A lot of patterns call for four or five needles, but knittinghelp.com shows a “magic loop” method where you use just one circular needle to knit a round. (http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/advanced-techniques)
Would there be a huge difference in the finished product, if I took a pattern that says to use five needles and did the whole thing using the magic loop method? Does knitting with a bunch of needles make it easier for a pattern to keep its shape?
There should be no difference in the finished product whether you use magic loop or dpns.
I vastly prefer dpns, aka “knitting with a bunch of needles”, but there is no shortage of people who prefer magic loop.
You can always “block” an item later to reshape it (unless it’s acrylic, in which case that won’t help much).
Also, some people who work with DPNs (double-pointed needles) find that they get gaps forming between each pair needles where they aren’t cinching up the yarn tight enough, such that it looks like ladders running down the sides of the knitted piece (also called laddering), and magic loop should help avoid that for the most part.
I like DPNs, though I’ll admit they take a little getting used to. The advantage is that with circular needles, there’s a minimum circumference of a piece – the length of the cable – whereas with DPNs you can decrease as much as you need to. (I get around the “gap” problem by doing an extra stitch to the right-hand needle before switching to the new needle.)
But, yeah, to answer the OP: there shouldn’t be a difference in the finished product, and I’ve seen instructions that say “circular or set of DPNs, whichever you prefer.”
I’ve done a variation of the magic loop technique, and to be honest it felt as if I had to move the stitches around the cable more time than I spent knitting. And it seemed to put more tension on the yarn as well. Even if I get a little laddering, particularly with larger needles and ribbing, I prefer dpn’s. That said, Addi does a set of short circular needles (8 and 12 inches), and I’ve recently given myself a couple of them. They’re still untested, but I have great hopes.
To avoid laddering when working with DPNs, just make sure to pull the first stitch on each needle a bit tighter. Also make sure to evenly divide your stitches amongst the needles for the easiest balance.
I don’t use magic loop as none of my circs have flexible enough or long enough cables. DPNs are not that bad and are easier IMHO to work with, especially as you start decreasing, like for the crown of a hat.
Nah, magic loop gets around that by using a super-freaking-long circ, and you just move the cable around to accommodate your knitting. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but it does work.
I tend to use one or two circular needles (I don’t know what that’s being called on the net these days, but you use two circulars like dpns) because I’m much less likely to accidentally misplace one. When knitting with dpns, I spend almost as much time trying to find the extra needle as I do knitting.
But no, there should be no difference between them that blocking can’t fix.
Huh. I had been unaware of those, obviously. Having a hard time wrapping my mind around that. So to speak.
Or, if I’m understanding the problem correctly, if you’re using dpns, you rotate a couple stitches from one dpn to the next every time you go around so your dpns aren’t between the same stitches every time–at least that’s how I was taught.
I found Magic Loop to be the most ungainly way of knitting in the round. Try using two sets of circular needs instead… at least you don’t have to fiddle with the cord so much. Magic Loop is hard on the cord, too, btw.
That’s what I meant by “doing an extra stitch to the right-hand needle before switching to the new needle” – or are you talking about something else?
Oh, I overlooked that - it’s the same deal. I always found that anti-laddering method to be a bit confusing if I had DPNs placed at certain places for the sake of keeping track of pattern panels, so I’d just cinch the next two or three stitches extra-tight.
Yeah, it definitely works better if you’re just going around and around and around, like on plain socks.
Thanks everyone. 
I tried using two sets of circular needles but I keep picking up the wrong needle when it came time to switch. :smack:
I think I’ll try using multiple needles at some point - at the moment I’m too lazy to go out and buy them. Magic loop seems to be working out okay but we’ll have to see what the finished product looks like.
Thanks again!
Nope that’s it–I missed your post. I’ll often do a couple of stitches, though, if I have lots of stitches left on the needles.
PS: Any other random tips for knitting in the round?
I’m currently knitting a pattern that’s supposed to be a piece for a blanket (knit a bunch of hexagons, sew them together) just for practice since this is the first time knitting in the round for me. I’d love to work my way up to the entire blanket. I’m still a beginning so the only things I’ve knitted so far are scarves (yawn). I’d like to try a hat but I’d need to buy shorter circular needles, which so far I’ve been too lazy to do.
I put a little marker in to remind me where the start of the round is. I use little plastic clips that look like oversized safety pins, which are sold at (American) knitting shops; you can use most anything, including a regular safety pin, a rubber band, whatever. Just stick it through the first stitch, and move it up as you come to it and knit that stitch again.
Uh . . . are you supposed to knit the first stitch twice? :: feels stupid :: Does the “join” not count as a stitch?
The join counts as the first stitch of the first round after casting on.
FWIW, I prefer using dpns, but have sucessfully used two circs and magic loop.