Knitting in the round is the fastest way to knit. No seams to sew at the end, and the right side of the work is always facing you, making sometimes difficult techniques like aran knitting easier. It's quite simple to do, but many knitters are scared to try. So, we've compiled this brief tutorial to help you overcome your circular knitting fears!

The most important step in circular knitting is choosing the appropriate needle length. For baby and toddler garments and for small items such as hats, a 16" circular needle is the best way to go. For larger garments, a 24" circular needle should suffice, and for those mammoth sweaters for the big men in your life, a 29" or 32" circular would be the best choice. Basically, the circular needle length should be smaller or equal to the circumference of the item you are knitting.

To begin, you will start your cast on (long tail method used in pic) on the "right" side needle.The cast on will work across the needle, with the beginning of the cast on winding up at the tip of the "left" needle, as you can see in the picture above.

To join the work and knit the first round, you will first place a marker on the right needle. Make sure that all the ridges on the bottom of the cast on are facing the same way (that the cast on is not twisted around the needle) before you join. Then you will insert the right needle into the first stitch on the left needle (the first stitch you casted on) and knit this stitch. This step is shown in the picture below.

Be sure to pull the first few stitches a bit snug to keep the join from being loose. You will continue to knit the stitches from the "left" needle to the "right" needle, until you come to the marker. Then, slip the marker and continue to knit from left to right.You will be working around and around without ever turning the work.The pic below shows the first stitch after it's made, the join is complete and you'll just knit around from this point.

Some things to keep in mind with circular knitting:

Becuase you aren't turning the work, the outside (public) side of the item will always be facing you. Unlike back adn forth knitting where you need to knit one row, purl one row to get stockinette stitch, in circular knitting you will knit every round for stockinette. For garter in the round, you will knit one round, purl one round.

Sometimes in circular knitting you can make the mistake of flipping the work inside out, so that you are workingwith the inside of the garment facing out. To correct this, simply slip the garment through the needles so that the public face is out again, and continue your work.