How To: Knit on circular needles

Elizabeth Zimmermann demonstrates knitting on circular needles. She also gives us tips on how to deal with twisted stitches.

•For circular knitting, you need to join the two ends so that you have a continuous piece of fabric.
•The first way to do this is to take the first stitch from the left needle and the first stitch from the right needle and reverse them. Then, you can put the stitch marker on to mark the beginning of your round.
•It can be difficult, so take off the first stitch from the left and right needles. Then, put the right stitch onto the left needle and the left stitch onto the right needle. Then, put the stitch marker on.
•The second way, which is much easier, is to put the stitch marker on first. Then hold the tail node and the working node together and knit the first couple of stitches with both of those. You will need to knit two or three stitches together in this way.
•Then you are ready to knit in the round.
•The important thing about circular knitting is that you need to make sure that your stitches are not twisted on the needle and that all your stitches are facing the same way all the way around.
•If you reach the end of first round and you have twisted stitches, you can turn the stitches around and pull the needle over before you join the two ends, to get a continuous fabric. This will only work for the first round of your knitting.
•If you don't correct it in the first round, later, when you have done a few rounds, you will see that the stitches are twisted at some places and there may also be a bump in between your stitches.
•So, try to orient your stitches in the same way on the first round or you will end up removing all the stitches to do it over again.

Happy Knitting!