Decreasing on a hat while using circular needles

by Heather
(Fairfield, Iowa, USA)

I knitted a hat using circular needles for the first time. I began decreasing for the crown and as I kept going i finally realized that with fewer and fewer stiches I wasn't going to be able to stretch them around the circular wire to finish. I made it work as long as I could, and I now have just 3 rows left (knit 3, then 2 together, knit 2 and 2 together and then two together all the way around).

I looked around online and YouTube and it looks like everyone switches to double pointed needles. I have never used double pointed needles before, and really just want to finish this hat without messing it up, I'm so close!

Is there a way to do this without using the DP needles?

Thanks

YOUR ANSWER

Yes there is a way to do it without using double pointed needles, you can use two circular needles instead.

This method is often used for knitting circular items like socks, but I use it for anything that I wan to knit in the round that is too small to fit on a single circular needle.

It is a concept that is hard to explain without showing someone how it works in person, but basically what you do is to divide your remain stitches evenly between two circular needles.

You knit one side at a time (half a complete row) using the tail of the same needle to knit the stitches, then you flip to the other needle and knit all of the stitches on that one with the other tail of the same needle.

The stitches on one needle are never transferred to the other, but knitted off one end of the needle to the other tip of the same needle.