Ask the experts
Debbie Bliss and the SK team get to grips with your knitting gripes
QEveryone in my knitting group knits in the round, but I can’t get into it. What are the real benefits?
Abigail Stenner, via Facebook
Many people knit in the round because it is usually faster. There is no turning your work, and no purling if you are working in stocking stitch – you simply knit every round, giving you a rhythm that also helps you work faster. Because of this, you should not experience ‘rowing out’ (unevenness caused by alternating knit and purl rows). Fair Isle knitting should be easier, with no wrangling with yarn at the back of the work as you swap between RS and WS rows. Lace and cables can also be more intuitive, because the RS is always facing you. Best of all, knitting in the round means seamless garments which leaves you with little to no sewing-up when you have finished!
When you knit in the round you will need a stitch marker to indicate when the round ends and begins. You can use a safety pin, paper clip, fixed or hinged marker, or a piece of waste yarn tied around the needle. When you come to the end of the round, simply slip your marker from your left-hand needle to your right-hand needle. Projects that are ideal for knitting in the round are socks, gloves and hats. The technique makes them more comfortable and attractive when they are knitted without seams. In Shetland and Scandinavian traditions, raglan and yoked sweaters are traditionally knitted in the round. And now a new generation of knitters are creating seamless ‘set in’ sleeves sweaters, using clever shaping. Many garments knitted from the bottom up can be converted so that the are worked in the round with the back and front split at the armholes.