If you are an avid knitter, then you will be looking for the best circular knitting needles that you can get. At some stage or another, you are going to need them.
Circular knitting needles are fun to work with. They allow you to make many things, including sweaters, socks, hats and bags, all without seams.
Circular knitting needles are made just like normal straight knitting needles, including bamboo, metal, resin and plastic, but the two hard tips are joined up by a flexible cord that will hold most of your stitches.
Circular needles can be permanently fixed to the cord, or they can be purchased as part of an interchangeable system, where the tips can be taken off of the cord and exchanged for larger or smaller needles.
Circular needles can commonly be found in all the US sizes up to 15.
Instead of driving around shopping, why not just purchase them online. There are a great many to pick from, and you won’t need to drive anywhere. If you buy them off of this site, I may get paid a small commission at no extra cost to you.
I have put some great examples of circular knitting needles for you to check out at the bottom of this article. If you want to find out more about any of them, simply click on the picture that interests you.
Why Do Knitters Use Circular Knitting Needles?
Using circular knitting needles allows the knitter to create tubes of knitting with ease. This eliminates the need to sew up the sides or have a seam in your knitting.
Some knitters also prefer to use circular knitting needles for flat knitting, as they just work without joining the round.
Circular needles can also be used to create patterns for your knitting, for example, cabling or lace.
Circular knitting needles come in many different lengths, and the more stitches you need to knit with, the longer the needle you will need.
If your tube comes to a point and is too small to be worked on circular knitting needles, you will need to transfer the work onto double pointed needles.
When you are working with circular needles, the right side will always be facing you, so you will knit all the rows if you are working in Stocking Stitch. To do Garter Stitch, you will need to knit one row and Purl one row, and for reverse Stockinette, you would need to purl every row.
If knitting something big like a blanket or throw, you can also knit flat with circular knitting needles, and it helps because you can hold more stitches on the row than conventional knitting needles.
How To Knit On Circular Needles
Here is a video explaining how to knit and work with circular knitting needles.
Best Circular Knitting Needles To Order Online
Here are some great buys from Amazon. Click on the photo of the knitting needle you are interested in to find out more about the product and how you can get one.
Trust that you will find the best circular knitting needles for your needs.
Love your website. In particular, this post about circular needles. I love using the circular needles not only for in the round, but for flat as well. The only problem I have is that the circular needles don’t have the size on them like regular needles do. So I really like the Tinksky 11 piece set with the case. I will be looking into these. Thanks for this post.
Glad you enjoyed Marie and thanks for stopping by.
My Mum used to knit a lot and made us all sweaters and scarves for the Winter as well as throws and baby clothes, but I never remember her ever using these circular knitting needles. Fascinating. Of course now that you’ve explained what they do it’s completely obvious how invaluable they are. And whoever thought there’d be so many different kinds of knitting needles anyway? I used to do cross-stitching. Very therapeutic in the evening after a hard day at work. I know my Mum misses knitting but her hands get too sore these days. There’s nothing like a hand-knitted hat and scarf set 🙂
My Mom and Gran also used to knit for us, and you are right, there is nothing quite like that hand knitted garment.
I’ve used circular knitting needles in the past, but I’ve always found it annoying to have to switch to double pointed right at the end of my knitting. Shouldn’t I just use double pointed needles for the entire piece? Are circular needles better in some way? Also, what is the difference between the different types of material (bamboo, metal)?
I also prefer knitting with straight needles, but for some larger projects, you can’t beat circular knitting needles. As for the materials that the needles are made of, it is a personal preference. I like bamboo because they are so light.