Expert: Deborah Mason - 10/23/2009

Question
Dear Deborah,

I am knitting a circular shawl for a baby.  At the moment I have 640 stitches on a 100cm needle.  The stitches fit neatly.  Reading ahead I will have over 1000 stitches before the shawl is finished.  I can't see that many stitches fitting on this needle.  I have checked for needle lengths and it seems 100cm is the longest.  Do you know where I can get a longer needle or do you have any suggestions as to how I can manage this many stitches with 100cm needle?  Your help will be greatly appreciated.  Regards Debbie

Answer
I have just finished a shawl that had over 1000 stitches for the border and I managed to do it using a single 100cm circular needle but I can tell you it was not a lot of fun!

I had decided even before I received your question, that next time I will do it differently.  Probably the easiest way to manage that number of stitches is to use more than one circular needle - 3 would probably do it.  If 2 100cm needles are too long to hold your stitches (not likely but you never know) you could try using 60cm needles instead.

You have half the number of stitches on two needles and use the third needle the same way you would if you were using double pointed needles.  

You have to be careful that the stitches at the other end of both needles do not fall off while you are working, but it does work and makes it much easier to move the stitches along the needle as you are working.