Fabric Definitions — definitions of fabrics, cloths, laces and textile materials from Apparel Search
Circular knitting, or knitting in the round, is a form of knitting that creates a seamless tube. It was done at first with a set of four or five double-pointed needles; later the circular needle — two needle tips connected by a cable — was invented. Machines also knit in the round, using individual latch-hook needles in a round frame.
Many types of sweaters are traditionally knit in the round; Norwegian ski sweaters are knit this way. Even cardigans--the knitter makes a Nowegian-style pullover and then the knitting is stitched with a machine to prevent unravelling. The sweater is then cut down the front to open the cardigan up. A band for buttons is added by knitting or sewing on a tightly knitted band, often embellished with woven braid. Icelandic sweaters are also done in the round, typically. Socks are the garments most often knit in the round; double-pointed needles, with their ability to hold a smaller circumference of stitches, are still typically used.
When knitting on circular needles or double points, the knitting is cast on and the circle of stitches is joined. Knitting is worked in rounds in a spiral.
How to knit on four or five double pointed needles:
1. Cast on stitches on THREE or FOUR needles. Three supports your knitting on a triangle, four makes a square "tube" as you work. The knitting will be round, however, when you are finished.
2. Divide the stitches equally over the needles and knit a round. To close the circle, knit the first stitch with the working yarn from the last stitch--and a nice trick is to use the tail of the cast on, and knit it with the first stitch. This pulls the knittng in tighter to avoid causing a gap. Keep the last and first needle as close together as possible. Make sure the knitted stitch is tight, by keeping it close to the last needle. This also avoids a gap, though any gap can be closed by a discreet stitch after you finish the article. Again, the tail of the cast on is helpful; stitch one or two small stitches with it through the gap and tighten.
3. Continue to work rounds, using the one empty needles to knit off and keeping the stitches evenly divided. Hold the two working needles as usual, and drop the other needles to the back of the work when not in use. Believe it or not, the stitches won't fall off the needles.
How to knit with a circular needle:
1. Choose a circular length that is appropriate for the project you are knitting. If the needles is too short, the knitting will bunch up. If too long, the ends of the knitting will not meet. Generall, a hat or turtleneck is worked on a 16" circular. A sweater body is normally worked on a 29" long circular, until decreasing for the yoke or neck, when a shorter (22" or 16") needle is required. For some small work, such as cuffs, there are 11" needles but most knitters resort to a set of double points (4 or 5 needles.)
2. Cast on the required number of stitches. Place a marker on the right needle, next to the last cast-on stitch. This is important to mark the beginning of a round. Use a stitch marker, a circle of yarn, a coil-less safety pin or a rubber o-ring for a marker. It should slide easily over the needle.
3. Make sure all the bottoms of the cast-on stitches are facing downwards. If you have a twist, you end up with a real problem. This is the trickiest part of circular knitting, for the cast-on stitches want to rotate around the needle cable. Before you join, run your hand around and orient the stitches so that the loops are up and the knot-like cast-on is downwards. Then carefully knit your first stitch and check again. This cannot be corrected without ripping all the way down later on, so check and check again.
4. Stick the right needle into the first cast-on stitch on the left needle. Knit a stitch. Pull yarn after the first stitch (or two) to tighten the inevitable gap in the join.
5. Continue to knit around (right needle goes into stitch on left needle) until you reach the marker. Now, one round is completed. Slip the marker back to the right needle and continue on to the second round, just as you worked the first. Each round is equivalent to one row in flat knitting.
Learn more about fabric.
Learn about knit fabrics.
|
|
References
| Fashion Industry |
Hand Rounds and Machine RoundsThe hand and machine versions of circular knitting share the tube and little else. Hand knitting in the round is one continuous spiral of stitches worked by a single pair of hands, its size fixed by the needle arrangement — double points for sock circumferences, a 16-inch circular for hats and turtlenecks, a 29-inch circular for a sweater body. Machine circular knitting multiplies the idea: hundreds of latch needles around a cylinder produce continuous tubular fabric that becomes T-shirts, hosiery and seamless underwear, cut and finished with minimal seaming. The industrial process is the direct descendant of the hand principle — eliminate the seam by never leaving the round — scaled until the tube is a fabric product in its own right rather than a garment shape. Why the Traditions Are NorthernThe named traditions of round knitting — Norwegian ski sweaters, Icelandic sweaters — come from cold-climate seafaring and farming cultures for practical reasons. A seamless sweater has no seam allowances to chafe, let water in or fail under strain; stranded colorwork in the round keeps two yarns running continuously with floats that add insulation; and a yoke sweater can be shaped entirely by patterned decreases, so a complex garment needs no cutting except the steek of a cardigan. Socks, the other great round-knitted staple, show the same logic at small scale: the double-pointed set that seems fiddly to beginners is simply the tool that holds a small tube. Once the join is mastered, the round is not a specialty technique but the default geometry of garments that grow around a body. Common QuestionsWhy knit in the round instead of flat?The work has no seams to sew and no wrong-side rows: stockinette in the round is produced by knitting every round, since the right side always faces the knitter. Sweaters, socks, hats and mittens come off the needles as tubes shaped by increases and decreases, with finishing reduced to ends and blocking. What is steeking?Cardigans are traditionally made by knitting a pullover tube in the round, machine-stitching two lines where the front opening will be to secure the stitches against unravelling, and then cutting the tube open between them. A button band is knitted or sewn on afterward — the method used for Norwegian-style cardigans. What goes wrong most often when joining in the round?A twist: if the cast-on stitches spiral around the needle before the join, the tube grows with a permanent half-twist that cannot be corrected without ripping back to the start. Checking that all cast-on bottoms face downward before the first stitch, and again right after it, is the essential precaution. More to ExploreMore from Apparel Search: Fabric Definitions | Clothing Industry Glossary | Fashion Terms | Apparel Search Home
|