Knitting with two circular needles

What you need

Use two complete circular needles of the same diameter, yarn to suit them, a locking stitch marker and a tapestry needle. Different cable colors help you tell the needles apart. Each circular needle has two tips joined by one cable. In this guide, the whole first circular is A and the whole second circular is B.

Two 24-inch circulars are a useful starting point. Berroco's sock-knitting advice gives a 16-to-24-inch range for this method. The cables need room to hold resting stitches while you work the other group. Do not stretch the stitches around the entire length as you would on a single short circular.

Match needle diameters, not just the numbers printed on a label. A different size on one needle can change the fabric on every other half-round. If the tips or joins catch the yarn, try a smoother set before changing your tension.

Set up a 24-stitch practice tube

This exercise teaches the needle changes. It is not a sock or garment pattern. Use smooth, light-colored yarn so you can see the stitches. Choose the needle diameter from that yarn's label, then adjust later if your project needs a set gauge.

1. Cast on 24 stitches on circular A. Leave a tail long enough to weave in later.
2. From the tip carrying the last stitch you cast on, slip 12 stitches purlwise onto circular B, without working them. Keep all stitches in their original order. Each needle now holds 12 stitches.
3. Slide the stitches toward one tip on each circular. Arrange the groups so the first cast-on stitch can be worked next, with the working yarn attached to the last cast-on stitch.
4. Check the cast-on edge all the way around. It should face inward consistently and must not spiral around either cable. Fix a twist before you join.

Keep the yarn tail out of the way. The strand attached to the ball is the working yarn. Working with the tail by mistake is easy on a small first round.

Knit the A half with A's two tips

Hold the tip carrying A's first stitch in your left hand. Pick up the other tip of circular A with your right hand. Let B's stitches rest on B's cable. The two tips in your hands must be connected by the same cable.

With the working yarn behind the tips, knit the first stitch on A. This joins the cast-on into a round. Clip a locking marker into the fabric near that stitch to mark the start of the round. Keep the join close without pulling so hard that the next stitch cannot move. Knit all 12 stitches on A. You have worked half a round, not a full round.

Slide those worked stitches onto A's cable so they can rest. Do not transfer them to B. Each group stays with its own circular throughout the exercise.

Turn the work and knit the B half

Rotate the tube so B's unworked stitches face you; do not turn it inside out or start working back as for flat rows. Slide the stitches toward B's left-hand tip. Take the other tip of B in your right hand, keeping A's stitches resting on A's cable.

Knit all 12 B stitches using B's two tips. Keep the working yarn behind the needles for knit stitches. After the last B stitch, you have completed one full round: 12 A stitches plus 12 B stitches equals 24 stitches.

Turn again and repeat. For a stockinette tube, knit every stitch on every half-round. Do not purl alternate rounds as you would alternate rows when working stockinette flat. Work eight full rounds for practice, checking the marker after each B half.

Fix the common needle-change problems

All stitches end up on one needle. You used the free tip from the other circular. Stop at the boundary. Slip the last group back onto its own circular without working it, keeping the stitch mounts intact. Before every half-round, follow the cable from your left-hand tip to the tip you will use on the right.

A loose ladder appears between halves. Bring the tips close when changing needles. Work the first two stitches with even tension; take up slack after the second. Pulling the first stitch as tight as possible can make it hard to slide and does not guarantee a neat join.

The first round feels awkward. Check that the resting stitches are on the cable and that you have enough cable free to move the working tips. Cast-on stitches can be stiff. Go slowly for the first few rounds rather than stretching them around a whole circular.

The cast-on edge is twisted. If you have already knitted rounds into a twisted join, undo the practice tube to the join and start again. Turning the work over does not remove a twist that has been knitted into it.

Use the method in a pattern

For socks, sleeves or hat crowns, keep the pattern's stitch count, gauge and shaping. Divide stitches at useful pattern boundaries. They need not be split evenly when a heel, cable or other section needs to stay together. Mark the start of the round in the fabric so you do not mistake a needle change for the end of a round.

This is one item on two circulars. It is different from knitting two socks at once. It is also different from magic loop, which uses one long circular and a pulled-out cable loop.

For a worked pattern from the original yarn company, see Berroco's Bolt Socks pattern, which uses two circular needles and explains the same-needle rule. Its sock-knitting advice above also covers the method. Our needle guide covers tool choice, and the glossary explains common pattern terms.