Why I Prefer Knitting with Circular Needles

When I first started knitting, I learned to knit on a set of two straight needles. Once I wanted to branch out into hats and socks, I realized I was going to need to learn to use some different needles.

Over the years, I’ve drifted to using circular needles almost exclusively for everything I knit. Nowadays, I only rarely use double pointed needles.

I Won’t Drop and Lose One One of the worst things is to be knitting a project, fumble the needle, hear a clink as it hits the floor, and know that needle’s gone. Especially if I'm knitting in transit, like on a plane or a subway car. With circular needles, they’re tethered to each other. Even if I lose my grip on one of them, the cable between them will mean that there’s no way it can fall and roll away.

I Don’t Have to Adjust My Stitches as Often

When I’m working with double pointed needles, I have to adjust them pretty regularly. The yarn bunches up across the needles as I work. When I use a circular needle, the yarn automatically self distributes pretty evenly along the entire length of the cables. 

The Cable Helps Distribute the Weight When knitting a larger project, like a blanket or a garment, it can get pretty heavy. When you use circular needles, though, the weight of your work is held on the cable between the needles.

There are all sorts of knitters out there with all sorts of needs, so of course what works best for me may not work best for you.  However, if you find that straight needles or double pointed needles are not working well for you, it might be for some of these reasons. Circular needles might help solve that.

Learn more about how to knitting with circular needles on my blog. Plus, find helpful tips and tricks to improve your knitting, patterns, tutorials, and more.