Knitting the Preemie Hat Circularly :: Converting rows to rounds

Michelle M asked:

Can this hat be knit in the round, or does the lace pattern itself require it to be knit flat?

As far as I know, any lace pattern can probably be converted from flat into round (and vice versa). Some stitch patterns might be a bit more difficult to convert, or to knit one way or the other, but ultimately its doable. Fortunately, the ribbed herringbone stitch pattern is quite easy to convert, and thus will make a good example to learn the steps in converting from flat to circular.

This month’s 2-Needle Preemie Hat as a learning project demonstrates how decorative lace seaming can be used in flat knitting. Also, a 2-needle version of such a small hat is easier for some people, rather than working with such a small circumference item on circular needle or using double point needles.

For those wishing to make a similar hat circularly, you’ll need to re-work the pattern stitch from flat to round. Here is a quick tutorial to help get you started.

The pattern stitch to be converted

Here is the main stitch pattern used for the flat-knitted version of the preemie hat that I will use in my example for converting to circular knitting —

Row 1 (wrong side): ptw, (k2, p2, k2, p2, yo, p2tog) 5 times, k2, p2, k2, sl 1 wyif, p1.

Row 2 (right side): ktw, p2, k2, p2, (k2, yo, ssk, p2, k2, p2) 5 times, sl 1 wyib, k1.

Key points in converting flat to circular

1. Rows become rounds

Whereas rows are worked back and forth, rounds are worked in the same direction (as right side rows). Therefore, the order of the stitches on wrong side rows will need to be reversed.

2. Circular knitting is done from the right side

Therefore, the stitches on wrong side rows will need to be converted to their right-side equivalent stitch.

3. Some stitches in the flat-knitted version might not be needed in the circular version

Examples are a) selvedge stitches (since there are no side edges in a circularly knit piece) and b) stitches used for symmetry.

Steps in converting flat to circular

Step 1 – Identify the repeating stitch multiple.

In our pattern stitch to be converted, it is the area consisting of 10 stitches between the parentheses just before the “5 times”. Let’s highlight that here:

Row 1 (wrong side): ptw, (k2, p2, k2, p2, yo, p2tog) 5 times, k2, p2, k2, sl 1 wyif, p1.

Row 2 (right side): ktw, p2, k2, p2, (k2, yo, ssk, p2, k2, p2) 5 times, sl 1 wyib, k1.

Step 2 – Convert the stitch multiple of each row to the equivalent circularly knitted round worked from the right side.

Since Row 2 is already a right side row, the stitch multiple is exactly what we already have between the parentheses; i.e.

Round 2’s 10-stitch multiple = (k2, yo, ssk, p2, k2, p2)

To convert the wrong side Row 1, we have to do 2 things:

• the order of the stitches will need to be reversed, and
•  the stitches will need to be converted to their right-side equivalent stitches

It doesn’t really matter which order we do this in, as long as we do them both. I like to reverse the order of the stitches first, and then work out their right-side equivalents. So here’s how that would look.

Reverse the order of the stitches:
Thus (k2, p2, k2, p2, yo, p2tog) becomes (p2tog, yo, p2, k2, p2, k2).

Convert the stitches to their right-side equivalents:
Thus (p2tog, yo, p2, k2, p2, k2) becomes (k2tog, yo, k2, p2, k2, p2).

Round 1’s 10-stitch multiple = (k2tog, yo, k2, p2, k2, p2)

Step 3 – Determine number of stitch multiple to repeat in each round.

Our stitch multiple is 10 stitches. The number of cast on stitches for the hat was 60. So there will be 6 repeats of the 10-stitch multiple in each round (i.e. 60 divided by 10 = 6 exactly).

Round 1: (k2tog, yo, k2, p2, k2, p2) 6 times.

Round 2:  (k2, yo, ssk, p2, k2, p2) 6 times.

Note: If the number of stitches cast on stitches were not evenly divisible by the stitch multiple, then we would need to add or subtract stitches to the project’s cast on stitches to come up with a whole number of repeats.