Knitting in the round shy - what's a good first project?

[knittingal]

i'm trying to wean myself off simply using straight needles. I don't have dpns (yet!) but recently bought myself a pair of circulars which i'm determined to use (unlike my last pair - tried to untangle them and broke them )
so what do you reckon would be a good first project on them? preferably something in the round as opposed to knitting flat but just taking the weight off the arms

thanks!

[grrrromit]

I'm not sure what you meant by "taking the weight off the arms," so I apologize if you just wanted to do sweaters - But a hat is a good first round project - you can just make a tube the proper circumference of your head, and decrease rapidly or gather at the top the close it up. My husband has made two tube hats this way - he thinks knitting and crocheting are hard, but he still liked this method. An added bonus is that it knits up really quickly so you can play with the pattern and make adjustments and still not get sick of the project.

[knittingal]

great! what i meant about "taking the weight off the arms" is - there are several people who love circular needles, but for knitting straight on them - apparantly the stuff they make is heavy to hold *shrugs*
anyway - the hat sounds a great idea, are there patterns on here that i could use/modify?
i'll go and search!

[another]

Tempting or Tempting II from Knitty are good. I just finished one today, as it happens; it was easy and fun to make, definitely good for a first-time attempt at using circulars, in my easily ignored opinion.

[Penguinhorde]

Using circs for straight knitting is also handing for KIP'ing on buses and such like - less likely to prod neighbours accidentally. I agree that hats are a great first project for circs but would also like to suggest bags. One doesn't need a pattern, just cast on enough stitches to fill nicely a 40cm circ and then start knitting round and round. Once the bag is deep enough (or you're fed up with knitting it), do a three needle cast off, by working the first and last stitch of your round together, then second and second-last, and so and so forth.  Or you can cast off half the stitches, knit flat for a few inches to get a flap, cast off, and then sew up the bottom. Easy peasy.

[juliesnider]

A little felted bag is always good.  You can just knit a tube and then sew up the bottom and felt.  Then add a zipper to the top and either an i-cord strap or find something at the craft store (cording or something).  You can also bind off half at the top and then keep knitting a little longer on the other half (like straight knitting) and have a little flap if you don't want to sew in a zipper.  Added bonus... the felting covers any first-timer mistakes!

[moazogotl]

My first knitting in the round project was a pair of mittens, and I really enjoyed them--they're small and portable, which is always nice!  They're a little more exciting than a hat, too, but the only harder bit is a little increasing and decreasing.  I used the basic mitten pattern from a book called "Folk Mittens."

[krafty_kelly]

I vote for the felted bag too.  This was the first thing I had ever knit on circular needles, and it turned out great.  The only thing to keep in mind is that it will shrink so much more in length than in width.   Keep that in mind when you are trying to determine how long to go.  The other thing is not to twist the stitches.  I had to frog mine so many times because I had twisted the stitches.

[heavenlyevil]

For something really easy, I'd suggest a tube scarf. You just decide how wide you want it to be, then cast on twice as many stitches as you would for knitting it flat. Keep going until it's long enough.

My other suggestion is socks, which are also really easy. I learned to knit in the round with socks, and now I'm positively addicted. Most of what I knit now is socks.

For an great tutorial with lots of pictures see: http://www.royea.net/sockdemo1.html

[k8kre8s]

i just bought my first pair of circulars too, and i'm going to make this knitted tote:

http://www.frugalhaus.com/homepage/freetote.htm

i'm a new knitter and a dumb-dumb with patterns, but i think i can tackle this one!