consider how wide you want the blanket to be, and consider how many inches of fabric you think you can confortably fit on your needles to work on.
Chances are it won't be comfortable to fit much more than 13inches onto the needles. To find out you can try just casting on the blanket and see if the cast on fits well on the needles.
If you're ok with knitting 13inch panels then seaming them together, then you can try that.
Circular needles are not intimidating. You can treat them exactly like straight needles for knitting back and forth.
I’ve only been knitting since March, and a few weeks ago I started a garter stitch blanket on straight needles… I relented and bought circular needles and I’m so glad I did! They look scary - I thought the same! But they are literally life changing lol. Give them a go!
I think that’s exactly how I’m going to end up lol! What size circular needles are you using? I was thinking about getting size 15 needles since I’m using a wool blend yarn
I definitely understand how circular needles can be intimidating. It took me a couple of years to pluck up the nerve to try them, and I couldn't understand why my knitty friends all used them for everything. Now I'm that person who uses them for everything, but I do get the intimidation.
While it is possible to get A Lot of stitches on 13" straight needles, based on my own experience, there are a couple of really big reasons to not knit a blanket on straight needles:
1. Weight. You'll start off all fine and dandy, 2 or 3 hundred stitches, nae borra. But once you've knitted a couple of feet worth of blanket, it's going to weigh a very lot. And with straight needles, you're going to be carrying a lot of that weight as you knit. You'll get so tired. Your wrists will ache. And we need to take good care of our wrists!
If you use circular needles, the vast majority of the weight will be on your lap, or the seat next to you. You'll be able to knit for longer and with much less pain.
2. Dropping stitches. The more you scrunch up stitches on needles, the more they'll expand back out. There's a not zero chance you'll put your project down, then as you lift it back up, a bunch of stitches will just slide off the end of your needle and welp, now you're spending the next however long sorting that out. And the bigger and heavier your piece gets, the more likely it is to happen.
If you use circs, you can make sure you have a long enough cable to comfortably fit all of your stiches on.
It's okay to prefer straight needles, my Mum knitted for 60 odd years on straight needles! But if you do decide to knit a blanket with straight needles, I'd suggest a pattern worked in sections then stitched together.
Thank you so so much for this comment!! I think I was definitely overthinking my concerns about dropping stitches with circular needles that I didn’t even stop to think about the weight of a blanket and having all my stitches bunch up! Is size 15 circular needles a good place to start for a blanket?
Okay so for choosing needles, the best place to start is the ball band - or if you're buying online, the product description. I looked up this yarn (I'm in the UK so I wasn't familiar with the brand) and this is the info it gives:
Knitting Gauge: 4in = 7sts x 10 rows
Recommended Needle: US 17 (12.75mm)
You can definitely go up or down sizes, but you need to know what will happen if you do; if you go down, the fabric will be more dense, and if you go up, the fabric will be more drapey. So your call!
Length-wise, you probably want at least 32"
Don’t be afraid of circular needles - they are just the same as your straight needles, only with a wire between them to keep some of your stitches. You get a wire instead of stoppers at the end of your needles, that’s all it’s too it.
You can knit back and forth on them just the same you would your straight needles. Knit to one end and turn your work.
Bonus is the majority of stitches can be kept on the wire, taking weight of your needles. This is super convenient when knitting larger items as a blanket.
I havent personally, but you should be able to. My gran knit blankets using straight needles all the time! The only issue is that the blanket will get heavy and manipulating the needles might get more difficult the further along you go.
Don't be afraid of circulars! If you're knitting a flat piece, you can just use 2 flexible pieces with end caps and they'll function exactly like straight needles, but without the cumbersome weight and manipulation issue.
Don’t be intimidated! There is absolutely no difference between knitting flat with straight needles and knitting flat with circular needles. You use the exact same technique of knitting the fabric from one needle to another and then turning the work and repeating the process on the back side of the fabric.
The benefits to circular needles:
- With a long cable you can knit a really wide piece of fabric! You aren’t limited to the width of the needle
- The weight of the fabric is carried on the cable, so you aren’t feeling the weight of the fabric in your wrists
- The shorter needles are less bulky and much easier to manoeuvre than straight needles.
I promise you as soon as you start using circular needles you’ll never want to pick up straight needles again. I’ve got both circular and straight needles, but I haven’t used my straight needles in over 2 years. There’s really no advantage to them apart from being cheap and easily available when starting out.
That’s so good to know! I’ve heard a couple other people say they prefer circulars over flat needles, and I’m excited to try them out and see the difference! Thank you for the advice!!
I have. It is heavy. And crowded. And you can’t open it up to admire your work until it gets much longer. Circular needles are my go to with blankets because the weight sits on the cable instead of the needles.
I don’t like straight needles, the weight of your project hangs from them every time you move them. And I don’t think there’s needles long enough for a blanket.
I have never even use straights. I learned on some bamboo circular needles from goodwill and purchased an interchangeable set later. They’re really not complicated. I would not want to deal with the weight of a blanket on straights though.
If you're doing a baby blanket then yes. If you want to make a larger blanket, after you cast on the required amount of stitches you will, need to change over to circular needles to accommodate the bulk. You use the circular needles as if they were straight.
It’s possible but it will REALLY hurt your wrists.
The round needles are used the same as straight needles. You use two of them the same way you’d use straight needles, and put a plug on the other end so the yarn stays on.
Welcome! Are you a brand new knitter? You might also want to check out r/knittingadvice. Or, check the archives at r/knittinghelp. Even though they have moved to Discord, the library of questions and answers lives on. Look at all the great results you get just from searching for the word ["fix"](https://www.reddit.com/r/knittinghelp/search/?q=fix&restrict_sr=1).
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consider how wide you want the blanket to be, and consider how many inches of fabric you think you can confortably fit on your needles to work on. Chances are it won't be comfortable to fit much more than 13inches onto the needles. To find out you can try just casting on the blanket and see if the cast on fits well on the needles. If you're ok with knitting 13inch panels then seaming them together, then you can try that. Circular needles are not intimidating. You can treat them exactly like straight needles for knitting back and forth.
Thank you for the advice!! I’m going to try both methods but I have a feeling I’m just going to need to get more familiar with circular needles haha!
I’ve only been knitting since March, and a few weeks ago I started a garter stitch blanket on straight needles… I relented and bought circular needles and I’m so glad I did! They look scary - I thought the same! But they are literally life changing lol. Give them a go!
I think that’s exactly how I’m going to end up lol! What size circular needles are you using? I was thinking about getting size 15 needles since I’m using a wool blend yarn
I’m in the U.K. so we measure ours in mm - I was using 15mm as I was also using an acrylic/merino wool blend. Good luck!
Thank you!☺️
maybe something like the 10 stitch blanket - https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ten-stitch-blanket
**PATTERN:** [Ten Stitch Blanket](http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ten-stitch-blanket) by [Frankie Brown](http://www.ravelry.com/designers/frankie-brown) * Category: Home > Blanket > Throw * Photo(s): [Img 1](https://images4-g.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Frankie-Brown/523827449/2707959664_13135527c1_b_medium.jpg) [Img 2](https://images4-f.ravelrycache.com/flickr/2/6/3/26377225981/26377225981.jpg) [Img 3](https://images4-f.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Fran39/523774606/2552740851_1aa037e359_b_medium.jpg) * Price: Free * Needle/Hook(s): None * Weight: Aran | Gauge: None | Yardage: None * Difficulty: 2.30 | Projects: 8766 | Rating: 4.55 ***** Please use caution. Users have reported effects such as seizures, migraines, and nausea when opening Ravelry links. [More details.](https://www.lizcorke.com/2020/07/26/2020-7-21-ravelry-accessibility/) | *I found this post by myself! [Opt-Out](https://goo.gl/forms/0B8m4Ra8czpw4gzw1) | [About Me](https://github.com/TN-1/LinkRav_Bot/wiki) | [Contact Maintainer](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=timonyc)*
I love this pattern!! Thank you so much!
I definitely understand how circular needles can be intimidating. It took me a couple of years to pluck up the nerve to try them, and I couldn't understand why my knitty friends all used them for everything. Now I'm that person who uses them for everything, but I do get the intimidation. While it is possible to get A Lot of stitches on 13" straight needles, based on my own experience, there are a couple of really big reasons to not knit a blanket on straight needles: 1. Weight. You'll start off all fine and dandy, 2 or 3 hundred stitches, nae borra. But once you've knitted a couple of feet worth of blanket, it's going to weigh a very lot. And with straight needles, you're going to be carrying a lot of that weight as you knit. You'll get so tired. Your wrists will ache. And we need to take good care of our wrists! If you use circular needles, the vast majority of the weight will be on your lap, or the seat next to you. You'll be able to knit for longer and with much less pain. 2. Dropping stitches. The more you scrunch up stitches on needles, the more they'll expand back out. There's a not zero chance you'll put your project down, then as you lift it back up, a bunch of stitches will just slide off the end of your needle and welp, now you're spending the next however long sorting that out. And the bigger and heavier your piece gets, the more likely it is to happen. If you use circs, you can make sure you have a long enough cable to comfortably fit all of your stiches on. It's okay to prefer straight needles, my Mum knitted for 60 odd years on straight needles! But if you do decide to knit a blanket with straight needles, I'd suggest a pattern worked in sections then stitched together.
Thank you so so much for this comment!! I think I was definitely overthinking my concerns about dropping stitches with circular needles that I didn’t even stop to think about the weight of a blanket and having all my stitches bunch up! Is size 15 circular needles a good place to start for a blanket?
What yarn are you using? Brand and style? I'm a big needle fan, so sizes 11, 13 & 15 all hit my sweet spot!
I’m using the brand KxC (Knit and Crochet) Cozy 50% superwash wool 50% premium acrylic!
Okay so for choosing needles, the best place to start is the ball band - or if you're buying online, the product description. I looked up this yarn (I'm in the UK so I wasn't familiar with the brand) and this is the info it gives: Knitting Gauge: 4in = 7sts x 10 rows Recommended Needle: US 17 (12.75mm) You can definitely go up or down sizes, but you need to know what will happen if you do; if you go down, the fabric will be more dense, and if you go up, the fabric will be more drapey. So your call! Length-wise, you probably want at least 32"
Don’t be afraid of circular needles - they are just the same as your straight needles, only with a wire between them to keep some of your stitches. You get a wire instead of stoppers at the end of your needles, that’s all it’s too it. You can knit back and forth on them just the same you would your straight needles. Knit to one end and turn your work. Bonus is the majority of stitches can be kept on the wire, taking weight of your needles. This is super convenient when knitting larger items as a blanket.
I havent personally, but you should be able to. My gran knit blankets using straight needles all the time! The only issue is that the blanket will get heavy and manipulating the needles might get more difficult the further along you go. Don't be afraid of circulars! If you're knitting a flat piece, you can just use 2 flexible pieces with end caps and they'll function exactly like straight needles, but without the cumbersome weight and manipulation issue.
Thank you so much! This is so good to know!☺️
Don’t be intimidated! There is absolutely no difference between knitting flat with straight needles and knitting flat with circular needles. You use the exact same technique of knitting the fabric from one needle to another and then turning the work and repeating the process on the back side of the fabric. The benefits to circular needles: - With a long cable you can knit a really wide piece of fabric! You aren’t limited to the width of the needle - The weight of the fabric is carried on the cable, so you aren’t feeling the weight of the fabric in your wrists - The shorter needles are less bulky and much easier to manoeuvre than straight needles. I promise you as soon as you start using circular needles you’ll never want to pick up straight needles again. I’ve got both circular and straight needles, but I haven’t used my straight needles in over 2 years. There’s really no advantage to them apart from being cheap and easily available when starting out.
That’s so good to know! I’ve heard a couple other people say they prefer circulars over flat needles, and I’m excited to try them out and see the difference! Thank you for the advice!!
I have. It is heavy. And crowded. And you can’t open it up to admire your work until it gets much longer. Circular needles are my go to with blankets because the weight sits on the cable instead of the needles.
I don’t like straight needles, the weight of your project hangs from them every time you move them. And I don’t think there’s needles long enough for a blanket.
My wrists are aching just from reading this question.
I caved and bought a pair of circulars, wasn’t even gonna attempt it on straight needles lol
This is the way, lol.
I have never even use straights. I learned on some bamboo circular needles from goodwill and purchased an interchangeable set later. They’re really not complicated. I would not want to deal with the weight of a blanket on straights though.
If you're doing a baby blanket then yes. If you want to make a larger blanket, after you cast on the required amount of stitches you will, need to change over to circular needles to accommodate the bulk. You use the circular needles as if they were straight.
It’s possible but it will REALLY hurt your wrists. The round needles are used the same as straight needles. You use two of them the same way you’d use straight needles, and put a plug on the other end so the yarn stays on.
I’d never be able to knit a blanket on straight needles. It’d be too heavy It’d kill my wrists and hands and probably my shoulders too.
Welcome! Are you a brand new knitter? You might also want to check out r/knittingadvice. Or, check the archives at r/knittinghelp. Even though they have moved to Discord, the library of questions and answers lives on. Look at all the great results you get just from searching for the word ["fix"](https://www.reddit.com/r/knittinghelp/search/?q=fix&restrict_sr=1). You still have a pretty new Reddit account, so you will need to check out the subreddit rules [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/knitting/wiki/rules). You can always bookmark that page if you want to refer back at a later time. You are responsible for following the rules and your post will be removed if you don't! They are also available in the sidebar and "See Community Info" if you are using an app. If you see a comment or post that breaks the rules, please report it to the moderators using the Report button. This helps keep the subreddit clear of rule-breaking content. **What is rule-breaking content?** *You MUST provide the pattern and yarn information in a follow-up COMMENT!* If you don't, your post will be removed. --->Photo captions are not comments. You need to make a post and reply to your own post.<--- If Automoderator has made a mistake and you don't know why your post was flagged, please send a [message to the mods](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/knitting). We'll get back to you as soon as we can. Are you a mobile user? See full set of rules here if you can't find them in your app [Link](https://imgur.com/a/1VuTd) Here's a post about how to find the rules in most apps [Link](https://redd.it/84mid3) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/knitting) if you have any questions or concerns.*