For sleeves, I love a 12″ (30cm) circular needle, but you may find that for larger sleeves it’s more comfortable to begin the sleeve on a 16″ (40 cm) circular needle and transition to a smaller circular needle as you begin decreasing the sleeve.
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Can you knit sleeves on straight needles?
You knit a sweater with straight knitting needles by knitting 4 pieces and then stitching them together. This is known as knitting a sweater flat. You knit 2 larger pieces for the front and back and 2 sleeves. Then you seam all the pieces together to make your sweater.
What size needles for double pointed sleeves?
Medium length DPNs are 6–7” long, and are useful for most projects, including sleeves and slippers. Long DPNs also exist, and are sometimes used for knitting whole colourwork sweaters without circular needles!
Can you use circular needles for sleeves?
For sleeves, I love a 12″ (30cm) circular needle, but you may find that for larger sleeves it’s more comfortable to begin the sleeve on a 16″ (40 cm) circular needle and transition to a smaller circular needle as you begin decreasing the sleeve.
How many stitches do you need for a sleeve?
To make the sleeves, cast 32 stitches for a small, 34 for a medium, or 35 for a large.
When should I use double pointed knitting needles?
Double-pointed needles are used to knit in the round for items that are too small for circular needles. For instance, when you knit a glove on circular needles, the stitches comprising of the glove’s fingers become so tight that they cannot be worked around the circular needles.
How do you know what size knitting needle to use?
A simple guideline: Add the measurements (in millimeters) of the suggested needle size for each yarn and then use the needle that is closest in size to that number. For example, for a swatch of two strands of Wool-Ease Chunky, we added 6.5 mm plus 6.5 mm to get 13 mm. The closest needle size is 12 mm, which is a US 17.
Can you use circular needles instead of double pointed?
Yes, circular needles are a great alternative to double pointed in many cases. In fact, many knitters prefer to use circular needles over DPNs for a number of reasons. I learned to knit in the round using double pointed needles myself & still use them for certain projects.
What can I knit with 16 inch circular needles?
For projects that are a little large for double-pointed needles, 16-inch cords are ideal especially for in the round knitting.
Sample projects you can do with this cord length are the following:
- Hats for kids or grown-ups.
- Booties and sweaters for babies.
- Sleeves and Collars of adult sweaters.
- Brims of hats.
Can you use magic loop for sleeves?
Magic Loop for top-down raglans
So in terms of beginner-friendliness, it’s the way to go! Here’s an added bonus to working your top-down raglan sleeves with magic loop – there’s no need to purchase additional needles. The 32″ circular you need the body of the sweater with can then also be used for the sleeves!
What are circular knitting needles for?
Circular needles are the perfect choice for knitting in the round and also knitting flat pieces. They consist of a needle tip on each end with a cord joining them. These are used for projects like hats, sweaters, socks, sleeves, mittens and more.
What is the difference between circular needles and magic loop?
Magic Loop is a technique for working in the round that avoids the use of double pointed needles. Using longer-than-usual circular needles, you can knit projects even with very small circumferences, like wee little socks, crowns of hats, cuffs of sleeves… the list goes on!
Can I use circular needles instead of straight?
The short answer is “Yes, absolutely.” Use whichever style of needle is most comfortable for you. A slightly longer version goes like this: Both circular needles and straight needles have their uses.
How long should knitted sleeves be?
Here’s how it goes: Measure around your arm where you want the sleeve to hit. Then figure out how big around you want the cuff to be, taking ease into account. So if you want the cuff to be a couple of inches bigger around than your arm—which is pretty typical—take your measurement and add 2 inches.