of stitches from the cast-on up to the needles, just don't tuck in the end from casting on until you have broken off.
Many traditional patterns -- no hats, as far as I know -- use a distinctive column of stitches to mark the beginning of the round.
Joy Beeson
Joy, thank you so much for your good advice, and in fact to all who posted. I am feeling a bit more confident now with beginning, but I do like what you said, Joy and I am going to write it down to keep with the instructions...
thanks to you and everyone! Wish me luck, I have two of these to make by Saturday...gw
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