Circular Needle Proclimation

I have decided that straight needles are unnecessary and I am eliminating them from my life!

Okay, that may be an exaggeration; I will probably hold on to the straight needles I have, but I will never buy another pair. I came to this realization while talking to one of the owners of Spark. It seemed pretty revolutionary at the time, but the more I think about it, the more convinced I am that this is a reasonable and prudent decision. Straight needles are redundant. Anything you do on a straight needle you can do on a circular needle, and there are many benefits to using circulars over straights:

• Circular needles are more portable, because they coil up and fit easily into your bag or what have you, and your project is safer because it slides into the middle of the coil and is less likely to pop off the end of the stick.
  




• Long wooden needles that are low sizes are very fragile and easily break, so you are pretty much forced to use metal straight needles in low sizes, and based on your needle preference or the type of wool you are using with your project, metal is simply unacceptable. Wood needles can be an option when using circular.
  




• You can knit back and forth on a flat project AND in the round with circulars.
  




• You can’t misplace one needle-they’re attached!

While I personally have been off straight needles for some time because I am cheap, and have suggested circular needles to any more intermediate knitters working on projects particularly utilizing straight needles, as an instructor I have encouraged beginning students to purchase straight needles. That’s a bit odd, because as an instructor, I tend to encourage students to challenge themselves. It’s not that I don’t think that beginners can start out on circular needles; it’s just that I had never thought about it before. So, I have decided as an instructor to teach all beginners on circular needles from now on, and to spread the word about needlessness of straight needles.
Beginning knitters can easily pick up this skill; I’ve seen it happen. There have been times due to lack of resources, I have taught people starting out on circular needles. They did fine. In fact, better than fine, because their beginner scarves never slid off the end of those pesky straight needles.
The caveat to the no-straight-needle proclimation is, of course, double pointed straight needles. I rely on them, and no, it isn’t because I haven’t tried magic loop. I just like them.

Some tips when using circular needles:

• In the beginning, even if you have a lot of experience knitting, say, scarves, for example, when you first take the switch to circular needles, take care not to connect the two ends.
  If you are annoyed by the curly nature of the coil, you can always steam it and it should straighten out, although they tend to lose their spring naturally with use, and when you have a project on them, it helps a lot.
  




• Experiment with metal and wood, depending on your preference.
  




• Be aware of the join where the cable meets the needle. You want this to be smooth so your work doesn’t get stuck on it.
  




• Always pull your project off of the tip of the needle and onto the cable when packing up your projects so no slide-offs occur.
  




• Circular needles do require a bit more organization because they do get tangled up together...
  

  ...so I highly recommend a needle organizer. My favorite is the Que, by Della Q.